President's Reports
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| 2004-2005 |
R. A. Olson
President's Report for 2004-2005 During the year 2004-2005, the Geological Society continued to focus on serving its members in the mining, exploration and earth sciences communities by concentrating its activities in core areas as laid out in our Mission and Objectives. These activities revolved around the advancement and promotion of geoscience in the search for new ore deposits, as well as the promotion of public awareness of the importance of the minerals industry to society. During 2004-2005, the approximate membership in CIM Geological Society was about 1,284, which represents about 18% of overall CIM national membership. The CIM Conference and Exhibition, “Mining Rocks,” was held from April 24 to 27, 2005 in Toronto. This conference received many accolades, including from one attendee who stated “Fabulous technical program! Won the award for best technical conference of the year in my estimation!" One of the reasons for the technical program success at the CIM conference in Toronto was because the CIM Geological Society helped organize 11 key special sessions, which focused on Nickel-Copper, Diamonds, Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold, Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide, Gold, and Ontario Industrial Mineral Deposits. As well, there were sessions on Mining Geology, Project Evaluation Techniques, Geometallurgical Mapping, and on the results from recent government/private sector collaborations in Ontario; namely the Discover Abitibi and Lake Nipigon Geoscience initiatives. Finally, there were workshops related to professional development and field trips of general interest. For the upcoming CIM Conference and Exhibition that will be held in Vancouver in 2006, “Creating Value with Values,” the incoming CIM Geological Society president for 2006-2007, Steve McRoberts, is already well advanced in the planning of numerous technical sessions, workshops, and field trips. Steve is actively seeking volunteers who will help him to organize the CIM Geological Society sessions at CIM Vancouver 2006. Dr. David Sinclair (CIM GeoSoc Publications Chair) is continuing to guide the Geological Society interests in publications and has been involved in the CIM National Office re-evaluation of publication priorities, as well as possible web publishing and feature articles. A meeting with representatives of the CIM Geological Society Executive, Exploration and Mining Geology (EMG) executive (Drs. David Sinclair and Jim Franklin), and the CIM executive director (Jean Vavrek), was held at PDAC in March 2005. This resulted in Dr. Jeremy Richards, formerly co-editor of EMG, taking over as full editor starting in the latter part of 2005. As well, there was a determination by all that the EMG would be brought current with respect to outstanding and delayed past issues, that EMG subscription membership would be increased, and thus, as a result, EMG would in the near future be brought onto a firmer financial footing. Jeremy Richards advises that forthcoming EMG issues will include: a special issue on Mineral Deposits of Nunavut (2004, v.13: 1-4, in press); a special issue on Rare-Element Mineralization in Granitic Pegmatites (2005, v.14: 1-4, being copy-edited); an issue of volunteered papers (2006, v.15: 1-2, being edited and copy-edited); a special issue on Bathurst Mineral Deposits (2006, v.15: 3-4, being edited); and a special issue on Intrusion-Related Gold Deposits in New Brunswick (2007, v.16, in prep.). Information about forthcoming papers and the availability of back issues of EMG can be found on the CIM web site at: http://www.cim.org/geosoc/indexEmg.cfm. Finally, the CIM Geological Society would like to thank Dr. Jim Franklin for his herculean editorial efforts over the past several years; without his drive both for high-quality papers for the EMG, and to get papers in hand for timely issues, the EMG would not have the status and respect as a journal that it currently does. George O'Reilly continues to act as editor for the geological papers submitted to the CIM Magazine. During 2004, George received two papers and during 2005, he received seven papers. During 2004, four papers received prior to 2004 were published. With respect to the two papers received in 2004, these were published in the CIM Bulletin in 2005; as well, two other geological papers received prior to 2004 were published in 2005. With respect to the seven papers received in 2005, one paper has been accepted and is in the queue for publication during early 2006, and the others are either out for review, are being revised by their authors, or have been withdrawn. With respect to CIM awards for 2005, Dave Lentz, CIM Geological Society Past-President (2003-2004), was very active and nominated several worthy candidates, several of which were subsequently approved by Council during early 2005. Thus, the following awards were presented to members of CIM Geological Society during 2005 including: (a) Inco Medal to Robert A. Gannicott; As well, it should be noted that the following CIM Geological Society members attained CIM Fifty Year Club membership, including: Arthur T. Avison, Johannes J. Brummer (now deceased), Gabor Dessau, Ernest F. Evoy, Norman Firth, P.O. Hachey, Richard W. Hutchinson, and O.E. Owens. Congratulations to all these award winners. The Geological Society continued to contribute expertise to several CIM committees over the past year. These include the Mineral Reserves/Mineral Resources Committee, Mineral Deposit Research Committee, International Affairs Committee, Advanced Technologies Committee, Membership Committee, and, finally, the Publications Committee. The CIM Geological Society organized successful CIM 'Meet & Greet' events at both the BC & Yukon Chamber of Mines' Cordilleran Roundup in Vancouver during late January 2005 and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention in Toronto in March 2005. The intent of both Meet & Greet events was essentially to advertise the Mining Rocks CIM conference held in Toronto in late April 2005. These two Meet & Greet events were organized by Steve McRoberts at Roundup, by David Lentz (PDAC) and Laurie Gaborit at PDAC, and with help from CIM National staff. These two Meet & Greets were co-sponsored by CIM National and the CIM Geological Society, but having said this, these two events were made a reality by the generous support of numerous mineral exploration companies, for which we are most grateful. Special thanks are due to Steve McRoberts and Laurie Gaborit who raised donations from industry in support of both these events. To end, it is my pleasure to thank Past President David Lentz for his help and encouragement during this past year. Dave has and continues to be a 'dynamo' in promoting the CIM Geological Society and in trying to enhance student