OBITUARY — Ian Muirhead

The mining community has lost a vibrant, energetic leader with the passing of Ian Muirhead, director of the School of Mining and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Alberta. He suffered a stroke in early March and died a few days later.

During a 45-year career, Muirhead was involved in projects as diverse as undersea mining in Japan, roof support and ventilation in the Philippines, and the construction of a commercial salmon farm in England. However, he was best known as an expert on gassy coal environments and ventilation, and used this knowledge to help the investigation into the 1992 explosion at the Westray coal mine in Nova Scotia, which killed 26 miners. He was also involved with the National Coal Board and Anderson Strathclyde, both of which are based in the United Kingdom.

Accompanied by wife Pam, Ian Muirhead immigrated to Canada in 1980 and joined Monenco Agra as projects manager. He built an international reputation and worked in 20 countries in such diverse fields as: multi-seam longwall, room-and-pillar and hydraulic mining; surface mining; mine development in coal, oil sands, gypsum, potash, iron ore, salt and tin; cement and chemical grouting to control groundwater; nuclear waste repositories; and numerous other projects.

In 1993, after having served as manager of Monenco Agra’s mining division, Dr. Muirhead accepted a professorship in mining at the University of Alberta. He created new courses and updated many others, while setting the stage for educational initiatives involving foreign countries. His devotion to his students, which has been described as “extraordinary,” prompted the CIM Edmonton branch to rename its scholarship after him.

Muirhead was general chairman of the 1996 annual meeting of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Petroleum in Edmonton, Alta., past chairman of the Calgary and Edmonton local CIM branches, chairman of the CIM Coal Division, as well as a member of numerous CIM committees. In 1997, he received the CIM Coal Award.

Since 1997, Muirhead has been a strong supporter of “Dragline,” a CIM centennial project sponsored by the Edmonton branch and the institute’s coal division. The dragline, recovered from Luscar’s Coal Valley mine, now rests on its final foundation at the Reynolds Alberta Museum in Wetaskwin.