LETTERS TO THE EDITOR — Giving credit where it is due

The article “Madsen puts hope in `Mr. Chibougamau'” (T.N.M., Oct. 26/92) appears to give credit where credit is due. That is often the case when a single source is quoted.

In the article, Ram Kanwar is named “Mr. Chibougamau”: “Kanwar, 53, is credited — by himself — with saving the Copper Rand and Portage copper-gold mines at Chibougamau.” I always thought “Mr. Chibougamau” was a title given to Joe Mann, a long-time prospector, colorful local legend and founder of the Joe Mann mine.

The steady increase in gold prices during the 1970s and the low cost of copper in the late 1970s were direct factors involved in saving most of the mines in the Chibougamau camp. Gold had always been considered an unimportant byproduct and high gold values were often left in the walls, in favor of mining the primary product, copper.

Credit for the discovery of the Hanging Wall zone at Copper Rand and the 02-6 zone at Portage cannot, and should not, be attributed to a single individual. It should be given to the team of geologists working at the mine during this period, as well as all those geologists who worked the Patino mines since their initial startup in the mid-1950s, sharing ideas and findings, each building on the knowledge of the ones before.

Richard Niels

North Bay, Ont.