In Jason Berger’s world as a minerals and metals importer, it takes just as much legwork to move one bag of material, whether it’s manganese, ferrochrome or silicon metal, as it does to move thousands of tons of it. The sources of the raw materials he imports are as far-flung as Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and South Africa, and he sells to manufacturers throughout North America.

Berger, whose father founded North American Minerals Corp. in Ann Arbor, Mich., 25 years ago, moved to Urbandale from Michigan a year and a half ago after his wife, Maureen, accepted a promotion with Marsh Affinity Group Services. Having found they both enjoy Des Moines, Berger decided recently that he would move the business, which he is buying from his father, here next fall. Berger said it’s possible he may eventually leave this increasingly competitive niche to launch some new entrepreneurial venture in Des Moines.



What does North American Minerals do?

Our business is the importing of industrial metals, minerals and raw materials. We’ll work with the actual mines, anywhere from South Africa to Chile to Eastern Europe, wherever these raw materials may be. We handle the logistics, the sourcing and the financing, which is a huge part of the business, and then market the material in [the United States], Canada and Mexico. So our business is one where we’ve got customers all over – Portland, Chicago, Cincinnati, New Orleans and even remote places like Southern Illinois.

Our business, for the most part, is traveling. We’ve got to go visit the suppliers, visit the customers, and visit all the logistical spots in between where the cargo is kept. We’ll work with three to five different suppliers overseas, depending on the product, and sell it to half a dozen customers here in the States. It’s rare that we have more than half a dozen clients for any one product.

What types of products do these raw materials end up in?

One thing that I tell people about because they can easily relate to it is the Sacagawea dollar coins. That gold tint in them comes from manganese. We bought that from the mine down in South Africa and sold it to the company that put together the alloy for the U.S. Mint. Most of the [other] stuff, nobody thinks about because it goes into aluminum or steel or paint or leather or bowling balls or any number of things, but the dollar coin was a little different.

How big is the company?

I have three people working for me: a logistics person who does nothing but move containers from point A to point B; an office manager who deals with financing; and another salesperson. So it doesn’t take a lot of people to do what we do. When you combine the revenues with another company we own half of, Arbor Alloys, it’s about a $15 million-a-year business.

How does Des Moines compare to the Detroit area?

The thing I personally like about Des Moines is the vitality that’s in the environment here, especially compared to metro Detroit. Ann Arbor is doing fairly well; it’s got Pfizer [Pharmaceutical Co.], Domino’s [Pizza LLC]- but the negativity of the auto industry permeates everything.

Will you be hiring locally?

Because we still have office space leased and employment contracts in place, we’re going to keep it in place for another year. But after that, we’re going to revamp it and hire people locally here in Des Moines. I started looking, and I was impressed with the quality of people you could get out here for the money and the work ethic, and the low cost of office space. … I think I can get a better quality employee out here for a lesser price, which is another reason I’m excited about doing it.

Have you looked into economic development incentives?

(The Greater Des Moines Partnership) was very excited to talk to me when I told them what we did and how much revenue we do. They said, “This is fantastic.” Then they found out I was only bringing out two employees, and they lost a bit of interest then. If I had 20 employees or 50 employees, they just couldn’t wait to talk to me. … And that won’t change. It just doesn’t take a lot of manpower to do what we do.

How does your company handle materials?

We have 17 warehouses around the United States. Yes, we do actually get our hands dirty. Logistics plays such a key factor in what we do. We want to make sure we’re set up in the best possible logistical situations, wherever that may be. So we have warehouses in Norfolk, Va., Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Portland, Long Beach, Houston. It’s finding the combination of where the material’s coming from and where it’s going. We actually looked at a warehouse in Des Moines, but decided not to locate one here.

How have changes in the international market affected your business in the past few years?

The demand in China and India for commodities for building up their infrastructure has created such a tightening of the world market; it’s very much changed what we do. That, and the devaluation of the dollar, has had a huge effect on us. There was a while there you could sit on inventory for a month and make a 30 percent return on it [as its retail value increased], which was fantastic. The problem was, you needed another 40 percent to replace your inventory, and where do you get it?

Outside of the relationships you hope to establish with local banks, do you see any potential for establishing business relationships in Central Iowa?

Definitely. It’s not so much the manufacturing sectors. I joined the Young Entrepreneurs Organization to meet some local business contacts. YEO has also made it easier for me to find (business services) I needed. Banking is a bit of a challenge for us. … Telling a banker you’re going to borrow $3 million and you’re going to have little bits of inventory spread throughout the United States, and that if anything goes wrong, the asset securing their loan is 100 tons of silicon metal sitting down in Laredo, Texas, that makes them a bit nervous. We’ve started looking at banks here, and contacts through YEO have been helpful because they know the banks that are willing to go out on a limb.