The Vancouver Sun, a broadsheet daily paper first published in 1912, has the largest circulation in the province of British Columbia.

Aboriginal opposition to development of silver-zinc deposit in Nahanni National Park Reserve is supported by writer’s great-granddaughter

Celebrated writer Jack London’s great-granddaughter is supporting northern first nations and environmental groups challenging efforts by a Vancouver mining company to redevelop a rich silver-zinc deposit within the Nahanni National Park Reserve.

The park, surrounding the South Nahanni River where it carves through the Mackenzie Mountains about 1,300 kilometres north of Vancouver, has been called Canada’s Grand Canyon.

Last December, the Dehcho First Nations wrote to the federal government saying that a decision by the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board dismissing the need for an environmental impact review for the Canadian Zinc Corp.’s Prairie Creek mine was “troubling and disappointing” in its failure to adequately address their concerns about downstream water quality. Read the rest of this entry »

VANCOUVER, Jan. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Hunter Dickinson Inc. (HDI) is proud to announce that Robert Hunter and Robert Dickinson were inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame on January 12, 2012, in a gala ceremony in recognition of their outstanding lifetime achievements in mineral exploration and mining. They join a select group of prominent and respected leaders from the minerals industry who represent the very best of Canadian mining and its accomplishments.

Mr. Hunter and Mr. Dickinson co-founded HDI more than 25 years ago, forming an entrepreneurial business that has led to the development of one of the most successful teams in Canadian mining history. Today, HDI is a diversified, global mining group that has advanced mineral projects in Canada and around the world. The HDI track record of success includes 19 public and private companies, and dozens of mineral properties on six continents. Notable projects within the HDI fold include Mount Milligan, Kemess and Prosperity in BC, Pebble in Alaska and Xietongmen in China.

Both Mr. Hunter and Mr. Dickinson have been recognized by industry and business for their exceptional contributions to the Canadian and international minerals industry. Awards received include the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s Developer of the Year (1990), Mining Association of BC’s Mining Industry Person of the Year (2000), Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year® (2004) and PDAC’s Thayer Lindsley International Discovery (2007). Read the rest of this entry »

AME BC represents 4,000 thousand individual and 360 corporate members and is the predominant voice of mineral exploration and mine development in British Columbia.

Vancouver, B.C. — January 13, 2012 — The Association for Mineral Exploration BC (AME BC) salutes Robert Hunter (1927-2007) and Robert Dickinson, who were jointly inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame on January 12 in recognition of their outstanding lifetime achievements to the Canadian minerals industry.

Hunter and Dickinson are founders of Hunter Dickinson Inc. Today, because of the vision and leadership of Mr. Hunter and Mr. Dickinson, HDI is a diversified, global mining group with more than 25 years of mineral development success. From its head office in Vancouver, B.C., HDI applies its unique strengths and capabilities to acquire, develop, operate and monetize mineral properties that provide consistently superior returns to shareholders.

HDI is characterized by the drive and commitment of its founders, senior management and multi-disciplinary team. It is known for its technical excellence, experience and reliability. And it is passionate about bringing responsible mineral development to life in creative ways for the benefit of shareholders, partners and communities.  Read the rest of this entry »

Ned Goodman has made transformative and enduring contributions to Canada’s minerals industry and capital markets as a company-builder, merchant banker and investment advisor during a dynamic career spanning almost half a century. He applied his geological training and business acumen to help build several successful mining companies — notably International Corona and Kinross Gold — and nurtured many other mineral producing companies through astute and timely investments. In addition to being anoutstanding member of the philanthropic community, Montreal-born Goodman is considered one of the leading architects of Canada’s investment management industry.

Along with his partners, he founded the first exploration flow-through partnership, CMP Group, which has raised almost $5 billion since the 1980s to help companies explore and develop mining and petroleum companies, leading to the generation of jobs and benefits for rural and northern economies in Canada. He was also the driving force of the Dundee group of financial companies, which grew under his leadership from a $300-millionbase to a $50-billion mutual fund entity. Read the rest of this entry »

Phillip Hallof earned his status as one of the “fathers of modern geophysics” for his pioneering and innovative work in the field of frequency domain induced polarization (IP), which grew from an obscure research effort into an essential exploration tool. He contributed in many ways to the research and development of geophysical equipment, techniques and interpretation, and also provided technical expertise to the mineral exploration industry through his leadership of McPhar Geophysics Inc. and later Phoenix Geophysics. Another legacy of his 35-year career was aiding the discovery of mineral wealth for the benefit of Canada and the global economy.

