Obituary: Bernard Brynelson

Bernard Brynelson, former manager of Noranda Mines for Western Canada and a member of the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame, died recently. He was 92.

Brynelsen was born in 1911 in Vancouver, B.C., and graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1935 with a degree in mine engineering. He immediately joined Polaris Gold Mines as superintendent and later became manager of Quebec Gold Mining, which had a handful of properties in British Columbia, including one that would become the Brenda copper mine. Quebec Gold was later bought by Noranda Mines, and so began Brynelson’s association with Noranda. He rose through the ranks to become the company’s western manager, and one of his most noteworthy accomplishments in that capacity was the development of the Brenda copper mine in the Okanagan area. So steadfast was his belief in the low-grade, high-tonnage mine (the 0.33% average grade was a large stumbling block) that the executive mortgaged his house to keep the project moving ahead. His undying spirit once led Former Noranda President Alf Powis to describe Brynelson as having an “unquenchable optimism and irrepressible enthusiasm.”

Brynelson’s other accomplishments include starting the Gold King mine in Wenatchee, Wash. (later renamed Canon) and developing the Bell copper mine and the Boss Mountain molybdenum mines in British Columbia and the Viceroy gold mine in California.

He continued to serve on numerous boards well into his eighties.

In 1980, the British Columbia & Yukon Chamber of Mines presented Brynelson with its H.H. “Spud” Huestis award for excellence in prospecting and mineral exploration, and 11 years later the Chamber awarded him its Edgar Scholz medal for his lifetime of service to British Columbia’s mining industry.

Brynelson received the Order of British Columbia in 1991 and the Howe Street award in 1992. He was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 1994, and eight years later received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal.

He is survived by his wife Eileen and daughter Karen.