A spellbinding photo of a drill on ice at Agnico Eagle Mines’ (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) Amaruq gold project in Nunavut took first place in PwC’s second annual Art of Mining competition, which culminated in a gala event held at the Art Gallery of Ontario during the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention in March.
Some 700 attended, and cast their votes for the winning entries. There were 21 entrants, representing Canadian mining companies with active operations. The theme of this year’s competition was “transforming the face of mining through diversity and innovation.”
The winning photo was taken by Mike Malocsay, who works in Agnico’s health and safety department at the Amaruq project.
Agnico describes the photo as showing how its exploration division tried a different approach at Amaruq and drilled on lake ice after the thaw from a floating, moveable drill barge. The photo captures a moment, after the season has ended, as the barge sits frozen in the ice, and drillers await summer to resume work.
The company said the “learning curve was high, but the concept was successful, so drilling continued throughout the summer.”
Agnico Eagle Mines’ grand prize of a $10,000 charitable donation has been directed to the Kivalliq Science Educators’ Community, a charity that supports and delivers science outreach programs to youth in Nunavut’s Kivalliq region.
Working underground at Gran Colombia Gold’s Segovia gold mine in Colombia. Credit: Gran Colombia Gold.
Gran Colombia Gold (TSX: GCM; US-OTC: TPRFD) took second spot with a photo detailing its efforts to modernize its Segovia gold mine in the historic gold district of Antioquia in Colombia.
Gran Colombia says it is “transforming mining practices from antiquated artisanal methods to modern mechanized operations,” and is involved in upgrading skills training as well as health, safety and environmental conditions.
Gran Colombia will donate its $3,000 prize to Colombia’s Fundacion Angelitos de Luz, which aims to improve the quality of life of local children and their families.
To see all the photo submissions from this year’s competition, please visit www.pwc.com/ca/theartofmining. The Northern Miner was the media sponsor of the event.
[Editor’s note: Our website automatically crops feature photos to a specific maximum width, so below is the Agnico Eagle photo in its full dimensions.]
A drill barge at Agnico Eagle Mines’ Amaruq gold project in Nunavut. Credit: Mike Malocsay at Agnico Eagle Mines.
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