“Even a chimpanzee hunting for ants digs in the ground with a sharp stick,” said Friedland, as he presented the first-ever Thayer Lindsley International Discovery Award recognizing explorationists who have made a recent significant mineral discovery somewhere in the world. The award was presented to Charles Forster, Douglas Kirwin and Garamjav Dondog, the three Ivanhoe geologists credited with finding the Hugo Dummett copper-gold deposit in Mongolia’s South Gobi Desert, 650 km south of Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaanbaatar.
Continued Friedland: “Somebody has to be at that sharp end of the stick out in the field finding these things. It’s high time that this kind of [credit] goes to the guys who really do the work.”
A roundabout compliment, but Forster, Kirwin and Garamjav viewed it only in the best light. They know it wasn’t “monkey business” that led to the discovery of the Hugo Dummett deposit, named after the well-known geologist who died in a car accident outside of Johannesburg in August 2002, almost 20 years after the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold porphyry deposits were found.
At that time, it was Garamjav, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan (he even dawned his native Mongolian apparel to accept his award but unlike the great military leader, he has a PhD in geology), who stumbled upon subtle evidence copper mineralization in the Gobi desert. He was part of a team carrying out geochemical surveys and mapping in the area for the Mongolian government in 1983. Thinking he had found something significant, Garamjav brought a number of Magma Copper geologists to the area. They later identified a nearby porphyry leached cap.
Aussie miner Broken Hill Proprietary (now known as
Another drill program was launched in an effort to boost resources — and it proved successful. In late 2002, drilling on the far northern section of Oyu Tolgoi intersected 638 metres of bornite-chalcopyrite-rich mineralization at 222 metres down-hole. This marked the discovery of the Hugo Dummett deposit.
Said Friedland: “The best part of this discovery has been named the Hugo Dummett zone. Hugo is formerly the worldwide president of the Society of Economic geologists and he was a very close friend of ours. He always predicted that this discovery would become very great.”
Friedland noted that Garamjav’s “vision” was important but stressed that Kirwin and Forster made it a reality.
Kirwin is now Ivanhoe’s executive vice-president of exploration, Forster, senior vice-president of the Oyu Tolgoi project, and Garamjav is the company’s senior geologist. The Thayer Lindsley award honours these men and the memory of Thayer Lindsley, a mine finder credited with helping establish companies like Falconbridge, Sherritt Gordon, Giant Yellowknife, and United Keno Hill.
PDAC President William Mercer presented the Bill Dennis Prospector of the Year Award and, remarkably, avoided all Simian references.
Bill Dennis, served as PDAC president in 1965 and 1966, and this year the award in his honour was presented to the High Lake team at Thunder Bay, Ont.-based
Discovered in August 2003, the new zone will allow Wolfden to start a small, high-grade mine at High Lake. The company plans to begin production by 2007. In early March, the company embarked on a $12-million exploration and development program at High Lake and its satellite deposit, Ulu.
The Viola R. MacMillan Developer’s Award, honouring the memory of Viola MacMillan, who was president of the PDAC from 1944-1964, was presented to
Twenty-five years ago he became chief financial officer of Teck and during the last quarter-century Thompson played a dominant role in the company’s development and is known for having “one of the sharpest pencils in mining.”
“We pencil-pushers, even us ones with sharp pencils, don’t expect to receive awards,” said Thompson.
Nine years ago, Thompson became CEO of Teck’s affiliate, Cominco, and again demonstrated his business acumen by transforming the company into a successful zinc miner.
Both companies joined to form Teck Cominco in July 2001 and the company now holds interests in twelve producing mines spanning Canada, the U.S. and Peru. The company also has exploration offices in nine countries.
Thompson’s latest accomplishment was the creation of the Elk Valley Coal Partnership and the
Each year the PDAC selects some “lesser known” folks to receive its Distinguished Service Awards. This year, the PDAC presented awards to Donald Cranstone, a retired minerals economist with Natural Resources Canada, and Donald Ross, president and chairman of financing firm Jones, Gable & Co.
