PDAC TURNS 60 (January 01, 1992)

In the midst of the Great Depression, 60 years ago, a group of prospectors passed round a hat at the inaugural meeting of what is today the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. They collected $160.45 — a fair bit of change considering the tattered world economy.

The 13 founding prospectors and more than 100 charter members had been riled by a government proposal to deny prospectors the legal right to report on the merits of their own properties. Ever since then, the association has tilted its lance at government wrongheadedness — the 1960s Carter Commission on Taxes being a prominent crusade — and tried to nurse the industry through tough times.

Of course, the mandate has grown through the years. In the early 1940s, the PDAC organized cross-Canada prospector’s classes to search for strategic, war-scarce minerals. And, at different times, it has advocated increased geological mapping, establishing resident geologists’ offices, a re-opening of the Haileybury School of Mines and, believe it or not, higher pay for government geologists. Today, it is a cross-Canada association that has 16 committees grappling with the complexities of modern-day mining.

Never before, however, have national and international events weighed so heavily on the member companies, juniors and seniors, of the PDAC. Tony Andrews, the association’s managing director, can cite several negative factors.

Internationally, the economic recovery seems anemic. In addition, the high value of the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. currency is hurting producers.

Nationally, equity markets are still lacklustre. This is especially true for the junior mining concerns. The fact that the federal government has not restored the Mineral Exploration Depletion Allowance (MEDA) to the popular flow-through tax provisions means that only strong metals prices and big discoveries will lure investors back.

Although some interesting mineral finds have occurred lately, world metals prices for both the base and precious sectors haven’t co-operated.

For would-be foreign investors the constitutional crisis and the spectre of a separate Quebec cannot be reassuring. Nor can the uncertainties created by the unresolved native land claims disputes.

“It’s a precedent-setting time with major transitions occurring in society and in the economy,” Andrews said.

Government could help by creating a more stable, certain climate for business. But that is not happening, Andrews said.

“The message from our members is that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to do business.”

As an example, he relates the experience of a junior exploration company that last summer applied for a work permit on a property in northwestern Ontario. The company followed procedure, submitting notification of its planned work to native residents whose reserve would be affected. The native response was forwarded to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, which for some reason, did not act on it.

“MNR did nothing. So the company, model corporate citizens, watched their summer work program go down the drain,” Andrews said.

The Matachewan tailings spill into the Montreal River is another example of an “illogical and unfair situation.” Directors of several mining companies connected in some way to the site have been issued with clean-up orders from the environment ministry. The implication is that company directors and officers are personally responsible for such spills.

Taken all together, Andrews said, “the juniors are confronted by overwhelming problems.”

Andrews and the PDAC are currently lobbying the various levels of government on all these issues.

A true pillar of the association in the 1940s and 50s was Viola MacMillan. She travelled coast-to-coast with Geological Survey of Canada geologists organizing prospectors’ classes in the 1940s. She was also instrumental in persuading the federal government to enact EGMA, a program that kept many Canadian gold mines alive when gold was pegged at $35 an ounce.

“Under her guidance, the association expanded to the size and importance that it is today,” said the PDAC’s Saley Lawton.

For the record, the 13 original founders were Walter Segsworth, Fred Bidgood, Peter Graham, T.H. Rae, Bill Fairburn, Arthur and Bob Cockeram, Karl Springer, J.A. Lindsay, Ed and Bill Cochenour, Ed Rutherford and Fred MacLeod.

Beyond carrying the torch for the industry, the PDAC’s most visible responsibility is the annual convention in Toronto. It has grown from a single-day affair to the several day event it is today.

MARCH 30

Morning Session

THE CANADIAN MINERAL INDUSTRY IN A COMPETITIVE WORLD: WHERE IN THE WORLD?

Chairman: Jack McOuat

“The Long-term Outlook for World Mineral Trade and the Mining Industry,” Simon Hunt, Brook Hunt & Associates, Chertsey, England

“International Exploration,” George D. Tikkanen, President, Cominco Resources International Ltd.

“International Project Financing, Development and Operation,” Sandy Laird, Senior Vice-President, Project Development, Placer Dome Inc.

