Canadian Mining Hall of Fame celebrates eclectic roster

Nine members were recently inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame — including, for the first time, first nation members — at a gala dinner and awards ceremony at Toronto’s Royal York Hotel.

More than 580 people attended the eleventh annual banquet, including most of the country’s top mining executives and friends and family of the inductees. Also present were members from the Hall of Fame’s sponsors: the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, the Mining Association of Canada and The Northern Miner. Rounding out the guest list were representatives of the provincial and federal governments.

The Hall now boasts 92 members, all of whom were selected on the basis of their lifetime achievements in either exploration, management or technology, or for their contributions to the industry and Canadian society in general.

• Among this year’s inductees is Norman Paterson (born 1926), who was honored for his role in advancing exploration geophysics. In accepting the honor, Paterson expressed his love for the field and acknowledged the many colleges that assisted him in designing innovative instruments and techniques. “Geophysics has been a staple export from Canada since the 1950s,” he said, “and it is one of the few fields in which the country has shown international leadership and entrepreneurship.”
• Also inducted were George Carmack (1850-1922), the son of an American forty-niner, his Tagish Indian partners Skookum Jim Mason (died 1916) and Tagish Charlie (dates unknown), and prospector Robert Henderson (1857-1933) of Nova Scotia. All four were recognized for their contribution to the Klondike gold rush of the late 1800s. Carmack, Mason and Tagish Charlie are credited with the actual discovery, whereas Henderson played an indirect role.

  Judy Gingell, Commissioner of the Yukon and a direct descendent of Skookum Jim, accepted the award and noted that this was the first time members of first nations had been honored for their role in creating the gold rush.

• Arthur Griffis (1912-1982) is remembered as the quintessential mining engineer. He discovered five iron ore deposits in Labrador and Quebec, and a copper deposit at the McIntyre gold mine. In addition, Griffis developed a profitable copper-zinc orebody near Timmins, Ont., and co-founded Watts Griffis & McOuat, now a world-renowned geological and engineering consulting firm. His award was presented to his son Robert, who noted that his father was much more than an accomplished geologist. “Once you got behind his perceived aloofness, you’d find a very warm and caring person — a man with a great sense of humor and genuine concern for his fellow man.”
• John Williams McBean (1913-1973) was recognized for the geological prowess and entrepreneurial zeal he employed in turning small, struggling companies into winners. He contributed to the success of three gold mines –Upper Canada, Upper Beaver and Macassa — in Ontario’s Kirkland Lake camp and the Polaris lead-zinc mine in the Arctic. McBean’s widow, Doris, told the gathering that her husband “would have be proud to be part of the esteemed group he now joins.”
• Robert Smith (1932-1998) was honoured for having led the technical team that transformed Barrick Gold from a 57,000-oz. producer in 1984 into a 3-million-oz. titan in 1996. He also advanced mining education, as reflected by the Robert Smith Chair in Geotechnical Mine Design and Analysis at the University of Toronto. Smith’s induction into the Hall of Fame was accepted jointly by Smith’s widow, Jane, and daughter, Janet Holmes.
• Accepting for Harry Verney Warren (1904-1998) was his daughter Charlotte. Warren, a geochemist of high renown, wrote or co-wrote 198 scientific publications, of which 140 were of direct interest to the prospector. The late scientist is known as the founding father of bio-geochemistry, and his research into trace element patterns in a wide range of soils, rocks, vegetation and fish has since been applied by exploration companies and prospectors alike.

  Attending the event were seven previously inducted members of the Mining Hall of Fame, including Maurice Brown, Walter Curlook, Gerald Hatch, Charles Michener, Stephen Ogryzlo, Alfred Powis and Harold Seigel.

  The master of ceremonies, Robert Ginn, a mining consultant and a director of the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame, praised each new member. “We have every reason to be proud to be Canadian and to honor our colleagues and peers who have represented and advanced our industry so well,” he said.