Who’s Who in U.S. mining

Another 25 mining greats of the U.S. were inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame at its third annual banquet, held recently in New Orleans, La. The list of participants, about 400, reads like a who’s who in the mining industry in the U.S. At the head table were metal market consultant Simon Strauss, inducting the nominees; Asarco Chairman Richard Osborne, master of ceremonies; and Freeport-McMoRan President Hilton Ward, who welcomed the guests. Kenneth Kutz, the famous author of Gold Fever, was on hand to deliver the keynote speech.

Also sitting at the head table was Maurice Brown from Toronto, Ont., publisher emeritus of The Northern Miner and chairman of the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.

Brown intends to adopt for the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame some of the programs sponsored by its American counterpart, which publishes a quarterly newsletter and has a special museum to accommodate historic documents and exhibits. The hall-museum complex is located in Leadville, Colo.

“Our industry is on a par with theirs,” says Brown. “We have a host of famed mine builders just as the Americans have. The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame has a lot of room for growth.”

At the banquet, Brown reminisced about old times with friends and was greeted by avid readers of The Northern Miner, such as Kutz and Plato Malozemoff, Newmont Mining’s retired longtime chairman and chief executve officer.

Brown plans to invite his host, Chairman Richard Moolick, to attend the 1991 induction ceremony of the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame early next year.