Obituary: Industry remembers Chester Millar as community-focused mine developer

In a time when mining needs ever more innovative techniques and concern for local communities, Canada is bidding farewell to one of its top mine builders.

Chester Millar, a Canadian Mining Hall of Fame (CMHF) entrepreneur and pioneer of the heap leach recovery method, passed away on June 23 at the age of 98.

Millar, leader of several companies and co-founder of Alamos Gold, guided its acquisition of the Mulatos gold project in Mexico. He also headed the discovery of a copper-gold deposit in Kamloops, B.C. that became the Afton mine. To follow up on the discovery, he founded Afton Mines which was acquired by Teck Resources in 1981.

People over numbers

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008, his acceptance speech showed that mining meant a lot more to him than just balance sheets or the next discovery.

“I think mining companies are in danger of leaving a bad impression, by going down to these places and very quickly building mines and leaving them with nothing,” he said. “We should not let the stock exchange tell us guys how to run a mine.”

In his roles as chairman of Glamis Gold and Eldorado Gold in the 1980s and 1990s, he helped advance them from juniors to gold producers.

In addition to his CMHF accolade, in 1989 Millar was awarded the B.C. and Yukon Chamber of Mines’ Edgar A. Scholz Medal for his outstanding contributions to mine development.

Heap leach pioneer

In the 1970s, Millar was focusing on heap-leach gold mining, where a chemical solution dissolves gold from low-grade crushed ore. After he discovered a large, low-grade gold property near Glamis, Calif., in 1975 he started the first heap leaching operation in the state.

He was made co-owner of that mine and he then acquired a gold site that became the Picacho mine under Glamis Gold. His heap leach expertise was applied again to mines elsewhere in the U.S., Latin America and New Zealand.

Millar is survived by his daughter Susan, his daughter-in-law Allison Clokie, his grandchildren Taylor, Kerry, and Charlotte (Ben); and his great-grandchildren, James and Emma.

Millar was born in Powell River, B.C. and raised in North Vancouver. He graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in mining engineering. Early in his career in the 1960s, he worked for coal and iron companies before pursuing the drilling and blasting business.

Speaking at Millar’s CMHF induction ceremony in 2008, Alamos Gold CEO John McCluskey recalled a discussion with him from years before, and McCluskey questioned if a mine they were involved with in Honduras would become profitable.

“’I’m here for other reasons,’ Millar said. “’That mine employs 500 people. Think of all the families that have a decent standard of living because of those jobs. There’s a lot more dignity in holding a job than getting a handout.’”