In my previous column, I suggested that the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame be relocated to a brand new mining museum which should be built in Sudbury. The day after the column was published I found out that my idea had been partly high-jacked by Teck Cominco Ltd.'s president and CEO Donald R. Lindsay.
The Vancouver-based company is donating $10 million to the
expanding Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto to create three
galleries highlighting minerals and the fascinating history of
Canadian mining.
The new exhibit will include a redesigned, Canadian Mining Hall
of Fame which is currently housed at the University of
Toronto.
Actually, the plans had been in the works for some time and
were finally announced at the annual Canadian Mining Hall of
Fame dinner and induction ceremony  Jan. 18 at Toronto's
Royal York Hotel.
In a news release, Lindsay said, "We are proud to join the
Museum and the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in educating
students and delighting Museum visitors with the wonders of the
earth sciences. Bringing the Hall of Fame to the new ROM is a
natural fit, complemented by exhibits that investigate the link
between Earth's resources and everyday life."
The $10 million donation, the largest corporate contribution in
the ROM's history, will allow the Hall of Fame to enter the
digital age using museum-developed exhibit technology.
Hall inductees will be showcased on a fully bilingual, five
metre by two metre, interactive touch screen. Exhibits will
spotlight the role of mining in Canada's history and also
acknowledge today's high-tech and environmentally conscious
minerals industry.
Eventually, the ROM will establish satellite video units at
other locations in Canada to give the Hall a truly national
spread. Hopefully, Dynamic Earth will be one of those
locations.
The Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony is one of the
social highlights of the Canadian mining industry. This year's
master of ceremonies was the very funny Pierre Lassonde, the
recently retired president of Newmont Mining Corporation. He's
the minerals industry's Billy Crystal.
Seated at the head table was a "who's who" of the Canadian
mining industry and media, including Lindsay, Goldcorp's CEO
Ian Telfer, Patricia Dillon, PDAC president and Doug Donnelly,
publisher of the Northern Miner, just to name a few.
The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame honours those who have
demonstrated outstanding lifetime achievements to the benefit
of the country's minerals industry.
This year's four inductees, George B. Cross, Alfred E. Miller,
R.G. K. Morrison, and Harry L. Roscoe, exemplify the hard work,
perseverance and dedication that have made this country a
global leader in the mining industry. Of the four, only Cross
is still living.
Cross chronicled and supported the Canadian mining industry for
almost 40 years through the George Cross News Letter Ltd., an
authoritative and well respected source of daily mining news
that served the resource and investment communities.
He has been described as the founding father of real-time
access to reliable mining information. He was the principle
writer and researcher, chronicling the activities of mining and
exploration companies listed on the old Vancouver Stock
Exchange with particular emphasis on the exciting junior
sector.
Miller first discovered copper mineralization in Quebec's
eastern Gaspe Peninsula in 1909 while he and some of his
brothers were looking for timber that could be used for
railroad ties. Unfortunately, investors at the time were not
interested in funding further exploration of the remote
properties. It was not until the 1950s that Noranda constructed
a major mining and metallurgical complex known as Gaspe Copper
Mines that brought 50 years of prosperity and thousands of
needed jobs to this rural part of Quebec.
Morrison was known as the father of rock mechanics in Canada
for his pioneering work in ground control for the safe
operation of underground mines. Rock bursts were a common
problem in the narrow-vein gold mines of Northern Ontario
during the 1930s and 1940s, claiming many lives. His unique
understanding and pioneering concepts brought about a dramatic
reduction in ground-control accidents and fatalities. He helped
change mine design from an art to a science based on sound
rock-engineering principles.
Roscoe is best known for helping transform a small company with
a struggling mine in northwestern Quebec into one of the
world's leading natural resource powerhouses. That company was
Noranda, and he used his technical and entrepreneurial skills
to discover new deposits and guide the corporation through a
period of unprecedented growth in the 1940s and 1950s. His
development work at the Horne mine and smelter complex
contributed greatly to the growth of the twin cities of Noranda
and Rouyn, Quebec.
A more detailed summary of the contributions of these recent
inductees and many other individuals that helped make this
country a world leader in the minerals industry can be found on
the Mining Hall of Fame website:
www.halloffame.mining.ca/halloffame/
Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant and policy analyst who writes extensively on mining issues. [email protected]
