LETTER TO THE EDITOR — Planning for Canada’s mining future

We appreciate your compliments in a recent editorial (“Congratulations, CIM,” T.N.M., May 4-10/98). In our centennial year, the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) is indeed proud of its contribution to the development of Canada’s mineral industry and economy in the last 100 years.

However, in looking forward to our vision of the future, I concur with The Northern Miner’s view that the industry faces two major challenges: investor confidence and environmental management.

CIM has not been standing still on these issues, and has been working closely with sister societies in Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States to adopt an international standard of classifications of reserves and resources. Good progress has been made on this issue, with adoption possible in the next year. This initiative has been extended to more than 40 other countries in order to achieve convergence with the United Nations Framework Classification currently being developed in Europe. CIM has also made presentations to the Mining Standards Task Force, which is seeking to establish guidelines to improve reporting standards to the Toronto Stock Exchange. Successful resolution of these two initiatives should go a long way toward improving investor confidence in our industry.

CIM also believes that the Canadian mineral industry must continue to be the world leader in environmental management, and that the high standards required here in Canada must also become the “best practices” in other countries. The globalization of the Canadian mineral industry should provide an ideal vehicle to raise international standards to a level that is acceptable here in Canada.

One of the strategic goals of CIM is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and the recognition of excellence. In this regard, at its council meeting on May 6, CIM created a new technical division, the Environmental Society of CIM. This exciting development recognizes that the technology and practice of environmental management is at least as important as the traditional industry technologies which are addressed by the nine other technical societies of CIM, and underpins CIM’s Environmental Policy Statement, adopted three years ago.

This new Environmental Society will be the only broadly based technical environmental organization in the Canadian minerals industry and will focus on providing a forum for the exchange of knowledge and skills in the field of environmental management and sustainable development. All environmental practitioners in the Canadian minerals and petroleum industries are invited to join the society and to participate in its activities.

We believe the creation of the Environmental Society of CIM will help Canada’s mining and petroleum industries to meet the expectations of Canadian investors and the public, as well as the challenges associated with globalization.

A.M. Laird

CIM past president

Montreal, Que.