Spirit of glasnost evident in Canada, Russia venture

Two of Canada’s biggest mine engineering firms are entering into Mikhail Gorbachev’s new spirit of glasnost by helping to develop a silver processing plant in the eastern Soviet Union. Toronto-based Watts, Griffis and McOuat and Cominco Engineering Services of Vancouver will work together with the Soviet Mining Association and Alaska’s Bering Straits Trading Co. to build the 1-million-tonne-per-year plant in northeast Magadan.

Although the contract is small by North American standards — it is worth between $500,000 and $1 million plus expenses — the Canadian companies regard it as an important point of entry to the Soviet mining scene.

“Given the state of Russian technology, there is a lot that they can learn from us,” said Watts, Griffis President Jack McOuat, who has already worked with Soviet mining engineers in Alaska.

In a joint venture with the Soviet and Alaskan companies, WGM and Cominco are providing engineering services for the installation of process control and automation in the plant.

WGM developed the Soviet connection through its work with Alaskan native groups and the Bering Straits Native Corp. and Greatland Exploration Inc.

“They introduced us to the Soviets as their mining people,” said McOuat, who believes that his company’s international experience was also important to the Russians.

“We are all northern latitude people and our technology for the most part is superior to theirs,” he said. “That’s how it got started.”

As Magadan is in a tree-lined wilderness, eight time zones from Moscow, McOuat is also excited about the opportunities that are bound to exist within Russia for Watts, Griffis and other North American engineering firms.

“You can’t tell me there aren’t mineral deposits to be found out there,” he said.