Driving Forces Behind Canada’s Mining Industry

A couple of months ago I talked about prospectors and geologists and much to my surprise, I received a couple of calls and a few emails thanking me for recognizing those two professions and for calling the people in them the “unsung heroes” of mining.

One reader said that my words actually helped him paint a mental picture of what it must be like to work in some of the remote places I mentioned; nasty places where many prospectors and geologists call home. I even had one ‘desk-bound’ geologist phone from his Bay Street office to say that my comments made him homesick for the jungle.

Since I wrote that column back in the early summer, I’ve had the opportunity to get a taste of what my Bay Street friend was talking about. Not a taste of the jungle, mind you, but a taste of the outdoors and in my case, the mountains where many prospectors and geologists find as equally exciting as the tropics.

My venture into the mountains, however, was not a hard-core, knee-skinning exploration but tame by comparison as I toured the Yukon, mostly by helicopter, with the territory’s Department of Energy, Mines and Resources to get a close-up look at what’s happening in their part of Canada.

Shocked by what I saw and did is an understatement. First of all, I was shocked at myself for breaking the law. That’s right, I broke the law! Normally I’m pretty good about following the rules but from the moment I set foot in the Yukon, I ignored the “Do not feed the wildlife” signs and went straight ahead and fed the mosquitos anyway.

Seriously, though, the trip throughout the Yukon and the people I met during my fly-in visits confirmed what I said earlier about “unsung heroes” and the people who go where few would ever consider. I’m singling out the Yukon here because of my recent trip but I know that everything I say applies to everyone out in the field around the world.

I’m sure quite a few of you know what it’s like to work and live in a remote camp site, but I’m also sure that many others involved with mining only know about their projects by name and not necessarily by where they are precisely located on the map or what it’s actually like to be there.

In fact, many employees of mining companies I’ve met have little to no idea exactly what their company does to earn money and they know even less about the people ‘outside’ of the immediate office and what they do.

“Guys in the bush,” which includes plenty of women, are perceived as the ones out there for long stretches of time who only visit the head office periodically for project meetings or reassignments.

Whatever the case, I think it’s important to recognize the front-line workers of the mining industry and I hope you’ll find the people and places on these pages as interesting as I did during my trip to the Yukon. Believe me, what you see here is only a taste of what’s going on across Canada’s mining regions and as far as the Yukon is concerned, you’ll see a lot more in January when Canadian Mining Journal takes an in-depth look at Mining in the Yukon or what some are calling “Canada’s New Mining Frontier, Again!”