GENERAL NEWS & COMMENT Placer Dome mill worker wins globe-trotting

Rene Lecompte, a 27-year-old mill worker from the Kiena Gold Mines near Malartic, Que., will soon be taking a trip around the world thanks to Kiena’s parent company, Placer Dome Inc.

To commemorate the formation of Placer Dome, the company submitted the names of all its 3,729 employees from around the world for the draw. Mr Lecompte’s name was the first to be pulled from a drum at Dome Mines in Timmins Sept 23 and as a result he and his wife won a week-long, all expense paid trip to one of Placer Dome’s four world headquarters: Sydney, Australia; San Francisco, Calif; Vancouver, B.C.; or Toronto, Ont. And when they finish their week in the city of their choice, Mr and Mr Lecompte will visit each of the other three cities for three days. Placer Dome will pay all transportation and accommodation charges, and will provide the Lecomptes with $100 a day in spending money.

Mr Lecompte doesn’t even have to dip into his vacation time to take the trip. Placer Dome will pay his full salary while he and his wife are on their holiday.

In addition to the grand prize, Mr Lecompte won a 1-oz gold ingot stamped with Placer Dome’s new company logo. He was also one of the nearly 4,000 Placer Dome employees awarded a share in the new company from a special commemorative issue of 5,000 shares.

Robert Perry, general manager of Dome Mines in South Porcupine, said the Timmins location was chosen as the site of the draw because it is the oldest operating mine in the Placer Dome group of companies.

Placer Dome was formed in August with the merger of Campbell Red Lake Mines and Dome Mines, both of Toronto, and Placer Development of Vancouver. In a day-long ceremony at the Dome Curling Club, Mr Perry, United Steelworkers local 7580 President Phil Martin and other Dome Mines office staff drew numbered tags representing the names of each of Placer Dome’s employees including those from the Kidston gold mine in Australia and mines in Nevada, Montana, British Colubia and Ontario. Every 50th name drawn received a 1-oz gold ingot similar to the one awarded the grand prize winner.

The companies that make up Placer Dome produced approximately 825,000 oz of gold in 1986 and expect to produce one million oz by 1989. Placer Dome operates mines in 22 different locations in Canada, the US, Papua New Guinea and Australia.