Editorial On the level for 75 years

This issue of The Northern Miner, the 3,849th, marks the first in our 75th year of weekly publication. We’ve never missed an issue and we’ve never lacked for news as the mining industry has gone through some remarkable peaks and valleys over that period.

Just over a year after the paper’s first issue hit the streets, Hughes sold his interest to Dick Pearce, a 22-year-old mining reporter from Toronto, who had been refused by the army. The paper remains in the Pearce family, independent from any newspaper “chain” or special interest group.

For 75 years as Canada’s mineral resources newspaper The Northern Miner has been a supporter of the mining industry, but our first loyalty has always been, and will continue to be, to our readers. Since the paper’s beginning our motto has been “On the Level,” for that is the type of coverage we strive to provide — full, fair and factual reporting that our readers can trust.

Dick Pearce and his two brothers, Norman and Jack, who guided the newspaper throughout its first half century, would certainly recognize that philosophy were they alive today. But that would probably be all they’d recognize. Since those early days in Cobalt virtually every facet of the newspaper business has changed.

During that same time The Northern Miner has grown apace, a process that continues this year with the publication of our first American Mines Handbook, a sister volume to the 58-year-old Canadian Mines Handbook and 11-year-old Oil & Gas Handbook. Another of our publications, The Northern Miner Magazine, has also prospered since its beginning in January, 1986.

The American book also reflects our growing area of coverage. In 1915 northern Ontario provided more than enough activity each week to fill our “news hole.” Today North America is our beat. Nevada alone, covered largely out of our Vancouver office, is proving to be an ample source of mining news.

Times have also changed regarding how the news is covered. The Northern Miner was nurtured in the tradition of getting there first, and we still cultivate that spirit among our writers and editors. But securities regulations and instant electronic communications have changed our role into one that serves our readers as much by sifting through the mass of information now available and putting it into context as by going out and digging up the news.

The underlying philosophy, however, remains the same. We are privileged to cover an industry that has long been one of the basic underpinnings of our nation. Over the years there has been no shortage of challenges in keeping up with events. From Noranda to Yellowknife, Bathurst to Flin Flon, Hemlo to Carlin, The Northern Miner has been on site reporting the latest developments in mining and mineral exploration.

We plan to continue doing so for the next 75 years.

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