By: Crystal Burgess, Cofounder of Burgex
You may have seen our three credos on the Burgex website: Qualified – Experienced – Honest. Here is a little insight into why we picked those three qualities for our company.
Burgex began in 2010 as Burgess Exploration (founded by Stuart and Crystal Burgess) because we wanted to experience the freedom of working for ourselves. It was not an easy task, as our only service at the time was abandoned mine exploration. We would explore old mines, conduct rudimentary mapping and sampling programs and photograph the entire mine. We would travel all over the West, rappelling into historic mines and documenting their workings, often being the first people down since the miners. This work started us on the path of learning about the mining industry, from the ground up (pun intended).
From our clients we learned about industrial minerals, such as frac sand and bentonite, and how to do basic testing before sending out samples to the labs. We got hands on education from “old-timers” in how to stake mining claims in the hot Arizona desert. These experiences were the gateway to more sophisticated services to come. It was where our schooling came from…from people in the industry, sharing their knowledge with us and working on projects together.
Eventually, it became clear we needed people who were more formally educated than us to help with the technical side of things, such as: valuations, mining finance, risk analysis and market analysis for commodities. That was when Burgex really began to grow as a company. Chris Summers, now our CEO, was our very first full-time hire. With his mining finance background, he was able to bring our company to even greater heights with valuations and economic studies. Soon we brought in mining engineers, financial analysts, GIS specialists, auditors (a critical role!), geologists, landmen and of course more field technicians.
Qualifications and experience are significant attributes to have in any company, especially when conducting technical work. However, in the mineral exploration space, we quickly realized that honesty was not a virtue every individual or company had. We saw geology reports with exorbitant reserves, clients that listed their claims on the stock exchange before work was conducted, or falsifying data. To us that was, and still is, simply unacceptable.
We hold ourselves to a high standard of work that is honest and done to the best of our knowledge. We hold our clients to that same standard. It’s said that you are the average intelligence of people with whom you interact the most. You can make the same statement about business. Our company’s integrity is only as good as those we do business with, which is why we are honored to work with wonderful people like you and with companies such as yours.
We truly appreciate your business and take great pride in our partnerships.
