The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
Note: This is the second of a two-part feature on Ontario’s mining history. The first half of a top-10 list of significant events was printed in Friday edition of the Star; the countdown continues below.
For Part-one, click here: http://republicofmining.com/2014/05/30/accent-celebrating-northern-ontarios-mining-history-by-stan-sudol-sudbury-star-may-30-2014/
5) Peter Munk: Canada’s King of Gold
Amazingly, Peter Munk knew little about mining as he previously developed resorts in the South Pacific and owned a high-fidelity stereo system company that went bankrupt. In 1983, with a small oil exploration company that was losing money, he decided to buy a half interest in the Renabie gold mine near Wawa and a piece of an Alaskan placer miner which together produced 3,000 ounces that year.
In 1984, he bought Camflo Mines with operations in northwestern Quebec, but more importantly, acquired an experienced mine management team that would help Barrick takeover mines in Ontario, the United States and around the world. A significant success was the Nevada Goldstrike mine in 1988 when company President Robert Smith saw its huge potential.
Munk’s greatest success was the acquisition of Placer Dome in 2006 during the foreign takeovers of some of Canada’s legendary miners that included Inco, Falconbridge and Alcan.