Wardrop, its clients raise funds for Mining Matters

Sentimentality can run strong in the mining industry, where some mines can employ several generations of a family.

This was the ethos at the mining and consulting firm Wardrop’s recent charity mineral auction that raised $18,125 for the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) Mining Matters education program.

The Toronto event, which was the brainchild of Debbie Hendsbee, Wardrop’s division manager for business strategy and development of mining and a director of the PDAC, saw 21 of Wardrop’s — a subsidiary of Tetra Tech (TTEK-Q) — clients donate an array of rock samples and minerals from around the world to be auctioned off.

The star prize seemed to be a crystalline gold nugget with 22.3 grams gold donated by Barrick Gold (ABX-T, ABX-N) and plucked from its Round Mountain gold mine in Nevada. It netted the charity $3,600.

Hendsbee says the real driver behind the fundraising wasn’t the metals, but the minerals and the memories they come with.

“The mining industry, for families, tends to be a generational thing,” says Hendsbee.

“There was someone who bought samples from every site his son had worked.”

Hendsbee noted that a lot of geologists have a mineral collection and, although they may just be “chunks of rock” to the casual observer, they come to represent a point in that geologist’s career.

“A mineral is a piece of art in their eyes — a memento or a memory with emotional attachments,” says Hendsbee.

In addition to the auction, for a fair-sized donation, guests could have their photograph taken with an official set of Olympic medals, provided by Teck Resources (TCK. B-T, TCK-N).

Hendsbee adds that the event– paid for by Wardrop — was geared towards promoting a sense of corporate social responsibility.

“We want to use these get-togethers with our clients to support causes,” says Hendsbee.

All proceeds from the auction, which was held at the Royal Ontario Museum during the 2010 PDAC convention, were donated to Mining Matters which focuses on educating students about Canada’s geological and mineral make-up. The program also provides outreach initiatives to remote aboriginal communities.