GLOBAL MINING NEWS
THE NORTHERN MINER / FEBRUARY 20–MARCH 5, 2017
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Canadian Mining Hall of Fame hails five industry leaders INNOVATION
| Record crowd celebrates Zigarlick, Vaughan, McLeod, Carter and McEwen
BY SALMA TARIKH AND JOHN CUMMING
T
he Canadian Mining Hall of Fame (CMHF) bestowed honours on five industry trailblazers at its twenty-ninth induction ceremony in January at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The 2017 inductees — John Zigarlick, William S. Vaughan, Donald McLeod, James Carter and Robert McEwen — join 172 existing CMHF members. “We are here tonight to celebrate the people that make our industry innovative, creative, exciting, caring, community-minded and ethical, and applaud our inductees who will receive the highest award you can receive in January,” Pierre Lassonde, chairman of FrancoNevada, told the crowd to begin the evening. Lassonde, a previous CMHF inductee, has been the evening’s master of ceremonies for the past 16 years. Past inductees in attendance included Peter Bradshaw, George B. Cross, Graham Farquharson, Robert Friedland, John A. Hansuld, William James, Norman B. Keevil, Michael J. Knuckey, Grenville Thomas, Mark Rebagliati, Robert Dickinson, Peter Brown, Bert Wasmund and Mackenzie Iles Watson. The CMHF also marked the passing of two inductees in 2016: Richard W. Hutchinson and David S. Robertson. The soiree — held for the first 28 years at the nearby Fairmont Royal York hotel, with its smaller 800-person capacity — had a record attendance of 1,000 people. The attendees generously donated $600,000 to the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s Mining Matters and B.C.-based MineralsEd mining educational charities, with the funds split equally.
John Zigarlick The first inductee of the evening was John Zigarlick (1937–2011), an innovative mine-builder and company-maker, who left an impression on Canada’s North by developing the world’s longest ice road and cofounding Nuna Logistics, a majority Inuit-owned mining supplier, among his other accomplishments. “If he put his mind to something, he was going to do it. There was no stopping him,” his son Rory Zigarlick said in a video presentation, before accepting the induction on behalf of his father. “People respected John and they respected his vision,” Nuna Logistics operations manager Patrick McHale shared in the video. “Engineering firms, you know, right
John Zigarlick, CMHF inductee.
down to the guy in the field, they respected John.” Born in Winnipeg, Man., Zigarlick grew up in Uranium City, Saskatchewan. Following in his father’s footsteps he worked in a local uranium mine. After two years at the mine, Zigarlick joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and worked overseas as a military police officer. Eleven years later, he returned to the mining industry. In 1971, he got a job at Echo Bay Mines as a manager of purchasing and personnel, and rapidly ascended the corporate ladder. In 1977, he became Echo Bay’s president and CEO, after earning a degree in business administration from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. “My dad didn’t obtain his goals through higher education, but with vision, determination and stubbornness. And especially the ability to draw others that worked with him and around him into his ideas,” Rory said on stage. When Zigarlick took the reins of Echo Bay, the company’s sole asset was the nearly depleted Port Radium silver mine in the Northwest Territories. Zigarlick convinced Echo’s parent company to buy the remote Lupin high-grade gold deposit, 400 km northeast of Yellowknife. After a short underground program, he envisioned developing a mine. Lupin was built entirely with materials brought in by Hercules and Convair aircrafts, on time and on budget, in 1982. Zigarlick then took on the task of building a 568 km ice road from Tibbitt to Contwoyto to service the Lupin mine. Around 75% of this road was built over lake ice. Under his direction, Lupin became one of Canada’s top gold producers. And Echo Bay’s market cap grew from $7 million in 1979 to an astonishing $2 billion in 1992. “It was kind of amazing the way Echo Bay grew and developed,” Rory said. After retiring from Echo Bay, Zigarlick cofounded Nuna Logistics with two Inuit corporations, six
“MY DAD DIDN’T OBTAIN HIS GOALS THROUGH HIGHER EDUCATION, BUT WITH VISION, DETERMINATION AND STUBBORNNESS.” RORY ZIGARLICK SON OF CMHF INDUCTEE JOHN ZIGARLICK
