Vancouver — On May 24, a 1.06-carat diamond from the Ekati mine in the Northwest Territories will be raffled to raise money for British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital.
The raffle is part of the 16th annual Mining for Miracles campaign, which raises funds to buy hospital equipment.
The diamond is being donated by Ekati’s owner, BHP Billiton Diamonds, and is part of a prize package that also includes gold donated by Teck Cominco and design work donated by Andrew Costen of Costen Catbalue Goldsmiths. The total value of the package is $17,000.
The Mining for Miracles campaign is part of the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon. For the past 15 years, British Columbia’s mining community has raised more than $300,000 annually. Last year’s campaign raised $407,000.
The hospital, situated in Vancouver, receives more than 150,000 patients per year, 65% of whom come from outside the city. On a yearly basis, the hospital treats more than 750 cancer patients, performs close to 175 open-heart surgeries and 15 kidney transplants, and receives more than 35,000 patients in its emergency room.
A field trip examining reclamation progress 10 years after the closure of the Elliot Lake mining camp, will be a feature of Sudbury 2003: Mining and the Environment, a conference slated for May 25-28 at Laurentian University.
Closure and decommissioning of operations in Elliot Lake began in 1993 and finished in 2001.
The one-day trip costs $250 and includes transportation, lodging, meals, and entrance to the Canadian Mining Museum in Elliot Lake.
Several other trips are planned for the conference, which will focus on the long-term sustainability of mining.
Organizers include the Canadian Land Reclamation Association and the Centre for Environmental Monitoring.
For more information, contact Elizabeth Bamberger at (705) 675-1151, ext. 5054.
E-mail: sudbury2003@laurentian.ca
John Gammon, associate deputy minister of the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, will discuss “creative options” for paying for the cleanup at abandoned mine sites and orphaned mines, at the 12th annual conference of the Mineral Economics and Management Society. The event will be held April 9-11 at The Golden Hotel in Golden, Colo.
The theme of the meeting is the economics of sustainable mining, and one session will feature the winners of a student competition on the topic of mineral economics. The contest’s top three papers will be presented by their authors.
For more information, contact (303) 273-3321 or e-mail space@mines.edu
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