Syncrude’s Carter named MAC chairman

The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) has elected James Carter, president of Syncrude Canada, as its new chairman.

The previous chairman was Guy Dufresne, chief executive officer of Quebec Cartier Mining.

Carter graduated from the Technical University of Nova Scotia in 1973 with a degree in mining engineering and later attended Harvard Business School. In the 1970s, he worked for Iron Ore Co. of Canada (as mine foreman) and McIntyre Mines (as manager of surface mines). He joined Syncrude in 1979, first as vice-president of operations and later as president and CEO.

Carter is a member of the Alberta Chamber of Resources and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. He was presented with the Centennial Award, the highest honour given by the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta.

In 1995, he received an honorary doctorate of engineering from the Technical University of Nova Scotia for his work in the oil sands.

Carter told The Northern Miner that some of the major issues facing the MAC over the next year will be corporate taxes, regulatory reform, and the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol on carbon-dioxide emissions.

The MAC has been campaigning for the extension of a 7% break on corporate taxes, currently available to high-technology and service companies, to the mining industry. Carter is hoping the government will recognize that mining is a productive and high-tech industry in itself, whatever perception there may be to the contrary.

The Association is also seeking greater certainty and clarity in national and provincial regulations governing mining, and Carter praised amendments to the national Environmental Assessment Act currently in process as Bill C19.