years before the Nunavut Territory was established. The company’s objective was to support and supply the mining industry. “Finding the property is one thing, but getting to it is another. This can be difficult at times, especially in the Arctic, and when you don’t have an ocean right next to you.” Nuna Logistics, which today has over 30 joint ventures, also took over annual construction of the old Lupin ice road, which passed near the developing diamond discoveries Ekati and Diavik, and became a lifeline to the diamond industry. William S. Vaughan Up next was William S. Vaughan (b. 1937), a geologist turned influential mining lawyer, who helped shape Canada’s mining regulations and lift the industry’s reputation. He oversaw the mining practices for several Toronto-based law firms and ranked as one of the best mining lawyers in the world. His knowledge benefitted clients involved in resource development in more than 65 countries. “I don’t believe that you can be a successful mining lawyer unless you really understand the science and the engineering that goes into finding and developing a mine,” Vaughan said in a video before his induction. “He rolls up his sleeves. He is out there doing the due diligence. He’s riding a mule in the mountains of Mexico to go check out a project. He’s really passionate about the projects themselves,” Michael Bourassa, a partner at law firm Fasken Martineau DuMoulin, said
“I DON’T BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN BE A SUCCESSFUL MINING LAWYER UNLESS YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND THE SCIENCE AND THE ENGINEERING THAT GOES INTO FINDING AND DEVELOPING A MINE.” WILLIAM S. VAUGHAN CMHF inductee William S. Vaughan (left) and CMHF director Ed Thompson.
KEITH
CMHF INDUCTEE
Accepting the CMHF induction on behalf of Donald A. McLeod, son Bruce McLeod (left) and daughter Catherine McLeod-Seltzer, with CMHF director Bill Roscoe. KEITH HOUGHTON PHOTOGRAPHY
in the video of Vaughan. Born in Fredericton, N.B., Vaughan got his first taste of mining at the age of 15, working underground at a local tungsten mine. Fascinated by the work, Vaughan completed a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) in 1959, followed by a master’s degree in economic geology and exploration from McGill University in 1962. But an incident underground at an Inco mine in Manitoba had Vaughan reconsider his career choice. “One day I was going from the twelfth level to the fourth level, climbing by ladder. A new miner put a hose down the raise and I kept yelling to him, ‘Stop! Turn the water off!’ because it was freezing on the ladder instantly, and I couldn’t hold on to the rungs because they were solid ice. When I got up, I thought, ‘there has to be a better way to be in the mining business.’” After earning a law degree from UNB in 1965, Vaughan joined Aird & Berlis and later led its Toronto-based mining group. From there, he continued to shape the industry. He participated in numerous projects, including the multistakeholder Whitehorse Mining Initiative aimed to endorse sustainable development, and drafting the first flow-through share mining prospectus financing in Canada. After the Bre-X Minerals fiasco in 1997, Vaughan contributed to the Mining Standards Task Force Committee, whose findings laid the groundwork for the National Instrument 43-101 disclosure standards. While Vaughan supported the globalization of the Canadian mining industry, he also helped many foreign jurisdictions draft their mining policies and fiscal regimes. He helped establish the World Mine Ministers forum and authored numerous articles while serving as an informal ambassador of Canada’s
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“I’M VERY GLAD TO BE ABLE TO BE ONE OF THE LIVING INDUCTEES. AT MY AGE, YOU DON’T TAKE THAT FOR GRANTED.” DONALD A. MCLEOD CMHF INDUCTEE
mining industry. He was also an enthusiastic mentor to a new generation of mining lawyers in Canada and abroad. “I really learned a lot, and if it had not been for him, I wouldn’t be a mining lawyer today,” Bourassa revealed. “It is his passion for the industry that got me really excited about it as well.” “The great thing about the mining industry is the people who are in it,” Vaughan said at the podium. “I met a number of them — when I last looked at my contact list it was 7,428 people from around the world. See CMHF / 6
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HOUGHTON PHOTOGRAPHY
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