Jon Baird

How did you get your start in the mineral industry?

I graduated as a geophysicist from the University of Toronto and despite offers from major companies, decided to work for a geophysical consultant as the best way to acquire experience and travel. The travel came quickly: Northern Ontario and Quebec, Africa and Europe before I ended up in the Northwest Territory, where I lived for 2 years. As a field geophysicist I discovered an orebody in Pine Point that led to a stampede for the shares of Pyramid Mines. That early success led to a great career.

What has been the most memorable experience of your career?

Certainly my most memorable experience would be the Pyramid discovery described above. The geophysical anomaly occurred at the end of our survey lines which were supposed to stop at the boundary of the Cominco property. When I inspected the staking, I realized that there was a gap, which I arranged to be staked. The gap occurred over half of the valuable orebody which contained 20 million tons of 12% combined lead and zinc, 15 metres below surface within a few kilometres of an existing mill.