2010 Award Winners • Awards • Programs

Page Index
Thayer Lindsley Award for an international mineral discovery
Bill Dennis Award for a Canadian discovery or prospecting success
Viola R. MacMillan Award for company or mine development
Skookum Jim Award for Aboriginal achievement in the mineral industry
Distinguished Service Award
Environmental & Social Responsibility Award

Winners of the PDAC’s 2010 annual awards are listed below. The awards will be presented on Monday, March 8, at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto, during the PDAC’s annual convention. The awards evening is sponsored by Barrick Gold Corporation. Awards recipients are selected by the association’s board of directors, based on the recommendations of the association’s awards committee. Selection criteria for the awards are here.

Thayer Lindsley Award for an international mineral discovery

This award, honouring the memory of one of Canada’s greatest mine finders, recognizes an individual or a team of explorationists credited with a recent significant mineral discovery or series of discoveries anywhere in the world.

Perry Durning	Bud Hillemeyer

Longtime prospectors Perry Durning and Bud Hillemeyer are being recognized for their substantial record of grassroots discoveries in Mexico. These include, in 1994, the San Sebastian mine with a life-of-mine production over four years of 11.2 million oz. of silver and 155,937 oz of gold; the San Agustin gold deposit in 1996 (1.6 million oz. indicated, 1.1 million oz. inferred); La Pitarrilla silver deposit in 2002 (91.7 million oz. probable, plus 551.6 million oz. measured and indicated, and one of the most significant silver discoveries in the last decade) ; and most recently in 2007 the Camino Rojo gold discovery (3.4 million oz. gold and 60.7 million oz. silver).

According to Larry Buchanan, himself a previous award winner, “…(Perry and Bud) made these discoveries the ‘old fashioned way,’ by eschewing the comforts of hotels and restaurants, by hiking ungodly amounts of kilometers through rough country, by camping each night wherever sunset found them, and by using geological insights they themselves developed.”

Back row, left to right: Mackenzie Watson, John Harvey, Richard Nemis Front row, left to right: Neil Novak, Don Hoy

Winner of this award is Ross J. Beaty, a geologist and resource company entrepreneur with more than 37 years of experience in the international minerals industry. He founded and currently serves as chairman of Pan American Silver Corp., one of the world’s leading silver producers. The company has eight operating mines in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Bolivia. Beaty also founded Magma Energy Corp. to focus on international geothermal energy development. Since its start in 2008, the company has built a world-class team, acquired a Nevada operating plant with expansion potential and an extensive portfolio of early and advanced stage exploration properties in North and South America. Ross Beaty established the Beaty Biodiversity Centre and Beaty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia and spearheaded a campaign to raise $56 million to fund a new geology building at UBC.

Willie Keatainak is the recipient of this year’s Skookum Jim Award. Keatainak is president of Nuvumiut Developments Inc., a company formed in 1996 by Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq, the two Inuit communities closest to the Raglan mine in the Nunavik territory of Quebec. The company aims to secure economic development opportunities at the mine and is fully owned and operated by the Inuit Landholding Corporations of the two communities. It began with an investment of $160,000 and now has assets in excess of $15 million. Keatainak has been involved with the mining industry since the early 1960s. He was a key negotiator to the Raglan Agreement in 1995, a landmark agreement that is seen as a model for subsequent agreements. He has since worked to encourage members of the two Inuit communities to take advantage of the opportunities that the mine offers. Keatainak has been involved with Nuvumiut Developments since its formation, serving as its president for the past five years. The formation of joint ventures with companies such as Kiewitt, Bradley Brothers, Redpath and Jacques Whitford has added to its success.

The PDAC will be honouring Nicholas Carter for his significant contributions to exploration and mining and to the industry’s associations and professional societies. During his 50-year career, Nick has become one of the foremost consultants in property evaluation, exploration and development, producing many technical reports on mature mineral prospects in British Columbia. He is an expert on porphyry systems in the province, and his careful documentation of findings and willingness to share information with others have enhanced the province’s geoscience knowledge base. Carter has held senior positions in a number of professional associations that foster and promote Canada’s mining industry. He was a PDAC director from 1982 to 1993 and chair of the Geology Division of the CIM in 1985-86. Carter organized field trips and technical meetings in western Canada for the Geological Association of Canada. Between 1988 and 1990, he was president of the B.C. and Yukon Chamber of Mines (now the Association for Mineral Exploration BC) and a member of its executive for six years. From 1983 to 1989, he served on a committee that established standards for the registration of professional geoscientists in British Columbia.

Two companies have won this year’s Environmental & Social Responsibility Award: De Beers Canada and Avalon Rare Metals Inc.
 
De Beers Canada is recognized for its commitment to its employees, the environment and the communities located close to its two Canadian diamond mines - Snap Lake, NWT, its first mine outside Africa, and Victor Mine, the first diamond mine in Ontario. Both mines were opened in 2008. The company’s first Report to Society, published in 2009, notes that De Beers’ corporate social investment amounted to more than $3.6 million in 2008, including $2.8 million on education, training and youth (literacy). More than 30% of its employees are aboriginal. 
 
Avalon Rare Metals has been a leader in promoting responsible exploration practices, emphasizing early engagement and open communication with communities around its Thor Lake, NWT, rare earth project, Nechalacho. The company has encouraged skills training and employment opportunities for aboriginal people and has offered joint business opportunities. Committed to protecting the fragile environment of the North, Avalon was the first company to adopt e3 Plus principles and guidance. Company officials have been instrumental in the program’s development and in advancing its use within the exploration industry.