2006 PDAC award winners

Thayer Lindsley International Discovery Award

This award recognizes an individual or a team of explorationists credited with a recent significant mineral discovery anywhere in the world.

The winner of the 2006 award is Canadian geologist LARRY J. BUCHANAN of Apex Silver Mines for his discovery of the massive San Cristobal silver deposit in Bolivia. The deposit has the second-largest silver resource in the world and one of the largest zinc resources. The discovery by Buchanan, who is now the company’s chief consulting geologist, was the beginning of a long process of acquiring claims, raising financing, drilling more than 700 holes, and feasibility studies. Along the way, the company moved a town, built roads and infrastructure, trained and housed 1,500 workers, and obtained smelter contracts for zinc and lead concentrates. Production at the mine is planned for the second half of 2007. In the first five years of its anticipated 17-year life, the mine will have an annual production of 22.3 million oz. silver, 182,000 tonnes zinc, and 85,000 tonnes lead.

Bill Dennis Prospector of the Year Award

This award honours the memory of past PDAC president Bill Dennis and recognizes finders of a significant mineral discovery.

The PDAC will be honouring the Virginia Gold Mines team, comprising ANDRE GAUMOND, PAUL ARCHER, ALAIN CAYER, and JEAN-FRANCOIS OUELLETTE, for the discovery of several gold deposits on the company’s lonore property in the James Bay area in Quebec. The discoveries were made through grassroots exploration and prospecting. One of the discoveries, Roberto, has quickly developed into a significant and important new gold deposit with a strike length of 1.5 km, a depth of 630 metres and persistent high-grade intersections. The discovery, along with the other gold prospects discovered by Virginia Gold in the area, shows promise of being Canada’s newest gold camp.

Viola R. MacMillan Developer’s Award

This award, which is named in honour of the PDAC’s longest serving president, is given people who have demonstrated leadership in management and financing for the exploration and development of mineral resources.

The 2006 award will be presented to MICHAEL KENYON and ROMAN SHKLANKA, co-founders of Canico Resource, a Vancouver-based junior and owner of the Ona-Puma, a large undeveloped nickel deposit in Brazil that is currently being acquired by Brazil’s CVRD for $940 million.

Both geologists, Kenyon and Shklanka teamed while with Sutton Resources. Kenyon was president of Sutton for 20 years. During this period, the company developed the Bulyanhulu gold deposit in northwestern Tanzania to feasibility and worked extensively on the Kabanga nickel project in the same country. In 1999, Sutton was taken over by Barrick Gold for $525 million.

Shklanka joined Sutton as chairman in the early 1990s. It was on his advice that the company purchased Bulyanhulu from his former employer, Placer Dome. This move proved to be the making of the company. He also played an important part in the company’s exploration of the Kabanga project. Before his association with Sutton, Shklanka was vice-president of foreign exploration with Placer Dome, where he managed exploration budgets of over $30 million per year. He was responsible for the acquisition and exploration of several world-class deposits including the Kidston and Granny Smith mines in Australia, the Misima and Porgera mines in Papua New Guinea and the Omai gold mine in Guyana.

Special Achievement Award

The PDAC will present a special achievement award to IAN TELFER, CEO of Goldcorp, for his extraordinary entrepreneurial and financing achievements since his first venture into the precious metals business in 1983. Telfer, who attributes his success to his ability to raise big sums of money for small companies, has demonstrated his capacity for raising exploration capital several times. TVX Gold, Vengold and Wheaton River Minerals have all benefited from his golden touch. He took Wheaton River, an obscure junior with an exhausted gold mine and C$20 million in cash, to a company that in 2003-04 produced about 600,000 oz. gold, raising US$450 million and completing six major acquisitions along the way. In February 2003, Wheaton carried out the largest gold equity financing in the history of the TSX to buy a 25% interest in the Bajo de la Alumbrera copper-gold property in Argentina and a 100% interest in the Peak gold mine in Australia. In April 2005, Wheaton joined with Goldcorp, with Telfer as the new CEO. Currently, Goldcorp is part of the Barrick bid for Placer Dome. Goldcorp recently made a takeover bid for Virginia Gold.

Distinguished Service Award

This award recognizes people who have made important contributions to mineral exploration and mining development or have given loyal service to the PDAC. Two winners will receive their awards in March.

C. DAVID COMBA, former director of regulatory affairs with the PDAC, will be honoured for his contributions to the association and to this country’s exploration industry. Comba was the driving force in the association’s successful lobbying campaign to convince the federal government that Canada’s mineral exploration industry needed help. This was in the latter part of the 1990s when the industry was suffering one of its worst downturns. The federal government responded by instituting — and twice extending — the Investment Tax Credit for Exploration (ITCE), or “super” flow-through program. The ITCE served its purpose, helping to keep exploration spending in Canada and serving as a life-line for many junior companies. It also vaulted this country into the number one position in the world for exploration spending. As a result of his superb efforts, David became known as “Mr. Flow-through.”

BILL MERCER receives this award for his energetic and enthusiastic service to the PDAC as director, president, past-president, chair of the Governance and Mary-Claire Ward Geoscience Award Selection Committees and of the recently constituted Health and Safety Committee, and member of the Awards, Executive, Communications, Convention, E3 and International Committees. Bill epitomizes the saying: “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” Despite a gruelling travel and business schedule, Mercer has devoted a huge amount of time and effort to the association. He has championed PDAC causes, nudging companies and people in fundraising endeavours, cajoling individuals to volunteer and steering the association with wisdom and intelligence; all this supported by a daunting technical prowess. The expression “can’t” is not in Bill’s lexicon.

E3 Environmental Excellence in Exploration Award

This award, named for the PDAC’s flagship environmental program, recognizes accomplishment in environmental protection or in developing good community relationships during an exploration project or the operation of a mine. GREYSTAR RESOURCES has been selected as the 2006 winner for its achievements at the Angostura gold-silver project in Colombia. Greystar has won recognition from the local community by supporting mutually beneficial social projects and by establishing and maintaining good communications between the company and local citizens. The company supports community members as they define and organize social projects that they feel are necessary. In this way, Greystar promotes self management. The company has partnered the equipping of a maternity ward in California (one of the local communities), the setting up of an awareness program on family violence, and a program to fund school fees. Other programs include a kindergarten health and nutrition project; children’s workshops; programs for the elderly; food, sanitary and health care packages; and community and sporting events. By carefully and wisely instituting its social policies, Greystar is demonstrating that an exploration project can bring substantial benefits to local inhabitants and that explora
tion and mining activities and local communities can peacefully co-exist.