Our awards

The Horne Smelter is the proud recipient of an F.J. O’connell trophy and an award of distinction

On June 9, the Horne Smelter, a Glencore company, was honoured at the Quebec Mining Association (AMQ) gala. The company was awarded an F.J. O’connell Trophy as it was named winner in the Surface Operations, Transportation and Primary Metals category. The Horne Smelter was also awarded the Distinction Award in the Communications-marketing category for the communication campaign of the VELOX project.

It is with great honour that we receive these awards, which aim to recognize the performance in occupational health and safety (OHS) of QMA members and to highlight the prevention activities put in place as well as the achievement of an innovative and creative communication campaign.

“At the Horne Smelter, health and safety is our highest priority and this trophy supports all the efforts made by all of our employees on a daily basis to make our plant a place where it is possible to work in complete safety. That our OHS performance is recognized by all of our peers will certainly encourage us to continue to give the best of ourselves and to innovate to put in place ever safer practices to ensure that all our employees can return to home unscathed." - Marie-Pier Bédard, director of operations.

" The Horne Smelter's Communications Department team had to use creativity to set up a communication campaign for the VELOX technology. We are proud to have enabled a large number of people to understand what this new technology is and all its potential, but also to have been able to put forward the men and women who have worked for several years on the development of this unique process in the world of copper. The VELOX communication campaign has been a good engine for the democratization of knowledge in research and development, which remains a major challenge for our industry. - Cindy Caouette, Superintendent of Communications and Community Relations

13 Horne Smelter supervisors honoured by the Quebec Mining Association

Thirteen of our supervisors have received the OHS Recognition Award from the Quebec Mining Association (QMA) for their health and safety performance. We congratulate them all!

These supervisors, supported by the work of their teams, have successfully maintained safe work environments for periods ranging from 50,000 to 350,000 hours in 2020.

At Horne Smelter, health and safety is one of our core values. The awards reaped by our team members show how firmly this value is rooted in all our employees—a great source of pride for us!

Horne Smelter, a Glencore company, was recognized on April 29 at the Mercuriades gala of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec

The company came away with a Mercury Award when it was named winner of the Investissement Québec—CRIQ Industrial Innovation category.

The Mercuriades jury recognized Horne Smelter’s contribution to innovation when it had to be bold and creative to deliver a major project. The company’s submission described the general shutdown project resulting from the pandemic lockdown, a project that required the mobilization and expertise of all its workers, as well as many contractors, at a time when people around the world were facing uncertainty. In total, workers from 74 companies all across Quebec joined the smelter’s 660 permanent employees, making this project a success in terms of its operations as well as from a public health perspective. 

“We’re so honoured to receive this award from the Quebec business community. Over the years, we’ve always striven to surpass ourselves in achieving our objectives, to improve our productivity, but also to remain a thriving business so we can help our community grow and develop. We're exceedingly proud that our contribution to innovation is being recognized nationally, and this acknowledgement encourages us to continue implementing innovative projects. It also means we can remain a major economic player in Rouyn-Noranda, as well as in the province, for many years to come,” said Claude Bélanger, Copper Metallurgical Lead for Quebec

Horne Smelter wishes to congratulate the winners of this 41^st competition, as well as all the finalists. There is a strong entrepreneurial spirit in Quebec, and this type of competition highlights the expertise of homegrown businesses.

Horne Smelter receives 2021 MetSoc Innovation Award

It is with great honour that Horne Smelter received the 2021 Innovation Award from the Metallurgy and Materials Society (MetSoc) for the Noranda Converter Technology (CvN).

This award recognizes a metallurgy process that has reached 20 years of maturity. The Noranda Converter, which has been operating for 23 years, is the second processing vessel, which brings molten metal to a copper content of 98%. This is a unique process in the world developed with the expertise of people at the smelter. Developing and implementing the CvN were major steps forward in maintaining Horne Smelter’s competitive position in the custom smelter market, while improving its operational flexibility and environmental performance. Over the last 22 years of the vessel’s operation, 96% sulfur fixation has been achieved. By showing such significant operational performance, the CvN has certainly been a key component of the Horne Smelter process, making it the only smelter still operating in Canada today. 

