Ontario Mines Ministry names consultant for Toronto study

With a major relocation to Sudbury scheduled for next year, the MNDM will spend the next six months consulting with industry experts to ensure that its Toronto- based clients aren’t left behind in the shuffle.

“This study will help us determine how we can best serve our Toronto-based mines and minerals clients as we plan for the ministry’s relocation to Sudbury,” said Mines Minister Sean Conway.

Headed by Coopers-Lybrand Consulting partner M. R. Applin, the consultant team will call upon the expertise of geological and information technology specialists, and is expected to present a final report to Conway this fall.

Conway said the views of the industry will be solicited through interviews with the ministry’s clients and professional associations, including the Ontario Mining Association (OMA) and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC).

Announced by Premier David Peterson in July 1986, the province’s Northern Ontario Relocation Program will see the Ontario Geological Survey (OGS), the Mineral Development and Lands Branch and the head office functions of the OMNDM relocated to Sudbury from Toronto. Centre of excellence

The original decision was made in the context of a plan to create in Sudbury a “mining centre of excellence,” described as a major part of an over-all strategy for the economic stimulation, development and diversification of northern Ontario. The relocation is scheduled to take place in 1990.

Conway said the relocation initiative will bring mining functions in the government closer to the mines and the miners they serve.

“At the same time,” he said, “we recognize that the ministry must continue to serve its industry clients across the province. Important linkages have developed over the years, especially in Toronto.

“The study will help us maintain these necessary linkages and to benefit from the guidance of industry as we plan for our moves,” he added.

According to Anthony Andrews, managing director of the PDAC, the decision to remove the Mines and Minerals Division of the OMNDM from Toronto has caused deep concern.

The concern is based on a number of factors, but mainly on the fact that an essential service, namely the Ontario Geological Survey (OGS), which has been in existence for close to 100 years, is to be removed from its main user grou

Andrews said industry strongly supports the creation of a “mining centre of excellence” in Sudbury that will focus on the needs of the producing sector; however, he hoped it will not be developed in such a way as to undermine the “exploration centre of excellence” already existing in Toronto.

Toronto is acknowledged as an important centre of exploration and mine financing and has evolved to become a staging ground from which major exploration programs are mounted in Ontario and many other parts of Canada.

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