BC & Yukon Chamber gives Pezim Award to John Brock Bernanke

John Brock, president of Vancouver-based Badger and Co. Management, will receive the Murray Pezim Award from the British Columbia & Yukon Chamber of Mines.

He and 10 other leaders in the west coast’s exploration industry will be fted at a dinner on Jan. 29 at Vancouver’s Westin Bayshore Resort and Marina, during the 20th anniversay of the Cordilleran Exploration Roundup (Jan. 25-30).

Brock’s award recognizes 35 years of financing activities in the exploration sector. A geologist and geophysicist by training, he has also served on the boards of governors of both the Vancouver Stock Exchange and the Canadian Venture Exchange.

Other award winners include the following:

r Mark Baknes, Rimfire Minerals’ vice-president of exploration, will receive the H.H. “Spud” Huestis Award honouring excellence in prospecting and exploration. His contribution to discovering the Wolverine and Kudz Ze Kaya deposits in the Yukon led to a dramatic increase in exploration and claim-staking in the 1990s.

r The E.A. Scholz Award for excellence in mine development goes to four managers of the Highland Valley Copper mine, near Kamloops, B.C.: Frank Amon, responsible for operations; James Clark, maintenance; Terry Marsten, administration; and Rod Killough, human resources.

The award cites their “innovative application of technology and progressive management to sustain the mine’s operation during a time of depressed metal prices.”

r With the support of Dundee Securities and Ivanhoe Mines, the chamber will honour the late Hugo Dummett (1940-2002) for the role he played in discovering the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories. Dummett, who was president of the Society for Economic Geologists, died in August 2002 in a car crash in his native South Africa.

r The Frank Woodside Past President’s Award will be presented to three persons who served on the British Columbia & Yukon Chamber of Mines: Donald Bragg, prospector; Ed Kimura, retired exploration manager for Placer Dome; and Marilyn Mullen, retired executive director of the Britannia Beach Historical Society (which governs the British Columbia Mining Museum).

r The winner of the Gold Pan Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the chamber, is Bruce McKnight, who was its executive director from 1998 to 2002.

In a career that has spanned 35 years, McKnight held senior positions with Amax Exploration, Brascan Resources and Westmin Resources. Among other accomplishments, he introduced the Whitehorse Mining Initiative, which established rules on land-use planning and community relations in exploration and development.