Throughout the CvN’s lifetime, further optimizations have been made to the vessel to maximize the flexibility of the process in an ever-changing market. By designing and commissioning the Noranda Reactor in 1973 and the Noranda Converter in 1997, Horne Smelter has positioned itself as a major copper producer capable of redefining technology through flexible processes. Smelter employees have always shown a spirit of innovation that has enabled them to respond to the challenges the company has encountered in its nearly 100 years of existence. To this day, the smelter’s teams build on this legacy of innovation, leadership, and hard work to overcome the challenges they encounter. 

Continuous improvement has always driven Horne Smelter projects, and the design and commissioning of the Noranda Converter is clear evidence of this. The project, which led to a major breakthrough in the smelting process, will certainly not be the last to make far-reaching changes.

Horne Smelter actively contributes to the local economy

Horne Smelter was honoured to be awarded the Extra Award for Economic Contribution at the annual gala of the Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Rouyn-Noranda held on November 16, 2019, at the convention centre. 

Through this award, the Rouyn-Noranda business community recognized Horne Smelter’s commitment to supporting its community. This distinction highlights our company’s economic importance, in particular thanks to the 665 direct jobs, hundreds of indirect jobs, and our local purchasing policy, which makes a true difference in our community’s socio-economic life. Our submission to the jury of the 2019 Extra competition spotlighted these facts:

• $475,000 in donations and sponsorships in 2018
• $76 million in payroll
• 700 suppliers in the past year, including many regional ones
• $191 million in purchases of goods and services, more than half in our region
• $70 million in investments in 2018 
• Jury’s Choice Award at the 2018 Prix Créateur d’emplois du Québec

Success is the result of teamwork. We take this opportunity to celebrate each and every member of our team and thank them for contributing to our company's success.

Horne Smelter’s community engagement highlighted

On November 17, 2018, Horne Smelter was proud to be awarded the Extra Award for Community Engagement when the Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Rouyn-Noranda held its annual gala at the convention centre. 

This distinction, awarded by the competition jury, highlights Horne Smelter’s importance to the community of Rouyn-Noranda for over 90 years now! 

First, this award reflects our company’s contribution to the economy, thanks in part to the many local jobs we provide and to our local purchasing policy, both of which have a deep impact in our community’s socio-economic life.

Second, the award also highlights our commitment to providing the financial and human resources for projects created by and for the community. These include our Community Partnership Program (PPC), which provides approximately $500,000 annually in donations and sponsorships to various organizations, our Community Engagement Recognition Program (PREC), which supports employees who volunteer in the community, and the many fundraising campaigns and activities that happen at the smelter and that are expertly run by dedicated employees.

2018 Jury’s Choice Award from the Prix Créateurs d’emplois du Québec

Horne Smelter won the Jury’s Choice Award for the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region at the annual gala of the Prix Créateurs d’emplois du Québec. We are recognized as the largest private sector employer in our region. In 2017, more than $300 million was injected into the economy, including $182 million in goods and services purchases, and a payroll of $76 million. In total, our operations generate 601 direct jobs and 600 indirect jobs. 

Over the past five years, $275 million has been invested in a variety of projects and activities to improve our productivity as well as our health, safety, and environmental performance. These investments help develop local expertise, secure our future, and guarantee long-term jobs.

Horne Smelter wins the Extra Award for Investment (projects worth more than $50 million)

On Saturday, November 18, Horne Smelter took home the Extra Award for Investment in the category of projects worth more than $50 million awarded by the Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Rouyn-Noranda (CCIRN).

This recognition spotlights all our efforts to maintain and optimize our operations. In 2016 alone, we invested $56 million. In addition to improving our productivity, our many projects help improve our health, safety, and environmental performance. Note that 53% of the investments made in 2016 went to environmental projects.

Our health and safety performance honoured by the Quebec Mining Association for a third consecutive year

At the annual general meeting of the Quebec Mining Association in Quebec City, the F.J. O’Connell trophy was awarded to Horne Smelter for its excellent health and safety performance, in the category of surface operations, transportation, and primary processing of metals.

This trophy, awarded to the smelter for the third consecutive year, recognizes our unwavering commitment to providing a safe work environment by applying effective preventative measures that reduce recordable events and injury severity.

This recognition recognizes our shared, ongoing efforts and is attributable to every employee at Horne Smelter, across every sector, including our partners (contractors and consultants).