The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) handed out its annual awards at a gala during its eighty-first annual convention in Toronto this month. Award recipients were honoured for outstanding contributions and excellence in the mineral industry.
Pretium Resources (PVG-T, PVG-N) received this year’s Bill Dennis Award for a Canadian mineral discovery or prospecting success. The company was highlighted for advancing the Brucejack property’s Valley of the Kings zone into a world-class, high-grade gold deposit. The prospect was first discovered in 2009. Since 2011, Pretium’s exploration program has seen the high-grade indicated resource base for the Valley of the Kings grow to 8.5 million oz. gold.
The Viola R. MacMillan Award for company or mine development went to New Gold (NGD-T, NGD-X) for demonstrating leadership in management and excellence in best practices while bringing the New Afton underground gold-copper mine to production. Located in Kamloops, B.C., New Afton is a large, gold-copper deposit that’s expected to produce 85,000 oz. gold and 75 million lb. copper per year over a 12-year mine life. The New Afton participation agreement with local First Nations is considered a best practice in Canada.
Daniel G. Wood received the Thayer Lindsley Award for international mineral discoveries. Wood was selected for his leadership of exploration teams that found discoveries in a variety of geologic settings, with an aggregate gross value of over $100 billion. Wood retired from mineral exploration in 2008 after 24 years with BHP Billiton (BHP-N) and almost 18 years with Newcrest Mining (NM-T), leading teams exploring for mineral resources in Australia, Southeast Asia, the South West Pacific and the Americas. Their efforts produced coal, gold, gold-copper and copper-molybdenum discoveries in Australia, Indonesia and Peru, including the large Cadia gold-copper deposits in New South Wales, Australia.
Ronald P. Gagel was honoured with the Distinguished Service Award for his outstanding contributions to the mineral industry in the finance field, and for his contributions to the PDAC. Gagel’s background in mining finance, accounting and taxation has provided outstanding support to the financial activities and affairs of the PDAC, particularly through his work on the finance and taxation committee. Ron was part of the team that lobbied the federal government to implement the mineral-exploration tax credit, and is the chair of the mining industry task force on international financial reporting standards.
Uranium miner Cameco (CCO-T, CCJ-N) earned the Environmental and Social Responsibility Award for its outstanding accomplishments in establishing good community relations that helped support its exploration and mining operations. Cameco’s five-pillar corporate social responsibility (CSR) model is designed to ensure local community support and proactive environmental stewardship, and has led to recognition of the company as an industry leader in CSR by Aboriginal associations and industry rankings.
Windigo Catering took home the Skookum Jim Award for Aboriginal achievements in the mineral industry. The company was chosen for its success as a Canadian, Aboriginal-run business and for its service to the Canadian mining industry. Located in northwestern Ontario, the company is owned by Windigo First Nations and has an 83% First Nations employment rate. The company specializes in providing catering services for the industry, including remote camps, and is providing camp management, catering, housekeeping, laundry and light maintenance services to Goldcorp’s (G-T) Musselwhite mine at its remote fly-in camp at Opapimiskan Lake in Ontario.
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