OBITUARY — Paul E. Young

A former mining engineer with Rio Algom Ltd., Paul Young, died recently at Waterloo, Ont. He was 85.

After graduating from the Michigan College of Mining and Technology in 1931, Young commenced a lengthy career at Toburn in Kirkland Lake, Ont. Following a brief tenure as chief engineer of the Bill Gross consulting group, he joined J.H. Hirshhorn Technical Mine Consultants in 1947 when uranium mining in Canada was in its infancy. After the discovery of the Pronto uranium deposit by Franc Joubin in the Elliot Lake, Ont., area, Young became mine manager until it and a nearby copper deposit were mined out in 1960.

By that time, the Hirshhorn interests in the Elliot Lake area, including Pronto, had been acquired by Rio Tinto with the formation of Rio Algom Ltd. Young was transferred to the head office of Rio Algom in Toronto as special project co-ordinator. In that capacity he played a leading role in the development of Mines de Poirier in Quebec, Anglo-Rouyn in Saskatchewan, Lornex in British Columbia and the Humeca uranium deposit near Moab, Utah, until he retired to Waterloo in 1973. Paul suffered a stroke in 1983, from which he never fully recovered.