The new gold rush is digging Kamloops

When Gordon Leschyson developed his first mini-excavator in the carport of his home, it never entered his mind the machine would be front and centre in a new gold rush.

More than a decade later, that’s exactly where the owner of CanDig Mini Excavators and his machines find themselves.

Leschyson had been quietly building his excavators out of his Laval Crescent location in Kamloops for several years before he struck his own version of gold.

It turns out his machines are being used by prospector Shawn Ryan.

If the name doesn’t ring a bell, it likely will very shortly.

The Yukon-based man was recently named Canada’s top prospector by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.

Ryan is said to have discovered a massive white-gold deposit in the Yukon that could yield millions of ounces of the precious metal.

So, what does the small Kamloops company with just a handful of employees have to do with such a large find worth millions and millions of dollars?

Ryan credits his discovery to CanDig’s excavators — a sentiment that has left Leschyson feeling rather golden.

“I didn’t realize the magnitude of it until this week,” he told KTW following a major mining conference in Toronto last week, where CanDig’s excavator was all the rage.

The small excavator, which costs about $15,000 and is built to order in Leschyson’s small workshop in Kamloops, is taken by helicopter into an exploration site.

From there, it can be walked to a mountainside, where it tackles very rough terrain to carry out the work often done by much larger machines.

As an added bonus, the company includes $3,000 worth of parts with each purchase.

Therefore, if there’s a problem in the field, it can be fixed immediately.

Mining companies from around the world are now taking notice of CanDig’s excavators, thanks to Hall’s glowing endorsement.

The very wealthy prospector has seven of the machines at his disposal.

But, Leschyson’s growing success in the mining industry is about as accidental as the first discoveries of gold during the fabled Klondike Gold Rush of the 1800s.

The business owner originally marketed his creation to building contractors and hobby farmers.

Though Leschyson’s original foray into the marketplace returned reasonable results, he started noticing — without any marketing whatsoever — an interest in his product by the mining industry.

“I should have known better, I’m from the Yukon,” he joked,

Leschyson knows what it’s like to work in a remote setting, where equipment failure is not an option.

He credits the machine’s portability, stability in tight spots and environmental footprint — the excavators run on biodegradable fuel that leaves a footprint behind no worse than olive oil — for becoming the darling of the industry.

As the orders poured in and the recession took hold, Leschyson decided to focus solely on the mining industry.

The award-winning company — among its honours is the 2007 Kamloops Chamber of Commerce Innovator of the Year Award — has sold more than 200 excavators around the world, with new orders coming in every week.

The industry accounts for 90 per cent of CanDig’s sales.

As for taking centre stage in this century’s new gold rush, Leschyson is a little more modest.

He said he’s just following the coattails of prospectors like Hall.

“I want to come along for the ride,” Leschyson said.

It’s a ride he can no doubt dig.