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.
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.
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.
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.
The scarcity of jobs during the Depression years prompted a young Egil Lorntzsen to pursue a prospecting career, starting in the Bridge River gold camp of British Columbia. But success was not to come until decades later, when he made an “elephant” copper discovery in nearby Highland Valley.
David Burchell was a pioneer in Canadian coal mining. He was an explorer, with five underground coal mines to his credit. He was a builder, with his own corporation, and he contributed greatly to the advancement of coal mining technology in Canada.
Archibald Bell contributed to the development of several mines during the course of an illustrious career that epitomizes the progress made by the mining industry this century. He is best known for his role in the discovery of the Copper and Needle Mountain orebodies of Gaspe Copper which, at 67 million tons averaging 1.3% copper, could be termed an “elephant” discovery.
Although best known as one of Canada’s prominent mine financiers and developers, Donald Hogarth’s career includes a long list of achievements in politics, wartime military service, and other business interests.
Joseph Hirshhorn came to Canada in 1933, drawn by opportunities in gold mining. He was an unabashed promoter and entrepreneur who announced his arrival with a full page advertisement in The Northern Miner, entitled “My Name is Opportunity and I Am Paging Canada.”
