LINDSLEY’S LEGACY

Thayer Lindsley, a lanky New Englander whose second home became Canada, founded Falconbridge Nickel Mines (and ushered into existence a host of others, most prominent among them Sherritt Gordon Mines and Giant Yellowknife). According to James Harquail, a professional engineer who worked with Lindsley in the 1950s and beyond, Lindsley was “an authentic genius. Working with him was like being a painter studying under Michelangelo.” Similar sentiments were uttered time and again by contemporaries following Lindsley’s death in the mid-1970s. Almost up to the time of his death, when he was hardly able even to scribble legibly his own initials, Lindsley was instructing his lawyer to put deals together on exploration properties. In his prime, recalls Harquail, Lindsley’s energy was virtually inexhaustible, his memory for geological information on properties around the world voluminous. He was the consummate minefinder. He knew the properties, he knew how to raise money, and he knew how best to direct the funds. He was far less interested, however, in operating mines.

The Falconbridge of today isn’t so vastly different from Lindsley’s creation in the late 1920s. The Sudbury nickel operations are still the centre of its universe, but that universe has expanded. It now includes quite significant satellites — the Dominican Republic ferronickel mine and smelter, a gold-producing subsidiary, and the prized Kidd Creek complex. (An industrial minerals operation and a copper subsidiary were added and shed as time passed.)

What has changed is the ownership structure. Once an independent, Falconbridge is now under the joint ownership of Noranda Inc. and Trelleborg AB of Sweden. In spite of this, the Falconbridge of today is being allowed to run as the earlier Falconbridge was. So says Frank Pickard, a 30-year Falconbridge veteran now at the company helm. And, he says, real “synergies” have developed. “We co-operate with Noranda on purchasing, research and development, and engineering. We also consult on any offbeat, operating-type problems.” With Trelleborg, a technical exchange is occurring. “Boliden (the Trelleborg mining subsidiary) is similar to Falconbridge. We both operate a number of small mines.”

So far, metallurgy has highlighted the exchange. “Boliden has an old smelter that was retrofitted and it reduced sulphur dioxide emissions to practically zero. It developed its own equipment to scrub gases. Naturally, we’re very interested in this,” Pickard says. He adds that a thorough review of mining methods at Falconbridge and Boliden will soon begin.

Were Lindsley still alive and involved in Falconbridge, he would have listened politely to Pickard’s comments, expressed mild satisfaction and then turned again to his one true love — finding another Falconbridge.