The image of mining will get quite a boost from the new mining pavilion at Ontario Place, in Toronto, officially opened the other day by Ontario’s ministry of northern development and mines.
A kind of multi-media show housed in the Ontario North Now building at the waterfront wonderland, the new $500,000 mining education and information centre is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, of its kind in North America — or maybe the world.
It’s also about as intriguing in style and presentation as it is impressive in size. A major element, for instance, is a computerized mining game which visitors can play taking them right through the whole process of mining from exploration to final processing, and allowing them the fun of a game in which they can win or lose money on decisions they make along the way.
Mining companies themselves have been hard put in recent years to find dollars for public information campaigns about the industry, so the new mining pavilion will help fill that gap. In fact, it’s expected that this year alone, in the brief 4-month opening period of Ontario Place, close to 500,000 people will tour the mining pavilion. Attendance at Ontario Place itself generally totals something like 3,000,000 a year.
The Ontario government has funded the pavilion, but it has been put together with a great deal of advice and assistance from industry and industry association leaders, including such people as Walter Curlook, chairman of the Mining Association of Canada.
And by the way, visitors will be able to take part in a sweepstake for 28 ounces of gold, contributed by Ontario companies, which will be used at the end of this season to buy the winner a car. At the present price of gold, that won’t translate into the Porsche or Ferrari class, but if, as we expect, gold continues its upward spiral, it may at least come close to a Caddy.
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