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Day: June 29, 2011

Brain drain in Canada threatens mining’s future – by Agence France-Presse (Montreal Gazette – June 29, 2011)

http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html

MONTREAL — A shortage of mining specialists in Canada is hobbling the industry at a time when emerging giants India and China are pushing demand for ores and precious metals to record highs, experts say.

“You can’t find good geologists,” Rene Marion, chief executive of AuRico Gold, a Canadian company with mining operations in Mexico, told AFP.

“Hiring is a major, major problem,” echoed Jean-Marc Lulin, head of junior mining company Azimut Exploration. Canada is home to several major multinational mining firms, including Barrick, the world’s largest gold producer, with operations on five continents.

Companies are desperate for geologists, mining engineers and workers with metallurgical, chemical, electrical and environmental expertise, as well as good managers, according to McGill University’s Hani Mitri.

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OMA member Barrick Gold makes multi-million dollar contribution to global health

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province. 

Ontario Mining Association member Barrick Gold and the Family of the late Greg Wilkins, former company president, have donated $5.5 million to advance global health.  Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation will be using this gift to combat brain diseases and improve medical training for surgeons and nurses in developing countries.

Mr. Wilkins was President and Chief Executive Officer at Barrick from 2003 to 2008.  He started with the company in 1981 and helped transform it into the world’s largest gold producer.  Mr. Wilkins held an executive position with another corporation for several years in the late 1990s up until 2003.  He passed away in December 2009 at the age of 53 after losing his battle with cancer. 

The donation, which was first announced earlier this year, has several components.  They include the Greg Wilkins Chair in International Surgery, which will oversee research and training for doctors and nurses in developing countries.  Dr. Mark Bernstein, a neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital, who performed brain surgery on Mr. Wilkins as part of his care team, was appointed to this position last week.  Dr. Bernstein has described Mr. Wilkins as “extremely courageous.”  Toronto Western Hospital is a world leader in the treatment of and research on diseases of the brain and spinal cord.

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Asbestos hypocrisy sticking to PM – by Tim Harper (Toronto Star – June 29, 2011)

The Toronto Star, which has the largest broadsheet circulation in Canada,  has an enormous impact on Canada’s federal and provincial politics as well as shaping public opinion.

It takes a special kind of resilience to get knocked down, get up, dust yourself off and declare that you are winning. But that was Kathleen Ruff’s position, communicated forcefully and frenetically, from the West Coast on Tuesday. Ruff continues her battle over Canadian asbestos exports, even as Prime Minister Stephen Harper again confounds the world.

Last week, in Geneva, Harper’s government refused to put chrysotile asbestos on a United Nations list of hazardous exports. It was the third time Canada has stepped in to prevent placing asbestos on a list of exports that would have to include warnings of health hazards to recipient countries.

Those countries could then refuse the asbestos imports if they believed they were unable to handle the product safely on their soil. The cost of protecting Quebec mining jobs has been high.

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