EDITORIAL Restoring confidence

There is a credibility crisis developing in the Canadian mining industry. The public is losing confidence in the industry’s ability to objectively state the merits or potential merits of a mineral property. As that confidence level falls, so too does the industry’s ability to raise the risk capital so important to finding mines and developing them. Over the years the industry has made great progress in building a reputation for its ability to state fairly the viability of a mining property or prospect. The success of Canadian mining companies and consultants around the world attests to that reputation. But a spate of mine closures in the late 1980s and increasing shareholders’ concerns about the fairness of property valuations are now calling that reputation into question.

A campaign by geoscientists over the past few years, however, may go a long way to restoring the confidence of the public. Geoscientists (a catchall term for geologists, geophysicists, geochemists and hydrogeologists) have been successful in gaining recognition as a registered, self-disciplining profession in Alberta, Newfoundland and the Northwest Territories.

Most recently, British Columbia has passed legislation calling for registration of geoscientists beginning 1991 and making such registration mandatory by Jan 1, 1992.

In Ontario, prompted largely by the Ontario Securities Commission’s concerns about geological reporting, geoscientists have also joined the movement for professional registration, possibly through the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario (APEO).

Such registration is a large step in reassuring the public that there are standards for geoscientific work and that those standards are maintained. The vast majority of geoscientists already adhere to a high professional standard, but it only takes one or two exceptions to destroy the reputation of all. Registration would assure the public that unqualified practitioners will not be recognized by the professional association, that any member of the association has met certain standards and that members will be held accountable if they fail to maintain those standards.

That will give the public — particularly investors in the mining industry — greater confidence in geological reporting which in turn will increase confidence in securities commissions’ ability to ensure standards of publicly traded mining companies.

As Bill Pearson, chairman of the Ontario committee seeking registration, puts it: “It is essential that the public has complete confidence in our profession.”

Confidence in geoscientists is also important for work done on non-mining related projects. Increasing concern over environmental issues, for example, has led to a dramatic increase in demand for geoscientific recommendations in that area. As demand increases, it becomes more difficult to monitor the standard of work done without registration.

“I don’t want some character who has had a couple of courses in hydrogeology making recommendations on site selection for a toxic waste dump,” says Pearson in a recent APEO publication. “The public isn’t assured of reasonable standards — it’s like financial analysts where anyone can hang out their shingle.”

Registration is an important step in restoring confidence in the geoscientists’ profession, but it is just the beginning. By going through the APEO geoscientists will also gain a recognized and effective mechanism for policing and disciplining those who fail to meet professional standards.

Only by putting teeth into the rules for practising their profession — and demonstrating that those rules will be enforced — will geoscientists be able to earn the public’s confidence.