September 2014

Nordex Explosives Ltd., a publicly-traded company and the only Canadian Explosives Manufacturing Company, has been named “Entrepreneur of the Year”.  Nordex Explosives Ltd. is an industry leader in the manufacturing of explosive products, producing high-quality products for its own clients, as well as for other explosive distributors and manufacturers.  It was nominated for the Award by Kirkland & District Community Development Corporation, from which it received loans in 2004 and 2012.  

Nordex Explosives Ltd. received the prestigious Award out of many nominations from across the province.  It was honoured at the Annual Conference of the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations.  Over 250 delegates and guests from Community Futures Development Corporations (CFDCs) recently met at Deerhurst Resort, Huntsville for the event.  Many of the CFDCs had nominated successful businesses they had assisted with business counselling and loans.  Kirkland & District Community Development Corporation is one of 61 CFDCs across Ontario.  On hand to accept the award for “Entrepreneur of the Year”, was Jim Taylor of Nordex Explosives Ltd.

Originally established in 1971, the company “fell on hard times”, Mr. Taylor says.  When he joined the company in 2003, the company had 3 part-time employees and owned only 1 plain white, two-wheel drive pick-up truck.  “Here we are, roughly 10 years later,” says Mr. Taylor, with “75 full-time employees; we have just over 40 trucks on the road, from large transports to pick-up trucks.”  Nordex manages and owns its own fleet, which can deliver packaged or bulk product, resulting in an exceptional delivery service for its customers.  They require less than 48 hours from the time a client places an order, to the delivery of the product to the client.  Furthermore, with most cases, they can provide a turnaround time of less than 4 hours for emergency needs.    

Paula Mangotich, Executive Director of Kirkland & District Community Development Corporation, knew the company “needed some new blood to breathe life into it” and had confidence in Mr. Taylor.  “We invested quite heavily, but again, for the future – because you could see a future,” she says.  Mr. Taylor echoes her sentiment:  “The Community Futures office had some confidence in our abilities to do what we said we wanted to try to do, and that was one of the original funding mechanisms that really, quite frankly, got us on our way to be able to start to take some next logical steps.”

They re-invested in new products and new manufacturing facilities, and designed and manufactured their own equipment, including prototypes for new loading systems designed for underground mining operations.  “We set about not only looking at different formulations for products that are unique, but also the equipment that supports those,” Mr. Taylor says.  The company has now re-established itself in the marketplace and increased market share.  As Ms. Mangotich states, sales have gone from approximately $900,000 to “close to $20 million, in the space of about 10 years.”

Being the only Canadian explosives manufacturing company, they’ve found a “niche” for themselves, Mr. Taylor explains, to “put out the message that we are a Canadian manufacturer and…we want to manufacture explosives for the needs of Canadians.”  As for future plans, Mr. Taylor explains:  “We’ve just recently announced that we’re going to be building new facilities in British Columbia.  We are very close to making another announcement in another province that we’re going to expand into, and we’ve had initial contact with a couple of people in the United States that are also looking at us, as a potential to expand into the United States as well.”   

Community Futures Development Corporations (CFDCs) offer free business counselling, loans for start-up and expansion of small business, strategic planning on local projects, and community economic development in rural areas.  Each CFDC is locally managed by a volunteer Board of Directors, funded with the support of the Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan through FedNor and FedDev Ontario.  To learn more about Community Futures Program in Ontario or the OACFDC, go to www.oacfdc.com.

Photo:  Nordex Explosives Ltd. received the “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award at the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations Conference recently.  On hand for the Awards ceremony, were Carmen DeMarco of FedNor, Paula Mangotich of Kirkland & District CDC, Jim Taylor of Nordex Explosives Ltd. and Jeff King of FedDev Ontario. 

For more information about the Kirkland & District Community Development Corporation, contact:

Paula Mangotich, Executive Director

Kirkland & District Community Development Corporation

P.O. Box 128, 23 Government Road East

Kirkland Lake, ON  P2N 3M6

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Phone:  705-567-3331

For more information about Nordex Explosives Ltd., contact:

Nordex Explosives Ltd.

3045 Dane Road, P.O. Box 790, Kirkland Lake, ON  P2N 3K4

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Phone:  705-642-3263

For more information about the Community Futures Program or the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations, contact:

Brenda LaGrandeur, Communications and Professional Development Officer

Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations Inc. (OACFDC) 
300 South Edgeware Road, St. Thomas, Ontario   N5P 4L1
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Telephone:  519-633-2326, ext. 125
Toll Free:  1-888-633-2326, ext. 125
Fax:  519-633-3563