Hallof was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and educated at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned a bachelor’s degree in geology (geophysics option) in 1952. While still a graduate student, he undertook research into the then-novel, variable frequency IP method being developed by Newmont Exploration and demonstrated that it gave measurable responses over certain known sulphide deposits. The technology was further refined and successfully field tested, resulting in a valuable new tool to help identify buried mineral deposits that were not conductive and which conventional electromagnetic (EM) surveys could not detect. He also created a new and useful mode ofdisplaying multi-spaced IP and resistivity data in the now standard pseudosection format. Read the rest of this entry »

John Hansuld served Canada’s mining and minerals sector with distinction as a pioneering geochemist, entrepreneurial company-builder and dedicated industry advocate. As a scientist, he advanced the application of geochemical techniques to mineral exploration and enhanced the profile and prestige of its practitioners.

As a corporate leader, he built Amax Exploration (Canada) into a premier exploration and mine development group later taken public as Canamax Resources Inc. He was also instrumental in transforming the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) from a largely Canadian organization to one of global influence.

Hansuld is perhaps best remembered for his leadership role in using the “flow-through share” tax-incentive program to fund Canadian mineral exploration at a time when many juniors were finding it difficult to access traditional capital markets. Read the rest of this entry »

A partnership formed by Robert Hunter and Robert Dickinson more than 25 years ago has endured as the inspirational foundation for Hunter Dickinson Inc. (HDI), one of North America’s most respected mineral exploration and mine development groups. With Hunter as the financier and promoter and Dickinson as the technical advocate and project potential savant, the efforts of this entrepreneurial duo led to the development of one of the most successful teams in Canadian mining history.

The HDI team has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to advance mineral projects in Canada and around the world. The list includes many important porphyry deposits — notably Mount Milligan, Kemess and Prosperity in BC, Pebble in Alaska, and Xietongmen in China — as well as gold and other deposit types. Hunter and Dickinson both began their careers in their home province of BC. Hunter was a top-performing life insurance agent for 20 years before joining the mining scene in the early 1980s. Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame was conceived by the late Maurice R. Brown, former editor and publisher of The Northern Miner, as a way to recognize and honour the legendary mine finders and builders of a great Canadian industry. The Hall was established in 1988. For more information about the extraordinary individuals who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, please go to their home website: http://mininghalloffame.ca/

 A lawyer by profession, James Y. Murdoch, who became first president of the fledgling Noranda Mines in 1922, at the age of 32, was one of the greatest its builders Canada has ever produced. Not just a mine-builder, but a nation builder.

He was president of the company for 30 years, until 1956, and chairman until his death in 1962. His “temporary” appointment became famous as “the most permanent temporary appointment on record”.
Out of the “important-looking” discovery of prospector Ed Horne in the wilds of northwestern Quebec, Murdoch masterminded the growth and development of Noranda into a massive complex of mines and processing facilities. His energy and judgment could be seen in every step of consequence Noranda took during Murdoch’s 30 years as president.

From the earliest days of its development, Murdoch saw Noranda as more than just the mine that Horne discovered. He visualized, instead, a rounded industry that would refine and fabricate its metals as well as producing them, proving that Canadian raw materials could be processed to the finished state within Canada. Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame was conceived by the late Maurice R. Brown, former editor and publisher of The Northern Miner, as a way to recognize and honour the legendary mine finders and builders of a great Canadian industry. The Hall was established in 1988. For more information about the extraordinary individuals who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, please go to their home website: http://mininghalloffame.ca/

Along with many other prospectors of his generation, Edmund Horne came to northern Ontario at the turn of the century with hopes of finding his pot of gold. Success was elusive, but rather than give up, Horne decided to venture across the border into Quebec, based on his belief that good geology did not stop at the Ontario border. This conviction grew over the years, and ultimately led to the discovery of the magnificent Horne copper and gold mine which formed the foundation for Noranda, one of Canada’s great mining companies.

