OBITUARY — Bruce Hurdle managed Cominco Potash

Renowned mining engineer Bruce Edgar Hurdle, who spent his entire career with Cominco Ltd. and its subsidiaries, died recently. He was 79.

Born in Winnipeg, Hurdle grew up in Edmonton. Upon graduation from the University of Alberta in 1936, he joined Cominco Mines, working at different projects in Canada’s North. He rose through the ranks to become assistant superintendent at the Con mine at Yellowknife, N.W.T., and administrator at Trail, B.C., and general superintendent of the Kimberley, B.C., operation. In the 1960s, Hurdle was involved in developing the Wedge copper mine in New Brunswick, the new phosphate properties in Montana and the Pine Point project in the Northwest Territories.

Based in Saskatoon in the early 1970s, Hurdle was a senior executive at Cominco Potash. He then became vice-president of Cominco’s fertilizer operations nationwide and was transferred to Calgary.

After his retirement, Hurdle was affiliated with a Calgary-based consulting firm and remained an active member of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.