LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (October 28, 1991)

May we suggest the time is ripe, after 76 years, to change the name and focus of your publication. Would not “The North American Miner” be more appropriate?

The landslide victories of the New Democratic Party in British Columbia and Sask-atchewan, hard on the heels of mining’s ruination by the incompetent government in Ontario, and the ever present threat of secession by Quebec, have surely put the last nail in the coffin of the Canadian mining industry. Is there anyone left in the north with a job in mining?

“The North American Miner” could cover the tattered remnants of Canada, the slightly less battered U.S. industry and the buoyant level of activity here in Mexico — North American tectonically, politically and commercially. Maybe you should even consider a move of your offices to the mid-point of continental mining activity, say Tucson, Ariz., but leave the snowshoes behind.

Canadians who have been in Mexico for several years, offering consulting services, see a surge of interest in a country where the amount of exploration undertaken is on a level of that done in Canada up to the early 1950s, if that.

With the changes in mining regulations, changes in foreign investment regulations, the upcoming trilateral free trade agreement and a government run by Harvard-educated or Ivy League-trained technocrats, Mexico is no longer poised to boom — it has started to do so. Activity here in Hermosillo is at an all-time high and increasing daily.

It would be prudent to revitalize The Northern Miner. What better way than to cover Mexican exploration and mining in detail. After all, most of the activity is funded by Canadian and American companies. Don’t be afraid. Learn a little Spanish and you’ll get along just fine.

Frank Guardia, John Perston

G&P International

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

The article “Equity may monitor tailings for 100 years” (T.N.M., Sept. 23/91), by David Scott, on the Equity Silver operation in the Houston, B.C., area is interesting. It highlights problems that may be encountered when mining an ore that is difficult to process, at a time of unstable metal prices.

The cited problems included continually dropping silver prices, unpredictable changes of ore characteristics, unpredictable ore recoveries, contamination of concentrates by undesirable elements and acid seepage from tailings.

The writer states “the operation has been dogged by bad luck from the word go.” The drop in silver prices was certainly bad luck. On the other hand, the unexpected changes in ore characteristics and in ore recoveries, and the contamination of concentrate could, in our opinion, have been predicted by comprehensive mineralogical evaluations of laboratory bench tests and pilot plant tests.

The evaluations would have defined the behavior of the different ore types to different processes, and would have given the engineers a better chance at optimizing recoveries and at producing the best type of concentrate. The cost of a consultant mineralogist for the first two years of operation would have been repaid manifold. The Equity story clearly points out the need for a thorough understanding of ore characteristics which are best determined by comprehensive quantitative mineralogical investigations, especially prior to plant design.

Unfortunately, such investigations are seldom carried out when mines are brought into production because of the misperceived extra cost. William Petruk, Louis Cabri,

John Jambor, John Wilson

Process Mineralogy Group

CANMET

Ottawa