The Great Atlantic Salt Project could contribute significant amounts of rock salt to East Coast snow and ice markets.

A new player is emerging in the North American salt market and could shake things up for an industry that has already seen some historic consolidation over recent years. Atlas Salt, which earlier this month changed its name from Red Moon Resources Inc., plans to soon break ground on a new rock salt mine located on the west coast of Newfoundland. Company officials anticipate its Great Atlantic Salt Project will provide high-quality rock salt for US and Canadian East Coast markets and reduce the snow and ice management industry’s need for costly foreign rock salt.

In addition to its strategic location to deep-water ports and eastern North American markets, this massive rock salt deposit varies between 200 and 250 meters in thickness and is easily accessible between 200 meters and 400 meters below the surface. In contrast, Compass Minerals Goderich Salt Project, the worlds largest underground salt mine, is located 600 meters under Lake Huron. Company officials speculate the Great Atlantic Salt Project could mine a minimum of 2 million tonnes (metric tons) of rock salt per year and the mine could remain viable for 100 years. The Great Atlantic Salt Project is generating interest in the investment community, as well. According to a September 8 summary analysis for the online investment publication Streetwise Reports, author and analyst Ron Struthers states: “What is most important to understand is there is no risk with grade, metallurgy, strip ratios, processing and mining methods like mining other metals or materials. A processing plant is not required, you simply scoop material out of the deposit with a salt processor and ship to port. It is more like a salt factory than a mine. These salt projects generate huge cash flow and profits, but very seldom does one ever come to market in a public company.” Once up and running, the Great Atlantic Salt Project could become a highly sought acquisition target. Struthers speculates Stone Canyon Industries – which acquired The Kissner Group in 2020 – could be a potential suitor. “Mark Demetree of Stone Canyon appears to be reshaping the North American Salt industry and is probably not done. Whether Stone Canyon or not, it would not surprise me if Atlas is bought out within the next 2 years at multiples of the current share price.”

Since a timetable was not give as to when Atlas would break ground on its Great Atlantic Salt Project, it's not expected to impact the North American snow and ice management market during Winter 2021-22. Mike Zawacki is editor of Snow Magazine.

As we embark on the Labor Day weekend, ASCA Executive Director Kevin Gilbride dives into the deep end of the labor pool and offers perspective on how to address the ongoing need for workers.

Labor Day celebrates the achievements and contributions of the American laborer in making the United States into such a great country. But this year, many in our industry and in other service-oriented industries are in dire need of solutions. As owners, managers, and industry leaders we must reassess out relationships with labor to ensure we can attract, retain and develop the talent we need for this winter and winters down the road.

Therefore, I’m advocating raising your prices and paying your workers more. Wait, was that a pin dropping? Please bear with me for a moment and I will explain the logic to this position. At some point in our recent history, the professional snow and ice management industry joined the collective race to the bottom when it came to labor. This didn’t begin because we failed to hire good people. Rather, we can trace its roots back to price cutting and accepting a low-bid approach when awarding winter service contracts. Over time, the average contractor’s overall expenses increase. With labor being a significant -- if not the largest -- expense line item, it gets unfairly scrutinized. You see, decades ago the landscape and snow industry were compensating well above minim wage, nearly double on average, for entry-level positions. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same today. And as a result, labor is a commodity many professional snow and ice managers struggle with today. There is a severe shortage of people who want to work, and the ongoing global pandemic and overly generous stimulus programs have done nothing but create logistical black holes for service-based companies – from the baristas who pour your morning coffee to the shovelers who will be clearing snow from walkways this winter. As an essential industry we must get back to the point where we draw from the labor pool on equal footing with other service industries. This starts with you and your sales teams having serious conversations with your customers. Now is a prime opportunity because they, too, are not immune to hiring deficiencies. They understand the struggle and sympathize with the need to pay more for employees who will not only commit to jobs but will actually show up on the first day. While a labor-influenced price increase assures you have ample resources to service their properties correctly, settling for a low-bid contractor in a tight labor market is a risky endeavor for obvious reasons. A low-bid snow contractor competing at the lowest price levels available will assuredly provide the lowest levels of snow and ice management services. And if a client finds a price point more attractive than the level of professional service, then this is likely someone you don’t want to do business with, anyways. Good clients will understand because they are doing the same thing with their pricing structures, and they recognize the risk inherent with the low-bid provider in a tight labor market. As the old saying goes: You get what you pay for. Now, take a hard look it at your snow and ice management ops. Have you built a culture that people want to work for? I am not talking about the occasional team lunch or barbecue. I am talking about creating a place where nearly of your team looks forward to coming to everyday. Where they feel appreciated and empowered. Where they see opportunities and a future for themselves. It’s the kind of culture where your employees are recruiting for you. Assess the gaps and determine how to fix those holes in your culture. Often, it is a manager or crew member being a blocker or bringing everyone else down. There are plenty of resource available to assist in creating company culture that is desirable to others. Seek out those resources and get to work. In the end, snow and ice management is an industry where labor is our most valuable resource. If you think about it, a skilled workforce is just as important as plow trucks and rock salt. And if we learn anything from this crisis, it’s that we must focus on the human component as closely as we do the other areas of our business. After all, there is an entire holiday celebrating it. Happy Labor Day everyone!

