PROFILE (February 03, 1992)

Despite the economic slump, Dickenson Mines reported record improvements in earnings for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 1991: $6,217,000 (35 cents per share) compared with $2,591,000 (15 cents per share) for the same period of 1990. The company’s aging Arthur White mine, which lost money in 1990, posted a small profit.

John Cook, vice-president of operations, attributed the turnaround to better operating performance, improved technology, reduction in labor cost and streamlined procedures. With a workforce of 290, trimmed from 370, Dickenson maintained the same level of gold production. Cook expects total operating costs, reduced to $370 per oz. from $436 in 1990, to drop another $10 this year.

Cook notes that Arthur White’s No. 2 shaft has penetrated to the 37 level (5,500 ft.). “We are starting to develop the 34 level (5,100 ft.),” he says. “The current reserves at the White mine will last 10 years. If we explore all the way down to the 37 level, we could add another 10 years to the mine’s lifespan.”

Meanwhile Dickenson is weighing the pros and cons of bio-oxidation and autoclaving and pursuing the possibility of adopting one of the two technologies, which will increase the recovery rate substantially. Cook was recruited from LAC Minerals in November, 1990, to join Dickenson’s senior management. He accepted the offer because “I like Robert McEwen’s idea of building a bigger mining company,” he says. “The job gave me a challenge to turn a money-losing mine into a profitable one.”

Besides, he was impressed by the potential of the Wharf mine in South Dakota of Wharf Resources, which is 36.2% owned by Dickenson. Also of interest to him are the two 100% owned industrial mineral operations, Havelock Lime in New Brunswick and sodium sulphate producer Saskatchewan Minerals. They generate one-third of the company’s revenue. (Goldcorp Investments is the controlling shareholder of Dickenson.)

Born in Norwich, England, Cook graduated from Sheffield University in Yorkshire, England, in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in mining engineering. His wife, Anne, is a French-Canadian, who used to work at the Doyon mine as a mineral processing technician. The couple has one girl and four boys. Cook had worked for Anglo America in South Africa (1962-66), for African Associated Mines in Zimbabwe (1966-74), RTZ in India and London (1974-8). In 1978, he joined Golder Associates, which transferred him to Canada in 1980. LAC hired him in 1983.

At LAC, Cook contributed to solving the mining problems of Bosquet 1 and the planning of Bosquet 2. “I left pieces of my soul in them and in all the projects I was involved all over the world.” He considered planning and expanding the King asbestos orebody in Zimbabwe a high point of his career. Dickenson plans to concentrate its investment in North America, but “Ontario has to straighten out its rules,” says Cook. “The bureaucrats in the ministries of labor and the environment often act as policemen rather than advisers.”