Meet Mike from Manitoba

At U of M, he signed up to take a geology course by accident, because he didn’t know what “geology” meant. That wasn’t the full extent of his ignorance. “I had no idea we were hooked up to some solid rock. My father said that if you picked small stones, you’d get more — he told me they grew like potatoes.” Mike believed him.

That situation was soon reversed. “Once I studied geology I couldn’t find anything that I could be more interested in. When I read our first textbook–it was called The History of Geology–and I found out about the beginnings of the world, I was just enthralled.

“I was way ahead of the class because I was so vitally interested that I read the textbooks ahead of the curriculum and bought additional books. If you view school in that manner you can’t help but make a lifetime of it. I have just entered my eighth decade, and I’m still trying to understand the wonders of nature.”

He is now a highly regarded geologist whose name is synonymous with exploration in Manitoba. CMJ caught up with him in Kamloops last April.

Muzylowski was born in 1934. He earned a BSc in Geology, and in 1955 joined Hudson Bay Exploration & Development Co. Ltd., rising to become assistant superintendent of exploration and development. He moved to Granges Exploration as a senior executive in 1970, and became president and CEO in 1984. He took revenues from $4 million to $65 million per year, before overseeing its sale to MIM. Granges amalgamated with Hycroft Resources, which owned a large open pit, heap leach gold deposit. Muzylowski became chairman and CEO and was responsible for increasing production to over 100,000 oz of gold and 1 million oz of silver per year.

While at Granges he and his team discovered the Trout Lake copper-zinc orebody at Flin Flon, Man. “We had electromag surveys flown by Questor in 1974, and staked the ground based on the geophysics. On January 23, 1976, hole #5 was the discovery hole — a 60-foot intersection of ore-grade copper and zinc. I flew up and saw the core that was going to become a mine. The alteration was wide, the sulphide zone was wide, and the geophysical signature was long and wide. It’s close to Flin Flon and its infrastructure, which is vital.” The underground mine started up in 1983 and currently produces 1 million tons of ore per year. It has mined ore valued at about $5 billion, and is still producing.

For his involvement in discovering Trout Lake and 14 other orebodies — 13 of them in Manitoba — Muzylowski was honoured as Mine Developer of the Year by the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada in 1988.

Along the way he developed some enlightened attitudes. One of his few jobs outside of western Canada was at Crowfoot, a low-grade gold open pit mine in Nevada. “Because we were starting a new mine [at Crowfoot], we wanted to develop an environmentally pure mine, with no effluent, all cyanide recycled, no air effluents and no dust. This marginally increased the costs, but not by much, if you do it right from the start. It was in production for 15 years and never received a citation. I’m very proud of that.”

Crowfoot mine produced 17,000 tons/day of ore and employed 200 people. “This was one of the first companies to hire women as truck drivers, driving 200-ton trucks. Mining has always been considered to have jobs for men, but women were not allowed underground. This is a fairytale. It’s only right that women can work in mines, with the current mechanization.

“I hope I have done some good for the public. I have been involved in many deposits, and many that have gone into production. Many people get high-paying jobs and the government collects their money in taxes; other people get other benefits.”

Muzylowski is not done yet, not by a long shot. Like those rocks in his father’s potato field, Mike just keeps turning up. He was involved with Winspear Resources and its Snap Lake diamond project in the Northwest Territories, which was purchased by De Beers in 2000. Since 1995 he has been president and CEO of Callinan Mines Ltd., a Vancouver-based junior company with interests in base metal prospects in Manitoba, B.C. and Ontario, and a royalty and 6.67% NPI in HudBay’s Callinan and 777 underground copper-zinc mines in Flin Flon.

Among his many current directorships, he is on the board of New Gold Inc., which is developing the Afton copper-gold mine near Kamloops, B.C. “I was invited onto the board of DRC Resources (since renamed New Gold Inc.) four years ago. At my age, I didn’t know if I should accept. I thought, if there was anything there the property would not have been open for staking. I came out and saw the core — 200-300 m of continuous mineralization, with complete core recovery. I said, ‘This is a mine; count me in.'”

Muzylowski never sees the day when he won’t be able to build a mine, “That’s something that I don’t want to give up… I will have to give it up, but grudgingly.”

He has been in love with his wife Lesia since he met her at a dance in Oakburn when they were 14. They met again three years later, married after another six years, and moved to Flin Flon where they lived for 15 years. They now live in Vancouver, and their four children and two grandchildren live on the West Coast.

“I have a lot of thanks to give to a lot of people who helped me learn the ropes in this business. [At Hudson Bay Exploration] I used to work for a tough guy, Albert Koffman — he’s now in the Mining Hall of Fame. After I married Lesia and got to Flin Flon, the next day he said, ‘Get your bags packed because you’re going into the bush tomorrow.’ Here I’d brought a new bride to the town and I was sent to the bush. (Lesia had to adapt really quickly.)

“He was always testing me, an d I think I passed all the tests because when an opening came in the office, he asked me to fill in. Even though I was a young guy, I became the supervisor of men many years superior to me, who were much more experienced.

“I was with Hudson Bay when Anglo American bought controlling interest, and I met some pretty powerful people from South Africa: Dr. Waters, a marvelous man, and good geologist. And our chairman Maurice Rush came from South Africa — I had nothing but great respect for him. We had some great meetings and discussions. I could write a book about all these things, and I will in due course.”

And I will read it.