OBM celebrates 100 years in operation

The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) will celebrate its 100th anniversary on May 4. Established in response to significant copper-nickel discoveries in the Copper Cliff area during the mid-1800s, the ministry was originally named the Ontario Bureau of Mines. As a division of the Department of Crown Lands, its purpose was “to aid in promoting the mining interests of the province.” Exactly 100 years and several name changes later, the Mines and Minerals Division of the MNDM is the nucleus of an $8-billion annual contributor to Ontario’s economy. Today, mining and mineral exploration employ about 45,000 people. Another 50,000 people work in related industries.

~~”I think the Ontario Mines and Minerals division and the industry can look back over the century with a great deal of pride in the record of expertise and achievement,” said Vic Milne, director of the Ontario Geological Survey. But he added that the ministry needs “to attract new blood” in order to prosper in the future, and expressed concern about declining enrolments in mining-related programs.

When Archibald Blue, former minister of agriculture, was named the bureau’s first director on May 8, 1891, he operated a 3-man show that included one assistant and one inspector of mines. Occasional assistance was provided by university professors who worked on bureau projects during their vacations. Since then, the mines and minerals division has swelled to 421 employees — 264 full-time and 157 contract.

Recent changes at the top have seen former Liberal mines minister Hugh O’Neil replaced by the flamboyant socialist Gilles Pouliot who sent out an encouraging signal to the industry when he announced his support for mining development on Shoal Lake in northwestern Ontario.

Acting on a promise made by former premier David Peterson, the MNDM has followed through with its move to Sudbury, Ont. Most of the ministry staff, including Assistant Deputy Mines Minister John Gammon, are now living and working in the northern community while the OGS is expected to move into its new headquarters at Laurentian University in 1992.

“The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines supports the industry and Ontario’s mining communities by focusing on the creation of a climate that favors successful exploration, sound environmental management and rising investor confidence,” the ministry says in its anniversary publication.

Initiatives financed by the ministry include regular airborne geophysical surveys, grants to companies and individuals carrying out mineral exploration and development (OMIP) and the Ontario Prospectors Assistance Program (OPAP).