William (“Bill”) Jewitt has the rare distinction of being an inductee into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame (2021) and the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame (1978).
In his day, Robert J. Jowsey was known as the dean of mine makers. He was indeed a charter member of Canadian mining, a true, “dog-team and canoe” prospector, whose career flourished through the frenetic heyday of the Cobalt silver rush, the goldfields of Kirkland Lake, and the base metal plays in Manitoba.
Known best as the mining industry’s “turnaround man,” William (Bill) James has used his skills as a geologist, miner, consultant and senior executive to build and strengthen several of Canada’s most important mining companies.
Like another great Canadian mine-finder, Gilbert LaBine (now, too, enshrined in the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame), Franc R. Joubin also made his name and enduring reputation, in uranium. For it was Joubin who found the vast Blind River area uranium field in northern Ontario, today the site of the major operations of uranium miners Denison Mines and Rio Algom at Elliot Lake.
Prominently displayed in the halls of St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, is a plaque that reads:“GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY FRIENDS OF DR. W.F. JAMES, SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER UNIVERSITY ON 12 MARCH 1980..."
