Placer Dome helps grubstake Ontario geoscientists

Placer Dome has donated $100,000 to the fund to support the new Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (APGO).

The APGO, established under the province’s Geoscientists Act in 2000, will be the regulatory body for geologists and geophysicists in Ontario. New Canadian securities regulations, such as National Policy 43-101, and new regulatory and administrative measures in the environmental field will ultimately require geoscientists in all provinces to be members of self-regulating professional organizations.

James Gowans, president of Placer Dome’s Canadian operations, says it is “important that senior members of the mining and exploration industry support this endeavour rather than ask government to be the main contributor. This effort is for our own sake, to provide the industry with a standard of excellence.”

The Toronto Stock Exchange, Inco and Falconbridge all provided “seed money” donations of $25,000 to the association when the Geoscientists Act was passed, and Noranda and the Toronto Branch of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum have both made large contributions since then. The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada has been providing temporary office space for the AGO.

The association estimates it will need $300,000 to operate during its first three years, after which time it expects to be able to fund its own activities from dues and certification charges.