Cranstone holds a bachelor of science and masters degrees in geology from the University of Manitoba and a PhD in economic geology from Harvard University. The last three decades of his career were spent in Ottawa as a mineral economist, then senior mineral economist, with the Minerals and Metals Sector of Natural Resources Canada. The major part of his work at NRCan concerned the analysis of changing rates and costs of mineral deposit discoveries in Canada, for which he earned an international reputation. In more recent years, he has been engaged in analysis of the sustainability of the Canadian mineral industry.
Upon accepting his award, Cranstone said: “I have only two things to say: Who me? And thank you very much.”
Ross received his distinguished service award for his long-time commitment to financing companies, particularly those in the junior sector.
Ross has been in the investment business for close to 50 years. In one of his first big deals, more than 40 years ago, he helped provide capital for Camflo Mines, the predecessor to
He joined Jones, Gable & Co. in 1983 and has helped finance numerous juniors, including Prospector-of-the-Year winner Wolfden Resources.
The PDAC’s Environmental Awards are presented annually to a company or individual demonstrating outstanding initiative, leadership and accomplishment in protecting and preserving the natural environment during an exploration program or operation of a mine. This year, the recipients were
Wallbridge was honoured for its commitment to preserving the natural and local environment during its exploration drilling campaign on Windy Lake in northern Ontario. Windy Lake covers 10 sq. km and Wallbridge recognized that the success of its program rested on the support of local residents. The company embarked on a program designed to provide as much information as possible and to assuage concerns. Public meetings and full-page newspaper ads did the trick.
After launching its drilling program, Ski-Doo tracks were often the only evidence of geophysical activity. As much drilling as possible was conducted from shore but when it became clear that drilling on the lake would be necessary, the company decided to use seven drill rigs in one season, an unprecedented number on a populated lake and a feat that called for remarkable engineering. This included making ice pads to support the weight of the drills; equipping each drill with a muffler to cut down on noise; and using canola based lubricant as a drilling additive. The on-ice drilling began in January 2003 and continued for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the final piece of equipment was removed from the lake in late March.
Wallbridge President Alar Soever accepted the award and singled out senior geologist William Dyke for making the project work. Soever said Dyke was known to spend weekends taxiing locals out to the drilling pads via snowmobile, but he jokingly noted that there was often “a good-looking woman on the back of his Ski-Doo.”
Kaszycki was recognized for her work associated with the National Orphaned/Abandoned Mines Initiative (NOAMI). As chair of this organization’s advisory committee, she spearheaded the program.
NOAMI came about as a result of the PDAC highlighting the need to address the issue of abandoned mines with Canada’s mines ministers.
Kaszycki helped NOAMI see the light of day. This means Canada now has in place a program that will ultimately enable sustainable rehabilitation of abandoned mines.
Finally, the PDAC handed out its Special Achievement Awards to Toronto-based firm Roscoe Postle Associates and long-time PDAC director Mary-Claire Ward.
RPA and its founding principals, John Postle and Bill Roscoe, were honoured for their work in developing standards for Canada’s mineral industry. Particularly noteworthy is their involvement in generating definitions and guidelines for reporting exploration information, mineral resources and mineral reserves in Canada and in producing a set of standards for the valuation of mineral properties.
Postle’s extensive and expert work in developing definitions for mineral resources and reserves began in the early 1990s. The CIM Resource and Reserve Definitions were approved in 2000 and are now incorporated into the National Instrument 43-101 standards of disclosure for mineral projects.
Roscoe has devoted a lot of time in the development of standards and principles for the valuation of mineral properties. Over the past five years, he has co-chaired a Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) special committee on the topic. The committee’s Standards and Guidelines for Valuation of Mineral Properties were approved by CIM Council in March 2003. The committee is now discussing the implementation of the standards with regulatory bodies across the country.
The other Special Achievement Award was given to Mary-Claire Ward, chairman of geological consulting firm Watts, Griffis and McOuat. She was honoured for her commitment to geoscience during her tenure on the Canadian Geoscience Council, the Council of the Geological Association of Canada, of which she was president in 1995 and 1996, and the PDAC board of directors, on which she has served from 1988.
Ward is quite ill and her sons, Robin and David, accepted the award on her behalf.
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