Born in Enfield, Nova Scotia, Horne was a miner and prospector of wide experience long before he ventured into the wilds of Quebec’s Rouyn Township. He worked for several years at the Oldham gold mine near his home before wanderlust seized him. His travels took him to Colorado, and then to the gold camps of British Columbia and California. In 1908, Horne caught wind of the silver discoveries in Cobalt, and came to northern Ontario to start the most important chapter of his wandering miner’s odyssey. Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame was conceived by the late Maurice R. Brown, former editor and publisher of The Northern Miner, as a way to recognize and honour the legendary mine finders and builders of a great Canadian industry. The Hall was established in 1988. For more information about the extraordinary individuals who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, please go to their home website: http://mininghalloffame.ca/

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

 

2011 Canadian Mining Hall of Fame – Innovation and Wealth Creation

Like the commodity supercycle, he was back again to the delight of a “star-studded” mining crowd at the 23rd Mining Hall of Fame’s annual dinner and induction ceremony at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, held recently in Toronto. I am referring to that perennial funny man, Pierre Lassande, Chairman of Franco-Nevada Corporation, who kept the 800-plus guests in stitches with his master of ceremonies commentary.

“I don’t want you to think of yourself as an audience,” Mr. Lassande began. “Think of yourselves as trapped Chilean miners! I promise we’ll get you out of here by Easter.”

He was joined at the head table by some of the top CEOs of Canada’s mining sector including, Don Lindsay of Teck Resources, Aaron Regent of Barrick Gold, Tye Burt of Kinross Gold, Pamela Strand of Shear Mineral and Michael White of IBK Capital Corp., just to mention a few.

Mr. Lassonde continued about the top mining story of the year, if not decade, “For three months they captured a worldwide audience who learned more about mining than we could ever teach them in their life time. … One of them got into a bit of a pickle when both his wife and his mistress showed up on top. He was the only one who was glad to be half a mile underground!”

Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame was conceived by the late Maurice R. Brown, former editor and publisher of The Northern Miner, as a way to recognize and honour the legendary mine finders and builders of a great Canadian industry. The Hall was established in 1988. For more information about the extraordinary individuals who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, please go to their home website: http://mininghalloffame.ca/
 

Canada’s recent emergence as a centre of excellence for diamond exploration and production owes much to the pioneering efforts of John Williamson, a brilliant geologist from McGill University who discovered, built and operated the highly successful Williamson diamond mine — also known as Mwadui — in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). His efforts to build and operate a diamond mine in remote East Africa, where he spent much of his life from the mid-1930s until his death, are legendary. The mine’s total production from 1941-2008 has been estimated at 20 million carats, with a current value estimated at $3 billion. The mine also created thousands of jobs and a socially progressive town-site known for its amenities.

 Williamson also left a valuable legacy in Canada, by recruiting and introducing young scientists, notably McGill graduates, to the newly emerging diamond industry. Decades later, they lent their expertise and credibility to help Canada realize its diamond potential.

Born in Montfort, Quebec, Williamson entered Montreal’s McGill University in 1925, intending to study law, but a summer field expedition to Labrador inspired him to switch to geology. He earned his BA, MSc and PhD degrees in geology between 1928 and 1933. Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame was conceived by the late Maurice R. Brown, former editor and publisher of The Northern Miner, as a way to recognize and honour the legendary mine finders and builders of a great Canadian industry. The Hall was established in 1988. For more information about the extraordinary individuals who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, please go to their home website: http://mininghalloffame.ca/
 

Bert Wasmund has been a world-renowned leader in metallurgical plant engineering and design for more than 40 years, as well as a driving force in the growth and success of Hatch Ltd., a Canadian firm serving the global mining and metallurgical industry. He is credited with a series of breakthrough contributions to metallurgical operations in Canada and abroad that improved their productivity, cost and energy efficiencies, capability to extract valuable products from lower grade ores and environmental performance in many cases.

