OPINION — Explore smarter, not necessarily deeper

I recently attended a conference and workshop in Toronto hosted by the Centre for Resource Studies, which is a research institute affiliated with Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. One of the workshop sessions focused on how the mining industry can do a better job in exploration and change the public’s unfavorable perception of mining. There were about 25 workshop participants from industry, government and university. Almost everyone there had a different and often conflicting agenda.

It quickly became apparent that industry will have a hard time improving its image and the way it does business if its component members cannot even determine what the priority issues are.

Many participants felt that one way the mining industry can do a better job of exploration is through increased geoscience research. Representatives of Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines and staff from Laurentian University’s geology department were highly in favor of the creation of a new geoscience research unit in Sudbury, Ont. This unit would be similar to the Mineral Deposit Research Unit (MDRU) in British Columbia. Undoubtedly, there is an increasing need for more geoscience research, but why spend millions of dollars on a new research centre when excellent government, university and industry facilities already exist across the country? What is really needed is an organization to direct the distribution of research projects to the facilities most capable of carrying out the research and solving the problems. Such an organization already exists. It is the new Mining Industry Technology Council of Canada (MITEC) in Ottawa. Instead of finding frivolous ways to spend money, the government should focus on how it can better serve the minerals industry with regard to streamlining regulatory procedures, providing access and tenure to public lands and supplying good-quality geoscience databases and maps.

Another topic that kept coming up was that all the future ore deposits to be found in Canada will be deep ones. I agree that we need to be looking deeper in the third dimension, but to give up on new surface finds in Canada is somewhat premature. Exploration budgets are getting smaller, fewer and fewer geologists are handling more and more projects with increased responsibilities. We are no longer just project geologists; we’re also computer technicians, draftsmen, land managers, administrators, and financial planners. We need to get more geologists mapping and prospecting. Let’s face it: the industry is doing less and less grassroots exploration. With increased demands on a geologist’s time, things are bound to be missed. I realize that most companies are driven by economics, but if we aren’t breaking rock, we won’t be finding any new deposits. Many companies just do not have the perseverance. Hemlo certainly wasn’t found with a few short drill holes.

Industry representatives also complained that university-educated geologists are too academic. In response, the universities say that they will introduce programs to train people to map. I feel that mapping is a skill that comes with experience, universities can lay the foundation, but industry must take the time to give geologists on-the-job training. Most geologists had junior field assistants 12-15 years ago. These assistants learned the fundamentals of exploration through experience. As budgets got smaller, assistants became fewer until now they are basically non-existent.

It is also time for the industry to take a hard look at its human resources. The Canadian minerals industry is rapidly losing a generation of highly trained and experienced exploration geologists. There is too much focus on short-term contract work. How can industry expect commitment and dedication from its employees when many of them are treated like expendable commodities. With the universities turning out fewer and fewer earth sciences graduates, in five years’ time there will be a shortage of skilled people to conduct exploration when economic times improve.

We, as geologists, are probably partly to blame. Perhaps if we accepted lower rates of pay in exchange for longer-term job commitment, more people would be working.

— Staff writer Brian Christie was employed as a geologist in the mineral exploration industry for 13 years.