Afternoon Session

COMPETITION FOR THE EXPLORATION DOLLAR

Chairmen: Terry Podolsky and Kenneth A. Grace

“Where else… But Canada,” John

Gammon, Assistant Deputy Minister, Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines

“The Acceptance of Risk in the New Americas,” John Sharpe, Vice-president, Exploration, Battle Mountain Gold Co.

“Mineral Resource Development Opportunities in Southeast Asia,” J.V. Guy-Bray, Technical Adviser, Minerals Branch, United Nations.

“Exploration: Not too fast; Development: Not too soon; Mining: Why Not! Prospects in Russia, Vzbekistan, Kazakhstan,” Bruce McKean, Director, International Mineral Relations Division, Energy, Mines and Resources Canada.

“Sub-Sahara Africa: A Neglected Mineral Resource Environment,” Constantine Salamis, Minorex Specialistes Miniers Inc.

MARCH 31

Morning Session

R & D IN MINERAL EXPLORATION

Chairmen: Roger Pemberton and C. Henry Brehaut

“Co-operative Exploration Research,” Norman Keevil, Chairman, President & CEO, Teck Corporation

“The Search for New Geophysical, Geochemical and Remote Sensing Exploration Technology in the Late 20th Century,” Kenneth E. Witherly, Manager, Consulting Services, BHP Minerals

“Exploration Data Processing, Integration, Evaluation and Interpretation: State of the Art and Tomorrow Too,” Peter L. Kowalczyk, Senior Geologist, Placer Dome

“Finding New Mines in the Same Old Rocks with new Geological Techniques and Approaches,” Michael Page, Consulting Research Geologist, Minerals, Western Mining Corporation U.S.A.

Afternoon Session

CROSS COUNTRY CHECKUP: NEWS FROM THE SURVEYS

Chairmen: J. L. Davies and S. R. Morison

APRIL 1

Morning Session

GSC REVIEW

Chairman: R.F.J. (Jon) Scoates

“1842 to 1992 – The First 150 Years: The GSC and the Canadian Mineral Industry”

“GSC Offshore Programs: Applications to Placer Exploration,” R. Currie, L. Law, G. Fader

“Gold Deposits of the North China Platform: Age, Origin and Comparison with Cordilleran Examples,” J. K. Mortensen, K. H. Poulsen, B. E. Taylor and F. Robert

“Deep and Shallow Hydrothermal Regimes Developed during Acadian Contraction and Extension of the Crust, Central Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia,” G. Lynch

“Drilling to the Depths: Discovery of a major massive sulphide deposit in the Pacific Ocean,” J. Franklin & scientific team of Leg 139 Ocean Drilling Program.

DIAMONDS: GOOD PROSPECTING IN CANADA

Chairmen: Patricia Sheahan and Christopher Jennings

“The Nature of Kimberlites,” Roger Mitchell, Lakehead University

“Clifford’s Rule and its Application to Diamond Prospecting in Canada,” A.J.A. Janse, Mintel Pty. Ltd., Carine, Western Australia

“Diamond-bearing Kimberlites in Saskatchewan: The Fort la Corne Case History,” K. Lehnert-Thiel, R. Loewer, R. Orr and P. Robertshaw, Uranerz Exploration & Mining Ltd.

Afternoon Session

NEW DISCOVERIES

Chairmen: Terence J. Bottrill and Andrew M. Chater

“Luck or Skill? The Disc
overy of the Fort Knox Deposit, Alaska,” Ian Gray, Fairbanks Gold Ltd.

“The Williams Creek Copper Oxide Project, Yukon Territory,” R. A. Quatermain, Western Copper Holdings

“The George Lake Iron Formation Gold Deposits, N.W.T.,” R. T. Boyd, Homestake

“The McArthur River Uranium Deposit, Saskatchewan,” J. Marlatt, Cameco Corporation

“El Condor’s Maple Leaf and Golden Eagle Deposits in British Columbia’s Kemess Gold-Copper Porphyry District,” Mark Rebagliati, El Condor Resources Ltd.