Letters to the Editor : OMA defends research record

Your editorials of Sept 22 and Sept 29 in regard to research and development would indicate there is very little, if any, research going on in the mining industry in Ontario and in Canada. In November of 1985 the Ontario Mining Association did a study which indicated that in fact there is a great deal of mining research taking place.

CANMET recently published a report detailing research in the mining industry. It is estimated that approximately $150 million of research and development is taking place across Canada in the mining industry, universities, government and private laboratories.

The concern is that this research is not always co-ordinated, giving rise to some duplication. It also has not been as focused on the priorities and as industry-driven as it might be. It is also necessary that there be a transfer of the research knowledge and that it be brought into a usable and productive technology for the industry.

The mining industry has become a high technology industry.

The Ontario Mining Association, realizing that more industry leadership is needed, recently established a Mining Research Directorate to manage research primarily in Ontario, but we expect our program will evolve into a national plan for mining research and development as espoused by the Mining Association of Canada.

The initial objective of our research Directorate is to focus, co-ordinate, monitor and transfer research relating to underground hardrock mines particularly, in matters relating to ground control, rock mechanics, and mine design.

In this we have been fortunate to have had the services of Dr Everet Hoek, a noted expert in this field.

The directorate will be primarily a management function: the delivery system will continue to be the universities, individual companies, government and private laboratories.

Other organizations such as the Nickel Development Institute and the Zinc Institute, are engaged in the kind of research Dr. Smith (Chairman of the Science Council of Canada) pointed to, such as new uses for metals and alloys, etc.

The OMA believes there must be, and is, co-operation between the industry, universities, private research establishments and government in the area of mining research and development. The most recent example of this is the announcement by the premier of Ontario of government funding for a chair in rock mechanics and ground control at Laurentian University in Sudbury with cross appointments with Queen’s University.

The board of directors of the Mining Research Directorate is at arms length from the Ontario Mining Association. It is composed of senior members in the industry with representatives from the provincial and federal governments, labor and the universities.

Our directorate, funded by the industry, is a necessary first step in the harmonization, rationalization and effectiveness of mining research and development for Ontario. Patrick Reid Executive Director Ontario Mining Association