To commemorate their fiftieth anniversary in 2012, The Redpath Group commissioned a book to share their story of becoming a truly global mine contracting and engineering firm. Several years in the making, the result is a large and impressive 368 page, full-colour book that explores the company’s development from the one-man operation that Jim Redpath started in 1962 to the billion-dollar international company it is today. Told through the experiences and recollections of the people whose work built the company, this hard-cover book with its many photographs presents an unusual look at the challenges, the triumphs, and the setbacks that characterized the company’s journey to become Canada’s longest-operating mining contractor. The tale is often personal, as past and present employees from around the globe relate their experiences at projects in some of the world’s remotest places and most extreme climates. Clients and suppliers add an extra perspective to these stories.

From the very beginning, Redpath have done challenging and interesting projects, often accomplishing them in unexpected ways that were truly pioneering. They developed a reputation for being highly innovative and for methods and approaches that might seem obvious once they were proposed, yet were the result of creative and imaginative thinking. That reputation started in Canada with the company’s initial project, which was completed by four men, and has carried through to the current far-flung team of more than 6,000 people working in every continent. “How this small Canadian contractor became the gem it is today is a remarkable story, or rather, the sum of many stories of remarkable people,” observes the book’s author, Moira Jackson, a writer, editor, researcher, and teacher affiliated with Queen’s University’s School of Business in Kingston, Ontario.

Today, although well-known in the mining community for innovative solutions to difficult problems, many times in truly horrific conditions, Redpath are often “the invisible partner”. As the author notes, their story is a fascinating one of business, technical, and personal accomplishment that deserves to be known and appreciated beyond the mining industry. President and CEO George Flumerfelt writes in the book’s foreword, “It is our employees who have persevered, often against great odds, and delivered on commitments to our clients. It is this collective determination that has led to what I refer to as, the ‘Redpath Spirit’. The book is a tribute to all who have helped developed this spirit that has enabled us to enjoy the reputation we have in the industry today.”