PGE exploration tops agenda at Cordilleran Roundup

Vancouver — Platinum and palladium plays took centre-stage at the 18th annual Cordilleran Roundup, held here in late January. About 2,100 delegates and 128 exhibitors attended the 4-day event, which featured 26 core shacks and more than 60 technical papers and poster displays.

Among the more popular sessions was one titled “Platinum group elements: from genesis to markets,” which featured talks on geologic settings and occurrences. The session stressed the significance of North American Palladium‘s (PDL-T) mine expansion project at the Lac des les mine, north of Thunder Bay, Ont., and also shed light on a new hydrometallurgical process known as Platsol. The general manager of the platinum division of Johnson Matthey closed the session by drawing attention to the increased demand for both platinum and palladium.

Also well-attended was a session titled “Emerging trends in mineral exploration,” which kicked off with a review of mining develop- ment and exploration in British Columbia. Delegates were told that the total value of mineral production in the province in 2000 was $2.8 billion, with coal accounting for 29% of that total, and copper, 25%. About $27 million was spent on exploration during the year.

Speakers expressed enthusiasm for Miramar Mining‘s (MAE-T) Hope Bay gold discovery in Nunavut and for exploration for platinum group metals near Sudbury, Ont., and in northeastern Brazil.

Other presentations touched on exploration in Peru and made reference to specific projects, including Antamina (held jointly by Billiton, Noranda [NOR-T], Teck [TEK-T] and Mitsubishi) and Tambo Grande (held by Manhattan Minerals [MAN-T]).

Breakaway sessions were concerned with exploration techniques and technologies for volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits, as well as Sullivan-type deposits.

The star of this year’s awards ceremony was west coast-based financier Peter Brown, who was presented with the Murray Pezim Award by the British Columbia and Yukon Chamber of Mines.

Brown founded Canarim Investment and its successor, Canaccord Capital, of which he is chief executive officer. Both companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to support the Vancouver-based exploration industry.

Pezim (1920-1998), after whom the award is named, contributed to the discovery of the Hemlo gold camp in Ontario, as well as the Eskay Creek gold deposit in British Columbia.

The Chamber of Mines also honoured veteran newsletter publisher George Cross, who won the Frank Woodside Past President’s Award.

Lawrence “Joe” Adie, retired vice-president of exploration with Vancouver-based Placer Dome, took home the E.A. Scholz Award for excellence in mine development. Adie, who is a University of British Columbia (UBC) graduate in geological engineering, began his career in 1947 as a miner at Placer Development’s lead-zinc mine in Salmo, B.C. He spent most of the next 40 years with the company, which eventually became known as Placer Dome.

The H.H. “Spud” Huestis Award for excellence in prospecting and mineral exploration was shared by Arthur John, Robert Etzel and John McDonald. Messrs. John and Etzel are prospectors from Ross River, Y.T., whereas McDonald is the founding director of the Mineral Deposits Research Unit at UBC and former vice-president of exploration of Winspear Resources.