Hugh Snyder

What has been the most memorable experience of your career?

I joined Western Mines Ltd (WML) as President in February 1975. WML had a working capital balance of $13 MM, was generating free cash flow of about $2MM per year from its Buttle Lake operations, which had a 1.5 million tonne reserve with good exploration potential. The Buttle Lake mine consisted of 2 VMS deposits, the Lynx and Myra mines. Dave Barret’s NDP Government proposed a Royalty structure which would have rendered the operations unprofitable. Consequently, a US-based shareholder sold their 23% interest in WML, which prompted a fight for control of WML. The conflict was resolved through purchase of a control position in WML by Brascan Ltd.

Subsequently, I engaged Dr Art Soregaroli as vp Exploration, who in turn engaged Ric Walker, a VMS expert with Kidd Creek experience to lead a team to explore for additional ore in the Buttle Lake camp. In 1976 and 1977, Ric’s team relogged some 1mm feet of core, remapped and reinterpreted the geology of the Myra and Lynx deposits – the first hole drilled in 1978 intercepted some 70 feet of ore grade mineralisation under 400 feet of cover, about half way between the Lynx and Myra mines. Subsequently, an ore deposit measuring about 14 million tonnes was drilled out with ore grades similar to those at Lynx. An increase in reserves of some 1000%!

An exploration success is the child of many parents – the real parents in the discovery of the H-W zone were Dr Art Soregaroli, Ric Walker and Bill Bennet, whose Socreds defeated Dave Barret’s NDP in the December 1975 election, an election in which members of the BC Mining industry played an active role. 

What advice would you give to young professionals just starting their career, or students considering a career in the mineral industry?

First and foremost, seek associations with quality people who will identify quality projects, have the skills to source capital, and to manage relationships with governments benign and otherwise.