EDITORIAL PAGE 1990 _ a vintage best left on the shelf

It is not a year that everyone will look back upon fondly, but 1990 was nothing if not eventful. Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait is the event that left its stamp most indelibly on the year. It left commodity prices spinning, changed economic forecasts, sent shudders through stock markets and altered the course of political machinations worldwide.

Meanwhile, the uni/80h/cation of Germany was completed as workers on “chunnel” the linking Great Britain to France broke through and joined hands beneath the English Channel. Those two events will change the complexion of Europe and presage the creation of a new trading block, which is bound to have substantial impact when it is consummated in 1992.

Here in Canada, the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord has left a bitter legacy. At the same time, the issue of native rights and privileges gained a new dimension with events at Oka, Que. The debate in the Senate over the goods and services tax dragged Parliamentary procedure down to a new low and brought our federal system of government further into disrepute.

The environment continued to be a major issue, but the fervor over perceived threats to Nature were tempered by an economic recession that /80h/nally took hold in the second half of the year. High interest rates and slow growth have caused hardship on a corporate and a personal level across the land.

Junior mining companies in particular have been hard hit as a moribund stock market, an indifferent federal government and low gold prices continue to sap the vitality of the exploration industry.

But mining developments abounded during the year. British Columbia was the hotspot with two major projects taking shape, Eskay Creek and Mount Milligan. Eastern Canada was relatively quiet with political developments — election of a New Democratic Party government in Ontario and rising separatist sentiment in Quebec — eroding interest in resource development.

In the spring, Murray Pezim was hauled on the carpet by the British Columbia Securities Commission on charges related to stock trading during 1989. The hearing lasted most of the summer, and although Pezim was cleared of fraud charges he was suspended from trading for violating securities regulations.

That didn’t stop us from recognizing him and his colleague, Chet Idziszek, jointly as our Mining Men of the Year for 1990 in recognition of their work in discovering and developing Eskay Creek. We are con/80h/dent that Idziszek’s work warrants the award and feel that Pezim’s contribution to Eskay and to other discoveries deserves the kudos. Pezim arouses strong reactions in people, but whether one considers him a hero ro a rogue, we believe that when he goes to that great stockmarket in the sky — and we trust that is many years away — he will join the Pantheon of mining greats and be remembered for his contributions, not his shortcomings.

And to us, 1990 was special because it marked the 75th year of continuous publication of The Northern Miner.

Overall, despite those who did well in 1990, it will not be remembered as a vintage year. But past is merely prologue. Here’s to a prosperous 1991.