LETTERS (October 01, 1991)

The Northern Whiner?

On reading the Editor’s Note “Stranded” (Summer Issue), I think you should rename the magazine “The Northern Whiner”. You open with ominous warnings about NDP government and conclude with a bottle correspondent’s plea for help. Help from whom, I wonder. Your comment is not likely to garner much more than a reactionary nostalgia for the days when an unregulated mining industry could destroy whole ecosystems with impunity (e.g., Sudbury, Ont. and Trail, B.C.).

A more reasonable analysis of the current economic state of the mining industry will tell you that the NDP government in Ontario has little or nothing to do with the profitability of the Canadian mining sector. Rather, the industry is facing higher operating costs due to the remoteness of many new mine locations, lower ore grades, inefficient recovery systems for these grades, and decreased production levels from existing mines. To point at government as a scapegoat for industry problems is misplaced and counterproductive.

I also take exception to your terminology. In a democractic society such as we have, a party does not “take power,” as you put it, nor does it “rule.” Rather, it reflects the democratic will of the people who have elected it to power, and it governs on their behalf. And the fact is many people in this country are demanding better performance from the mining industry in the way it impacts on the environment, on the ecological safeguards it places on its activity and on the degree to which it controls pollution.

The industry is making considerable advances in this regard. In the same issue, The Fairview Flow article discusses an innovative method of recovering gold from refractory ore, and there are several advertisements by companies specializing in pollution control and several articles discussing the efforts of transnational companies such as Inco Ltd., Cominco Ltd. and Alcan Aluminum to improve their pollution control systems. These companies have recognized that the operating parameters in the industry have changed, have taken the initiative and are wasting no time and effort crying about it. The path of improved efficiency and resource utilization that increases profitability also leads directly to lower ecological damage and pollution.

The change to thinking about how we interact with our environment represents a paradigm shift, is global in nature and is essentially irreversible. The context for resource development has irrevocably changed and the sooner we learn to operate within this context, the better. The Canadian mining industry today can advance mining environmental technology just as more than 40 years ago it began advancing exploraton technology (in which it is a leader today). It wasn’t a political party that dictated the direction we had to go then and it’s not a political party that’s doing it now.

A.S. Greene, P.Geol.

Kootenay Bay, B.C.

Truth Hurts

Re: Your editorial “Stranded” in the Summer Issue. Great. Truth Hurts. On a different note, I would add that informing our young people of the challenging fields available in the mining/smelting industries is a problem for the industry. That includes not only the professions available, but also the trades. This industry provides a very good living. More interaction between the industry and the educational field is a must.

By the way, your magazine is always great reading. Keep it coming.

George Todd,

Senior Designer

(Process Control),

General Engineering, Inco Ltd.,

Copper Cliff, Ont

A Sexist Ad?

Re: The advertisement for Tiger Brand Electrical Cables in your Summer Issue. We are perplexed. A woman on all fours, dressed enticingly(?) in a tigers costume with a cable draped alluringly(?) around her neck neither impresses us nor lends credibility to the mineral industry’s efforts to attract young professionals. So why has The Northern Miner Magazine printed such inappropriate material?

Lara Autio,

MA student, Urban and Regional Planning,

University of Waterloo.

Heather Douglas,

MS student in Mineral Economics,

Pennyslvania State University.

People First

I found the column on managing (Put Me in Coach, Summer Issue, 1991) informative and interesting. This article shows the trend in which most mining companies are heading. It also makes a statement — people are a company’s No. 1 asset — that has been the basis for past successes. I think the industry’s biggest concern should be companies that put profits before people.

Harry Hutchinson,

Millwright (Echo Bay Mines),

Kamloops, B.C.

Highland Valley

I refer to your Summer, 1991, issue in which you listed Highland Valley Copper among Canada’s Top 40 mining companies. Unfortunately, the information was incorrect. Our sales figures were $326.1 million in 1989 and $408.3 million in 1990. As a private company we do not disclose our net income.

Poul Hansen,

President,

Highland Valley Copper,

Vancouver, B.C.

Agnico Eagle

In your Summer, 1991 issue, you published a list of Canada’s Top 40 Mining Companies. Please note that Agnico Eagle had company sales of $71,574,000, which would place us 36th in your ranking. I read your magazine with interest and hope that this is simply an oversight.

David M. Rigg,

Manager,

Groupe Agnico Eagle,

Val d’Or, Que.

U.S. Currency

In your lineup of Canada’s Top 40 mining companies (Summer Issue, 1991), it should be noted that the financial figures for Inco Ltd. are stated in U.S. dollars, not Canadian (as is the case with the balance of the entries).

Bob Purcell,

Public Relations,

Inco Ltd.

Toronto, Ont

.

Editors Note: Alcan’s financial numbers were also in U.S. dollars.