He has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to the acquisition and mentorship of the next generation of engineers. This leadership has helped to attract a new generation to the mining and metallurgical industry and provided young professionals with interesting and challenging careers. Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame was conceived by the late Maurice R. Brown, former editor and publisher of The Northern Miner, as a way to recognize and honour the legendary mine finders and builders of a great Canadian industry. The Hall was established in 1988. For more information about the extraordinary individuals who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, please go to their home website: http://mininghalloffame.ca/
 

During a distinguished career spanning more than a half-century, Mike Muzylowski contributed to the growth of Canada’s mining industry as a gifted geologist and mine-finder, innovative financier and respected senior mining executive. His diverse talents were instrumental in the discovery and development of 16 mineral deposits that became producing mines — 13 in Manitoba, two in Nevada and one in the Northwest Territories — and the building of numerous mining companies, notably Granges Inc. and its subsidiary, Hycroft Resources and Development. Along with long-time partner Douglas McRae, he helped to open the doors to European and other foreign financial centres and establish the credibility of foreign investment in Canadian mineral exploration.

Muzylowski left the family farm near Oakburn, Manitoba, to attend the University of Manitoba, where he earned a BSc degree in geology. In 1955, he joined Hudson Bay Exploration and Development Company (HudBay) and spent five years as a field geologist before advancing to senior positions, including senior project geologist, chief geophysicist and assistant superintendent of exploration and development. Several of his Manitoba drill targets became HudBay producers, notably the An d erson Lake mine in the Snow Lake camp and the Centennial mine near Flin Flon. Read the rest of this entry »

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on July 20, 1957.

Viola MacMillan believes “anybody can do anything” and has mink, a mansion, a Miami apartment and mines worth $10,000,000 to prove it

Mining papers credit her with building the Prospectors and Developers
Association from a loosely knit agglomeration of fieldmen and promoters
into a powerful organization representing one of the most important
segments of the mining industry.

The Prospector in the Pink Penthouse

Canada’s sprawling two-billion-dollar mining industry owes its boom to a motley army of men: sleek brokers in big city offices, lonely prospectors in frontier camps, geologists and bush pilots, road builders, professional engineers. But their spokesperson is a women who lives in a pink penthouse, wears a mink coat and buys size ten dresses from Sophie of Saks.

For fourteen years Viola Rita MacMillan has been president of the Prospectors and Developers Association, the largest organization of mining men on the continent, and in that time she has made scores of biting speeches that lash out at anything and everything impeding the development of mining. The sophisticated apartment and the soigné clothes are really only trappings. As she says herself, “I’m a miner. I love this business and I want to stay in it until I die.”

She doesn’t look much like a miner she so proudly calls herself. A small woman, she stands just over five feet tall and weighs little more than a hundred pounds. She has alert cobalt-blue eyes and short dark hair. The most striking thing about Voila MacMillan is the agility and speed of her movements. She darts about so quickly that bigger people sometimes feel almost cumbersome, when they are in her presence.

Mrs. MacMillan often says with firm conviction that Canada’s future greatness depends to a large extent on the growth of the mineral industry. For more than thirty years she has dedicated her unusual energy and persistence to that industry. In returen she has gained both money and prestige. Read the rest of this entry »

This column was originally published in the Late Summer, 2010 issue of Highgrader Magazine which is committed to serve the interests of northerners by bringing the issues, concerns and culture of the north to the world through the writings and art of award-winning journalists as well as talented freelance artists, writers and photographers.

Timmins Owes its Very Existence to Six Men Not Three!

Timmins city clerk Jack Watson says with a note of bitterness in his voice:
“We submitted all six and were upset with the decision. We appealed but lost.”

The community that calls itself The City With a Heart of Gold has every right to the motto because literally the ground beneath it, the heart of Mother Earth, has arteries of gold.

There has been gold production in Timmins continuously since 1910 and it will continue for  many more decades. There is no reason for a thriving modern city to be located in the middle of nowhere; there is no port to support international trade, no junction of railways, no meeting of highways that is a destination point.

Yet, Timmins is in the midst of a four-year celebration of 100 years of history and achievements.

No achievement was greater than the exploits of these six men: Sandy McIntyre, Hans Buttner, Harry Preston, John (Jack) Wilson, Benny Hollinger and Alex Gillies.

They discovered in 1909 the gold deposits that became the Big Three producers in Canadian mining history, the Dome (1910-still in production), the Hollinger (1910-1968) and the McIntyre (1912-1988).

Yet earlier this year the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame inducted just three of the six into its illustrious membership. Wilson and Harry Preston found the gold outcrop that was to become the Dome or as its workers fondly called it, The Big Dome. Only Wilson made into the Hall. Read the rest of this entry »