PDA service awards for Laurin, Seigel

Distinguished service awards are being awarded this year to Dr. Andre F. Laurin, assistant deputy minister of Quebec’s energy and resources ministry, and Dr. Harold O. Seigel, president of Scintrex Ltd., by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.

Dr. Laurin was chosen for his assistance to the mining industry, in particular for his help in developing and formulating government policy which has encouraged mineral exploration and assisted mining communities, while Dr. Seigel is receiving his award in recognition of his achievements in mining geophysics and mineral exploration and his leadership of a large geophysical consulting, manufacturing and research company.

Born in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., Dr. Laurin attended the University of Montreal, McGill University and Laval University, from which he received his D.Sc. He began his career with the Quebec department of natural resources in 1956, and was promoted to his present position in 1980.

While serving as the ministry’s regional geologist, Dr. Laurin promoted and developed a computer- based system (one of the first in Canada) to be used in systematic geological mapping in the field.

He is the author of numerous geological reports and publications and served as president of the Canadian Geoscience Council for the 1986 term. Dr. Laurin is a member of several professional institutions, including the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, with which he has been affiliated since 1961.

Dr. Laurin has been the motivating factor behind the creation of a wide geoscience data base available to the mining industry and exploration companies, and has been instrumental in putting forward provincial financial assistance programs for the mining industry and exploration companies operating in Quebec.

Dr. Seigel is a native of Toronto and attended the University of Toronto, where he received both his undergraduate and graduate training, including his Ph.D. in geophysics. He has been active in the development of mining geophysical instrumentation and methods since 1947 in the fields of ind uced polarization, electromagnetics, magnetics, nuclear and photoluminescence measurements.

After three years in the southwestern United States, he returned to Toronto in 1952 to establish a consulting practice in geophysics. In 1956 he formed Seigel Associates Ltd., a contracting and consulting group, and in 1964 he became president of Scintrex Ltd., a high technology firm.

A member of several professional societies and author of many papers in the field of earth sciences, Dr. Seigel was awarded the J. Tuzo Wilson Medal of the Canadian Geophysical Union for his contribution to geophysics in Canada. Dr. Seigel holds patents on a number of inventions in five countries.