Diamonds steal the show at Cordilleran Roundup

The pervasive mood at this year’s annual Cordilleran Roundup was cautious optimism, perhaps because many delegates felt that there was nowhere to go but up. However, if attendance is any indication of vigor, then it would seem there is a lot of fight left in the exploration community.

More than 2,500 delegates and 100 exhibitors attended the 4-day event, which was held at the Hotel Vancouver and the Hyatt in British Columbia’s busiest city.

This year’s theme — “Vancouver: Where Discoveries Start” — was designed to promote the city that has become a worldwide centre for exploration technology and finance. The conference boasted 40 core shacks, 40 prospector displays and 56 technical papers, as well as several short courses which preceded the show.

Among the highlights was the Tintina Gold Belt session, which provided information on the much-talked-about Pogo deposit in Alaska, owned jointly by Teck and Japan’s Sumitomo Group.

An international session focused on South American projects, such as Argentina Gold’s Veladero property, Manhattan Minerals’ Tambo Grande project in Peru and Battle Mountain Gold’s Kori Kollo deposit in Bolivia. Eurasian deposits and mineral plays were also represented, and a special session was devoted to volcanogenic massive sulphide and carbonate-hosted polymetallic deposits in central Mexico, in particular the Penasquito deposit of Western Copper Holdings and the Colorada deposit of Pan American Silver.

Among the most popular sessions was the one devoted to diamonds and hosted by De Beers Canada. The session paid tribute to last year’s opening of the Ekati mine in the Northwest Territories.

Ekati is operated and owned 51% by BHP Diamonds, a division of Australia’s Broken Hill Proprietary, a large resource conglomerate with annual revenue exceeding $20 billion. Dia Met Minerals holds a 29% stake, while geologists Charles Fipke and Stewart Blusson each hold 10%.

George Burne, managing director of De Beers Canada, presented Blusson with a sample of kimberlite containing a 2.5-carat diamond, to commemorate the latter’s role in discovering Ekati.

Burne told delegates that diamond supply is expected to remain substantially ahead of demand until 2002, primarily because of new production from Ekati.

Delegates were provided with government statistics that show that in 1998 British Columbia experienced the lowest level of exploration spending since the mid-1970s. Roughly $40 million was spent last year, compared with more than $200 million in the period 1988-1990. Of the $40 million spent in 1998, only about $4 million was applied to grassroots projects.

(To attract greater investment in mineral exploration, the B.C. government is making a 20% refundable tax credit available for all exploration expenses performed in the province between July 31, 1998, and August 1, 2003. Also, government grants ranging from $2,300 to $10,000 were given to 52 prospectors last year.)

At a session on native land claims, Jack Ebbels, B.C.’s deputy mines minister, said the Nisga’a treaty will provide legal and economic certainty for the mining community. He added, however, that the treaty must not be used as a template or “cookie cutter” for other land disputes and that the “guts of the treaties will vary depending on what’s in the ground.”

There are currently 59 native land claim disputes outstanding in the province (excluding the Nisga’a lands), and these cover about three quarters of B.C.’s land mass.

The annual awards ceremony was highlighted by the presentation of the “Spud” Huestis Award for outstanding achievement in prospecting. This year’s joint recipients were Al Archer and Robert Cathro of Yukon-based Archer-Cathro & Associates.

“They have probably been responsible for more mineral discoveries in the Yukon than any other geologist or exploration group,” said Lindsay Bottomer, president of the B.C. & Yukon Chamber of Mines, who presented the awards.

The Edward Scholz Award for outstanding contribution to mine development in British Columbia went to Pierre Lebel, president and director of Imperial Metals, which, together with Sumitomo Minerals, operates the Huckelberry and Mt. Polly mines in the province’s central region.

“Pierre is one of the people who has stuck it out in B.C., while many others have moved to warmer climates,” noted Bottomer.

A special award was presented to Ward Kiby, who helped create a geological web site for the province’s mines ministry.