PDAC celebrates 2012 award winners

During this year’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention, the annual awards evening on March 5 at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York hotel honoured outstanding contributions and excellence in the minerals industry. The PDAC awards program dates back to 1977, when the first Bill Dennis Award for prospecting success was handed out.

Gerald Panneton, president and CEO of Detour Gold (DGC-T), received the Bill Dennis award for prospecting success and Canadian mineral discovery. Panneton advanced the company’s Detour Lake property in northern Ontario into a world-class, high-tonnage gold deposit, with reserves of 15 million oz. gold.

Osisko Mining (OSK-T) won the Viola R. MacMillan award for company or mine development for developing its Canadian Malartic gold property in Quebec’s Abitibi gold belt. The mine began production in May 2011 and has an estimated 10 million oz. gold in proven and probable reserves.

David Giles, director of exploration for Mexico-based Fresnillo, got the Thayer Lindsley award for mineral discoveries outside Canada. Giles headed up exploration that has yielded several ore finds in Mexico and Latin America, including a new vein system in the Fresnillo district that led to the Saucito mine opening in 2011; the San Julian silver-gold and Orisyvo gold deposits, both now under development; and the Francisco I. Madero Sedex deposit that led to the opening of an important new mine in 2002.

Deborah McCombe took home the Distinguished Service award. McCombe is a long-time volunteer and supporter of the PDAC, most notably for chairing the international affairs committee since its establishment in 2004. She has also been active in other mineral industry associations, including the Canadian Institute for Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. McCombe is executive vice-president of Roscoe Postle Associates.

The Mining Association of Canada accepted the Environmental and Social Responsibility award for its flagship initiative, Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM), which aims to improve the mining industry’s overall performance by matching it with the priorities and values of Canadians. The TSM initiative has been ranked “best in class” by independent studies conducted in 2005 and 2009.

Nuna Group of Companies received the Skookum Jim award for aboriginal achievement. Nuna, which was formed in 1993 to provide mining and construction services to companies operating in Northern Canada, is 51% Inuit-owned and employs more than 600 people. Nuna built and maintains the 567-km ice road from Yellowknife, N.W.T., to Lupin, Nunavut, which provides access to northern mining sites throughout the winter.

Mine Training Society (MTS) won a Special Achievement award for its work in providing aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories with opportunities to develop job skills that can be used in the mining industry. Services also include providing mining companies with access to a much-needed pool of skilled workers in the North. Over the past seven years, the MTS and its partners have trained 854 individuals, and 600 people have been placed in the northern mine and mine services sector.