Dignitary to showcase Australia at CIM lunch

Globe-trotter Sir Arvi Parbo will give a talk on Australia’s minerals industry at an Oct. 22 luncheon in Toronto’s Royal York Hotel. His speech will address such topical issues as land rights, sustainable development, labor relations and exploration. The meeting is sponsored by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum’s Toronto Branch.

Estonia-born Parbo emigrated in 1946 as a refugee to Germany, which had then been reduced to rubble. He was 20. “The main currency in use was American cigarettes,” he recalls. “There were three units — cartons, packets, and single cigarettes — equivalent to pounds, shillings and pence.” He worked in the Ruhr pits and attended classes at the Clausthal Mining Academy.

In 1949, he left Germany for Australia, where he earned a bachelor of engineering degree from the University of Adelaide in 1955.

The next year, Parbo joined Western Mining as an underground surveyor at Bullfinch in Western Australia and rose through the ranks to become director in 1970, chairman 1974 and executive chairman 1986. When Parbo retired in 1990, he was appointed non-executive chairman.

Currently, Parbo serves as chairman of Alcoa of Australia, Munich Reinsurance of Australia and the Zurich Australian Insurance Group. He is also a director of several other corporations.

As well, Parbo holds honorary doctorates from Deakin, Monash, Curtin and Flinders universities. He was made a Knight Bachelor in 1978 and has been honored with highest order awards by Germany, Japan and Australia.