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.
While every graduate engineer is familiar with the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer, there may be a few who do not know that the ritual dates back to 1922 and a certain Professor Herbert Edward Terrick Haultain. In a talk he gave that year, Professor Haultain recommended developing an oath or creed for graduating engineers.
Were it not for the development of geophysical techniques applied to mine-finding, Canadian mining would never have attained the stature it has enjoyed. Because of this, the industry owes an enormous debt to C. Stanley Davidson.
Côme Carbonneau had an unusual career for a mining man. It straddled not only the academic and private-sector fields, but also reached into the public sector where he became the builder and developer of the novel, state-owned enterprise known as SOQUEM.
Long before the Brenda mine was developed into a world-class copper producer, the low-grade Okanagan area deposit was scoffed at by many in the industry. Bernard Brynelsen, however, was not among the sceptics.
It has been said of Frederick R. Archibald that he had a genius for devising creative metallurgical solutions and transforming those solutions into operating process facilities.
Arthur Stollery was a rare combination of prospector, mine finder and entrepreneur. He played a key role in finding two great orebodies, contributed to the development of both Denison Mines and Camflo Mines, and inspired others by his leadership, dedication and personal integrity.
Canada is known as a centre of excellence in mining geophysics, and much of the credit for this achievement goes to Harold Seigel, an extraordinary geophysicist who conceived and pioneered several new methods of mineral exploration.