Kevin Gilbride is the Executive Director of the Accredited Snow Contractors Association.

Aspects for criticism in your professional relationships may seem very familiar since they are the same critical thoughts you have about yourself. Learn how to recognize and better manage both.

Back in 1993 I read a book called, Keeping the Love You Find, by Dr. Harville Hendrix, who also wrote, Getting the Love You Want, which I read in 1994. He is an acclaimed expert on relationships. The biggest lesson I learned from him applies not only in romantic relationships, but also in work relationships. One idea has stood out for me more than any other, “What we criticize in others is what we are most critical of in ourselves.” A work relationship where we invest as much or more time with other people than we do with those in our own houses is one where people often criticize each other either directly or indirectly. However, the powerful insight from Dr. Hendrix is that we can come to a better understanding of ourselves by slowing down and thinking about what we are criticizing in someone else. If we criticize someone else as being a know-it-all and arrogant, then it might be possible that we are also criticizing our own know-it-all, arrogant attitude. If we criticize someone else for never stepping up and taking charge, might we not be thinking about ourselves when we don’t step up and take responsibility? Once I understood this idea I started to understand myself so much better. The areas I needed to work on quickly began to reveal themselves to me. And this idea has stayed with me for all these years. Yes, we might have a good point in what we are saying about other people, but in doing so we might very well increase our awareness of what we need to work on. And once that happens, then we can begin to make real progress on ourselves. As I look back on my life and reflect on different relationships, this way of learning from others has been of enormous benefit. I used to criticize people for using foul language in meetings. Then I heard my own voice using foul language, and I realized that I didn’t like the way it sounded in other people, and I didn’t like the way it sounded coming from me. So I stopped. Once we become aware of this insight from Harville Hendrix it becomes an incredibly powerful tool for improving ourselves. We start to see behaviors and words that we don’t like in ourselves that have been subconsciously hidden from us. On an even deeper level we realize that the other person really isn’t doing something so awful, but that we are really reacting to something more so within ourselves that we want to criticize. If we criticize someone for being loud at parties, it might be that we are actually expressing our criticism of ourselves but directing it at another person. Once we realize this, we can become more accepting of other people for demonstrating a small dose of the parts of ourselves that we are critical of. Reading this can feel like a riddle at first. However, once you are aware of this it can become more obvious to you the next time you are critical of someone else. Having said all of that, there are still times when it is important to provide a critical voice. Martin Luther King, Jr. provided a critical voice regarding the behavior of so many people who abused other people based solely on the color of their skin. Many people have provided a critical voice of other people by supporting all the women who have been treated terribly unfairly for centuries just based on their gender. Mother Theresa and Albert Schweitzer spoke up many times about the dignity of poor people and how important it is that they not become forgotten people. Along the way they criticized those people who ignored the plight of poor people. Standing up for what you believe is right and wrong is a worthy thing to do, and if it requires being critical of other people in doing so than that is what is needed. However, it’s in the many small criticisms of other people that we may make on a regular basis where we can learn more about ourselves. It’s in those criticisms where we might be talking more about ourselves than about the other person.

A frequent Snow Magazine contributor, Dan Coughlin provides both individual Executive Coaching and Group Coaching Programs on management, leadership, and teamwork. To visit his Free Business Performance Idea Center, go to www.thecoughlincompany.com.

Tailgate-Mounted SprayStriker65 TR and 90 UTV liquid deicing sprayers designed for compact snowfighting equipment.

Hilltip has added two additional products to is snowfighting arsenal, this time a pair of spray systems designed for smaller equipment. Hilltip claims its new SprayStriker 65 TR and 90 UTV system are the only tailgate-mounted de-icing sprayers on the market. Designed for compact tractors, loaders and UTVs, the new brine sprayers allow smaller vehicles to take advantage of Hilltip’s SprayStriker technology when spraying pedestrian paths, walkways and hard-to-reach pavement. The SprayStriker 65 TR and 90 UTV sprayers are powered by 7 GPM, 12V pumps designed for deicing liquids. In addition, Hilltip uses high-quality polyethylene tanks and zinc-based, powder-coated mild steel bodies for added corrosion protection. Additional options include 40-foot hose reels, in-cabin controlled side nozzles to increase spray width, and 2.6-foot, 4-foot or 6.5-foot spray bars. Hilltip is also includes an Android smartphone as a standard with the SprayStriker 65 TR and 90 UTV sprayers, preloaded with the Hilltip StrikeSmart app. Through the app, operators can customize spreading sessions according to the situation. Automatic GPS speed control will adjust the liquid flow (gal/1,000 sq ft) based on vehicle speed, or users can manually set a fixed speed through the app. In addition, the app collects and saves essential spreading data for reports and allows for control of other functions, like beacon lights and side nozzles. For additional control and observation, all SprayStriker brine sprayers come standard with Hilltip’s exclusive HTrack tracking software. This allows for complete remote tracking and management of all sprayers from a computer, tablet or smartphone. One can monitor treatment routes, vehicle speed, GPS location and material usage in real-time. All this information can then be used to generate PDF reports for the most detailed documentation. Lastly, the two-way GPRS communication channel allows application rates to be remotely set and adjusted for each customer’s site depending on changing weather conditions. Additional accessory options include

Snow contractors can also choose from additional mount types, including:

The evolving partnership gives users access to updated product pricing and more.