Donald Burton

How did you get your start in the industry?

My father (Frederick R. Burton) was a geologist. He earned his PhD from McGill in 1933 and throughout my youth I wasn’t really aware of his extensive professional career. But I grew up knowing some of his closest colleagues when they visited our house. They were leaders in their field – Bill James (Senior), Marsh Cooper, Bill Buffam. Only later did I come to understand that this was the consulting firm of James, Buffam and Cooper. I remember my parents playing cards with “Doc” Oaks who was a pioneer in bush flying, opening the north up to prospectors. So I came by geology and I suppose my love of bush flying honestly, but at 18 my plan was to be a wildlife biologist...

Then I got a summer job packing rocks for a geologist in Rouyn Noranda. The wildlife biologist in me took note that there I was in the bush meeting bears - so perhaps geology could work. My father had died by then so he never knew that I became a geologist. For the next 50 years I would enjoy all that exploration geology could offer from North America to Africa. My friends would want to go back packing on a holiday and I was doing it for a living! Gravity surveys on the Beaufort Sea, prospecting the mountains in the Yukon, fly camping along the Liard River. I was hooked. Why exploration geology? It was the science, the travel to remote areas, the bush flying and the people.

What has been the most memorable experience of your career?

Aside from the professional aspects of being an exploration geologist, my most memorable experiences have been the opportunities to undertake community projects over the past 25 years in Africa through my company and with colleagues particularly in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d'Ivoire. Our sincere belief was that we were guests in these in these countries and it was incumbent upon us to assist in the areas of health, education and community needs. The contrast between the blessings in my life and the hardships people faced in rural West Africa were such that one either had to turn a blind eye or you did something about it.

We developed a partnership with local Rotary Clubs in Nova Scotia looking to participate in sustainable projects in Africa with accountability. We built a rural health clinic that serviced a population of 6,000 and expanded the local village school from a capacity of 50 students with no girls attending, to over 400 students with half of them being girls. My most gratifying moment was taking representatives from those clubs to visit those two social projects in Niger when they were completed. The people welcomed them and the Rotarians themselves experienced the sincere gratitude of the communities.

I remember the strength of the women who carried such a disproportionate load of the daily work and of children greeting me in song, seemingly oblivious to the hardships around them. These were experiences that would never have happened had I not chosen geology.