From paper to rock

A mid-career change from wood to stone has seen James Boyce accomplish a lot in a short time as he leads from the front in the aggregates industry. He explains why it’s an industry he loves. By GAVIN RILEY.

It seems incredible that James Boyce (pictured) has been in quarrying for just five and a half years yet by mid-2010 will have completed a three-year term as president of the Aggregate and Quarry Association.

That’s a lot of ground to have covered in a short time, especially since James’s term at the helm has coincided with a crucial period in the industry’s history – its decision to move from the back to the front foot and impress on politicians and the public its indispensability to the nation.

But 44-year-old James Boyce is someone who packs a lot into his life and takes in his stride problems that might daunt others. For instance, five days a week he lives in rented accommodation while he immerses himself in his job as operations manager of Holcim (NZ) Bombay quarry. Then on Friday evening he travels the 200 kilometres to his home on the shores of Lake Rotorua to rejoin his family – his wife of 21 years, Julie, daughter Shannon, 16, and sons Taylor, 14, and Riley, 7.

There, James enjoys trout fishing, mountain biking and riding his 675cc Triumph Daytona motorbike. Come 5am Monday and he’s off to Bombay again. This stark separation of home and work might not suit everyone but James says it enables him to be fully involved in a job that requires long hours, and, “you have to be 100 percent committed if you’re going to be effective”.  

James was born in Christchurch and, like several generations of his family before him, attended Christchurch Boys’ High School. A teacher, Barry Maister (1976 Olympic hockey gold medallist and now a member of the International Olympic Committee), got him interested in forestry, though he already had a peripheral interest through his father being manager of a sawmilling and timber company.  

James obtained a degree in forestry at Canterbury University, married Julie and moved north to work for New Zealand Forest Products in operational roles in the Tokoroa area. The company was taken over by Carter Holt Harvey which, in turn, was assimilated by International Paper.

The latter takeover gave James opportunities for overseas business travel and to manage the plywood mill at Kinleith, a 24-hour operation in which he was in charge of a crew of 300 and was exposed to the challenges of dealing with export markets and exchange-rate fluctuations.

He eventually decided to try something different, was a consultant for six months, then successfully applied for the job he has done for the past five and half years at Holcim’s Bombay quarry.

“I prefer quarrying to forestry. I like the size of the industry and the people are very approachable and very friendly,” James says.

“They’re very committed people and they take a very long-term view. They’re not out to cut each other’s throats because that would be to the detriment of the industry’s long-term interests. They’re smart, sensible people who have an altruistic approach – they believe the industry is contributing to the betterment of society.

“That’s something I very much admire in the people I meet in the industry.”

The industry likes James too. Encouraged by his employer to become involved with the Aggregate and Quarry Association, he was elected to the AQA’s national executive in 2005 and became president in 2007.

James says his AQA service has enabled him to contribute to the good of the wider industry rather than just concentrate on his company role. He has been involved in lifting the AQA’s profile after quarrying had experienced “decades of being hidden away from public view” and a consequent adverse effect on worker recruitment.

The decision to be proactive was made in 2007 when the industry’s captains met in Auckland and agreed unanimously that the industry would continue to be on the back foot unless it raised its profile and explained itself better to central and local government, and the public.

James says it became a major priority for the AQA “to give them an understanding of who we are, what we do and why we exist. And when you start telling the story about aggregates and the fact that all the built infrastructure that we have in society has as its foundation aggregates materials, they start to realise that society can’t grow, can’t even be maintained, without having access to aggregates”.

With only 12 years’ assured aggregates supply left in Auckland and an estimated ten years required for a greenfields quarry-consenting process, the AQA has worked diligently since that watershed meeting of 2007 to improve its relationships with central and local government and help create a secure future for the extraction industry. As a result, it is looking forward to the publication in March of national standards for aggregates in which it has had an input and which will determine how quarries are going to be consented in future.

“Building up that rapport with people who are establishing the regional long-term plans and strategies has been very important,” James says.

“We’ve actually had some wins by being invited along by individual councils to help them develop their strategies around access to minerals and aggregates. Notable examples have been Environnment Waikato and Auckland Regional Council, who have engaged with us over the past 18 months. And we have said to them that our doors are always open.

“The thing that councils struggle with is that they don’t necessarily know where the reserves are, but the industry does. But the thing that the industry doesn’t have is understanding where the demand is going to be into the future – and that’s what councils do have. They know where and how cities are going to grow, and that’s the information the industry needs in order to determine where quarries should be.

“If you put these two valuable bits of information together, you really have the whole picture. When you’ve got councils and the industry collaborating, they can come up with the best solution for planning for that future growth in an economic way.”

As for the industry improving its relationship with the public, James says: “I’m pleased to see a lot of quarries starting to have open days and inviting the public in.

“Major challenges are involved, not only health and safety aspects but an element of being prepared almost to show our dirty washing in public by inviting visitors in. The public are going to see the best and worst of what you do. It’s important that they get to see that.

“It won’t change everybody’s viewpoint. But that’s a healthy thing. Having a public debate is good.”

When James steps down from the AQA presidency in July he hopes to continue to serve on the executive, if the membership is willing, as he intends to be in quarrying long-term.

“I can’t see myself going into another industry,” he says. “I’ve already explained that I really love the people, and the opportunity to be in the outdoors is something I find very rewarding.

“My genetics are that I come from some North Canterbury farmers, and being in the outdoors in New Zealand is what I’m about.”