A grade-seven student from Trenton, Ont., has been named Junior Miner of Ontario for 1999 following an essay competition sponsored by the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC).
For her winning essay, Elaine Quinn received a certificate and 50 shares of Barrick Gold, worth about $1,300, at a recent awards luncheon at Toronto’s Ontario Club.
The competition is designed to introduce students to the basics of geology and mine-building. “We started out learning the minerals’ names and how to identify them through tests of conductivity, which I mentioned in my essay,” explained Quinn, whose essay, “My Experience in Mining Matters,” was chosen from among hundreds submitted by grades six and seven students from across Ontario. “Then we got into which was my favourite part, which was making models of mines.”
Writing the paper opened her eyes to the importance mining: without it, she says, modern life “really wouldn’t exist.”
“I was thinking about it when I was choosing my high school courses, so maybe I might just start into geology,” she said.
The award is part of the PDAC’s Mining Matters program, which provides educational materials on minerals and mining to more than two-thirds of Ontario’s elementary schools. The materials used in the 4-week program include samples collected from various mines across the province, as well as videos, workbooks and teachers’ kits.
The program was introduced four years ago and today has more than 60 corporate sponsors.
Be the first to comment on "Trenton girl wins PDAC essay contest"