Interim Falconbridge chief to hold steady course

Alex Balogh, a former chief executive officer of Falconbridge (FL-T), has been named the interim replacement following the death, last week, of president and chief executive officer Franklin Pickard.

This is the second time Balogh has been the company’s president and chief executive officer. He held the position from 1989 to 1990, before being succeeded by Pickard. The board is currently considering a permanent replacement.

Balogh, who is also chairman of the board of directors, says the company will remain on a steady course in the wake of Pickard’s death. “Falconbridge has a strategy that was developed by the people of the company, and we’ll carry on with it,” he says. “We have growth objectives and cost-cutting measures — all of those things that make this company great.”

Pickard, 63, died of a heart attack while on a routine visit to the company’s Collahuasi copper project in the Andes Mountains of Chile. He had been with Falconbridge for more than 40 years, starting when he worked in the company’s mill in Sudbury, Ont., while still a high-school student. He held various positions in the company, including head metallurgist, director of metallurgy and engineering, and senior vice-president of metallurgical operations and technology.

Anthony Andrews, executive director of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada, describes Pickard as dedicated, adding that he contributed greatly to Falconbridge’s stature. “Recently, it has become important for Canadian mining companies to establish a global strategy,” Andrews says. “Frank was very much a part of that at Falconbridge. There are tremendous opportunities out there, and, from my perspective, Frank was very concerned with that. He established, with the expertise of [Falconbridge’s] upper management, a global strategy.”

Pickard is survived by his wife, Audrey, and daughters, Beverly and Barbara.