Ossian Walli never discovered a mineral deposit, built a mine or operated a mining company, but during his 22 years as principal at the Haileybury School of Mines he influenced hundreds of students who did. Appointed to the position when the school was revived under government direction in 1945, he administered its operations and taught mathematics and mineral chemistry classes.
The list of mines in which Mervyn Arthur Upham played a significant role developing is considerable - 22 in Canada alone, several more internationally.
Technical innovation spurred the development of Sudbury, Ont., as the world’s premier mining and metallurgical centre. Louis Secondo Renzoni, as a chemical scientist working on the nickel refining operation of Inco Ltd. for more than three decades, did much to further the company’s fortunes and those of the entire industry.
Richard Valentine Porritt was the man who set the pace and style that marked a “Noranda man” - tough and fast-moving.
James McCrea was instrumental in building Dome Mines into one of the giants of the Canadian mining industry. He was responsible for acquiring and developing Dome’s Sigma mine in northwestern Quebec in the early 1930s, which has been producing gold for 56 years, and the Campbell Red Lake gold mine, one of Canada’s premier gold producers and also still in production.
Dedicated to the prevention of accident and injury, Neil George was instrumental in establishing Canada’s exemplary record in mine safety. He was the Quebec Mining Association’s first director of safety, who changed mine accident prevention in Canada and abroad.
Joseph Errington embodied the spirit of mining prior to the Second World War as the country pulled itself out of the depths of the Depression in the 1930s and mining became a prime force in creating a prosperous and bustling postwar Canada.
During his 43 years with The Northern Miner, a weekly newspaper, Maurice Brown has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Canadian mining industry. His reporting on mineral discoveries, operating mines and the people who find, develop and operate them, has enhanced the industry’s reputation for openness and facilitated the free flow of information that has helped make it a world leader.
