EDITORIAL PAGE — A year to remember?

There’s no doubt that 1992 has been an excellent year for some, such as Canada’s diamond explorers, but won’t be so fondly remembered by others who need only mumble annus horribilis to make their feelings understood.

The current popularity of the Latin expression can of course be traced to Queen Elizabeth II, who has had her share of well publicized familial and other misfortunes this year.

“Horribilis” news stories of one sort or another abound. Ontario Hydro, everyone’s favorite whipping boy of late, announced a major downsizing which the company hopes will make it “lean and mean” again. The giant utility, for as long as anyone can remember, has been synonymous with Ontario’s growth. The Canadian Manufacturers Association (CMA) says Canada was able in 1992 to increase slightly its own performance but its international competitiveness continued to slip when measured against other major industrial nations. The CMA says it now takes Canadian firms seven hours and 52 minutes of every 8-hour production shift to cover overhead and the next five minutes to pay taxes, leaving only three minutes to earn the profits needed for re-investment.

A poll would likely indicate that the mining industry has seen better years, although juniors that have spent all or part of 1992 staking diamond claims may beg to differ, as might investors in those juniors that have been enjoying sparkling returns.

Gold, stuck around the US$335-per-oz. level, had a high in London for the year (in late July) of just under US$360. The waiting game drags on for gold bugs.

The Windy Craggy base metal project in northern British Columbia continues to be dogged by environmentalists, but two other western projects, Mt. Polley and Stronsay, have moved further along the permitting stage and closer to production.

New mines that entered production this year include Falconbridge Ltd.’s Thayer Lindsley in the Sudbury, Ont., region and Noranda’s Norita East at Matagami, Que. In Newfoundland, Royal Oak reopened the Hope Brook mine. Overseas, Eden Roc began producing gold this year in Africa’s Ivory Coast, and Cambior and Golden Star Resources have started feeding ore to their new Omai gold mill in Guyana, South America.

More and more it seems Canadian mining firms are seeking their fortunes abroad. There remains, however, more than passing evidence to indicate that the best place to look for a new mine is at or near an old mining property. And Canada has lots of the latter.

Season’s greetings to all.