The life story and career accomplishments of Peter (“Pete”) Risby are truly extraordinary in Canadian mining history. He was a tenacious entrepreneur of Black and German descent who overcame adversity to become a successful prospector and miner in Northern Canada. He began prospecting in 1957, initially for syndicates, and later on his own or with Indigenous partners. His early finds include the Risby-Tungsten property in Yukon and the Lee property in the Northwest Territories (NWT).

Although born in Australia, Phillip Mackey is known worldwide as one of Canada’s most prominent metallurgists in the field of non-ferrous extractive metallurgy. He is one of the few Canadians to have advanced the development of not one but two significant copper smelting technologies that have benefited copper metallurgical plants around the world.

A pioneer of Canada’s mining and metallurgy industry, Lloyd Pidgeon is best known for the development of the process for the production of high purity magnesium. The process, which bares his name, remains to this day unrivalled in the production of the world’s highest purity magnesium metal.

Franklin Pickard was a miner’s miner and the first Sudbury native to head up a major nickel company. He joined Falconbridge as a young process labourer and rose through the ranks to become the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer.