Canada’s recent emergence as a centre of excellence for diamond exploration and production owes much to the pioneering efforts of John Williamson, a brilliant geologist from McGill University who discovered, built and operated the highly successful Williamson diamond mine - also known as Mwadui - in Tanganyika (now Tanzania).
During a distinguished career spanning more than a half-century, Mike Muzylowski contributed to the growth of Canada’s mining industry as a gifted geologist and mine-finder, innovative financier and respected senior mining executive.
Geologists and prospectors had searched for diamond deposits in North America for more than a century with only teasing hints of success until the discovery of a cluster of kimberlites in the Northwest Territories that became Ekati, Canada’s first diamond mine.
Kathleen Creighton Starr Rice left the comforts and confines of Edwardian-era Ontario for the wilderness of northern Manitoba, where she found fame as a prospector and mining entrepreneur.
Few modern-era geoscientists can match the prolific track record of discovery established by Mark Rebagliati in Canada and abroad over four decades. Several of his discoveries became mines in his home province of British Columbia — notably Mount Milligan and Kemess — while others were found in far-flung parts of the world.
John (Jack) McOuat helped advance hundreds of mines and mineral projects around the world as a founding partner of Watts, Griffis and McOuat (WGM), Canada’s longest-running independent firm of geological and mining consultants.
Geological acumen, entrepreneurial instincts, and an engaging personality are some of the qualities that contributed to the extraordinary success achieved by Mackenzie Watson during his 50-year career in the Canadian mining industry.
Ronald Netolitzky is an accomplished Canadian geologist who has always remained an independent-minded prospector at heart. He recognized and helped realize the potential of the Snip and Eskay Creek properties in northwest British Columbia, which became two of Canada’s most successful, high-grade precious metal mines.
Peter Bradshaw has served the mining industry with distinction for more than forty years as a mine-finder, company builder, an advocate of collaborative research and science and by working effectively with local and indigenous people.
Murray Edmund Watts, a combination of adventurous prospector and mining engineer, is probably best known for his work in the Arctic, where he made a number of major ore discoveries, revealing much about that vast land inside Canada’s Arctic Circle.
