Poem snares youth Junior Miner of the Year award

When Caitlin Kearns was given an assignment by her science teacher to write a poem about mineral use in our daily lives, she was just an 11-year-old with an interest in the subject matter. Today, she is 12 and the toast of her grade 7 class as the Prospectors and Developers Association Mining Matters’ Ontario Junior Miner of the Year.

In recognition of her prose, Caitlin and 84 grade 7 classmates from Thornhill’s St. Anthony Separate School were guests at the Dufferin Aggregates rock quarry in Milton, Ont. The field trip introduced students to the production of sand and gravel and the rehabilitation of former quarries.

The students were treated to lunch and Kearns was presented with her Junior Miner certificate.

But perhaps even more fun was being allowed to set off some dynamite under a cliff face as part of a staged blast. The eloquent 12-year-old remembers being “very nervous” during the experience because she was uneasy about possibly making a mistake.

Writing, on the other hand, does not make her quite so nervous.

Her poem, entitled Why we need minerals, took a couple of hours to write and research. The piece was selected from more than 120 entries submitted by school children from across the province.

“I’ve always been very interested in minerals and mining,” recalls Kearns.

“I did some research, but I didn’t want to focus on just one subject because there’s so much to tell about mining. So I decided to write about [many of] the aspects.”

Kearns’ poem even received kudos from Northern Development and Mines Minister Dan Newman: “Caitlin Kearns clearly understands how minerals improve our lives,” said the minister at the time of her award. “She was able to express her understanding in a creative and compelling way.”

Kearns comes by her interest in mining naturally. After becoming Junior Miner of the Year, an uncle presented her a 1945 copy of The Canadian Mines Handbook that had been passed down through several generations of the Kearns family. The book contains a reference to the Chesterville Larder Lake Gold Mining Co., of which her great grandfather Jeremiah Kearns was both secretary and treasurer. The elder Kearns helped bring a gold mine in Cheminis, Ont., into production in 1939. (The village of Kearns, east of Kirkland Lake near the Ontario-Quebec border, bears his name.)

But gold is not nearly as beautiful as amethyst, according to Caitlin. She thinks amethyst — also her birth stone — is the most beautiful thing that comes from the ground.

The Junior Miner program is part of a joint venture between the Ontario government and PDACMM. Since its inception, the government has supplied funding and educational kits for teachers containing background information, activities and a range of resource materials aimed at encouraging a greater understanding of geology and mining.

“Programs developed by PDACMM encourage students like Caitlin to explore their interest in the earth sciences and the minerals industry,” says project co-ordinator Jennifer Amy. “It increases their understanding of Ontario’s geology and makes them aware of the importance of minerals to our economy and our way of life.”

And Kearns’ poem will help increase that understanding, too.