knowledge and interest in CIM. I also wish to thank President-elect for CIM Geological Society Damien Duff (Falconbridge/Noranda) for all his help and assistance during the past year, particularly with respect to being a key organizer of several geological sessions at the CIM 2005 conference in Toronto. As well, VP-elect Steve McRoberts (Teck-Cominco) continues to be very active in promoting a high-calibre series of geological sessions at the CIM 2006 conference in Vancouver. Some others who deserve special thanks include Laurie Gaborit, both for her excellent record keeping with respect to CIM Geological Society books, and for her fund raising with respect to the Toronto and Vancouver Meet & Greet. David Sinclair and Jim Franklin also warrant much thanks for their continued efforts to promote CIM Exploration and Mining Geology Journal (EMG) as a high-quality geological journal. Lastly, staff at CIM National in Montreal has been most helpful over the past year with respect to CIM Geological Society activites; this includes Jean Vavrek (executive director), Serge Major (director, finance and administration), Marie-Hélène Emond (director, marketing and programs), and Heather Ednie (director, publications). |
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| 2003-2004 |
David R. Lentz
President's Report for 2003-2004 
The year 2003-2004 was very good for the CIM Geological Society, with numerous manuscripts being submitted for publication out of the strong Montreal 2003 meeting, as well as the successful Timmins Field Conference held last fall. The increasing strength of the mineral exploration and mining industry provided an opportunity for the Society to grow again at a critical time for the industry, by providing key information (via the Bulletin and eNews, publications of relevant interest, and access to professional development opportunities such as field trips, workshops, and conferences). As President, I have been trying to raise CIM visibility in the various Professional Engineering and Geoscientist organizations across Canada, as our Society provides many professional development opportunities, as well as various publications and web accessible info, e.g., Best Practices policies etc. It is not always easy to maintain visibility and we must continue to publicize our various events on their respective websites (Calendar of Events) (http://www.ccpg.ca) We have been trying to build greater strength and diversity into the national CIM conference in order to reach more CIM GeolSoc members across Canada as the national meeting changes venues each year. This was successful in 2003, and we are hoping for continued success in 2004 and 2005. In addition, we have tried to increase CIM GeolSoc members' awareness of Outreach materials that are free and can be used to reach out to our individual communities, youth, teachers, and universities, etc. This has usually been done via the email system to the CIM Branch network and CIM GeolSoc members directly. Our Society helped organize four key sessions at the CIM-AGM this year in Edmonton, focusing on Diamonds and Gold, both of which are hot topics in exploration this year. The CIM Mining Industry Conference & Exhibition being held in Edmonton, May 9th to 12th, 2004 has much greater MinEx input in the general program too, as well as approximately 25 oral presentations. The Special Sessions included Intrusion related Cu-Mo-Au systems, Gold exploration developments in the North, Proterozoic Gold Deposit Systems, and Developments in diamond exploration and research. There were also workshops related to professional development and field trips of general interest. For the upcoming AGM in Toronto 2005, incoming Vice-President Damien Duff is already well advanced in the planning of numerous technical sessions, workshops, and field trips. He is being helped by Chris Moreton and Reno Pressacco (CIM GeolSoc councillors). I am very pleased to report that the Society's Field Conference "Ore Deposits at Depth: Challenges & Opportunities" in Timmins (September 23-26, 2003) was an immense success. This event was co-organized by the Porcupine Prospectors and Developers Association (PPDA) and the CIM Geological Society. As the LOC Chair, Damien Duff (Falconbridge) with his army of volunteers built an impressive event with numerous talks, three pre- and post-meeting field trips, and a trade show. 210 delegates attended, of whom 175 were paid attendees. A general review of the conference was published as part of the GeoSoc newsletter in the October 2003 issue of the CIM Bulletin. Numerous volunteers were involved in the LOC from the local and regional mining community (Timmins, Sudbury, and Val d'Or), Ontario Geological Survey, Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Geological Survey of Canada. The Timmins Field Conference also benefited from numerous corporate sponsorships that were very much appreciated and acknowledged in the final report. The CIM GeolSoc put up $3,000 advance toward the meeting, which was repaid in full. The profits were shared equally between the PPDA and CIM GeolSoc; the Society's share was about $9000. The CIM GeolSoc has proposed to co-host a CIM Field Conference in northern Manitoba in 2004 or 2005 (preferably Thompson), together with the Manitoba Geological Survey (MGS). Timing, however, is a problem; the MGS would like to have it in the very early summer, which might interfere with the attendance for CIM-AGM. MGS have been asked if the conference could be held in late summer and the matter is under consideration. David Sinclair (CIM GeolSoc Publications Chair) is continuing to guide the Society interests in publications and has been involved in CIM National Office re-evaluation of publication priorities, as well as webpublishing and feature articles. Together with the new CIM Executive Director Jean Vavrek and the editors of Exploration and Mining Geology (EMG), Jim Franklin and Jeremy Richards, he has entered into discussions with the Society of Economic Geologists, to explore the possibility of co-publishing and distributing our journal, Exploration and Mining Geology (EMG). EMG is still behind publication schedule, although a serious catch-up plan has been implemented to rectify this situation. Several Special Issues are nearing completion, on topics ranging from sustainable development to the deposits of the Bathurst Camp in New Brunswick, Nunavut, pegmatites and Proterozoic gold deposits. Unfortunately the subscription base remains low, although we are aggressively marketing v. 10, and now v. 11, in the CIM Bulletin, via email, and in the GANGUE Newsletter. Also, all the CIM GeolSoc executives have been encouraging manuscript submissions needed for the regular issues of EMG. The website carries the tables of contents, as well as information about forthcoming papers and the availability of back issues. (http://www.cim.org/geosoc/indexEmg.cfm) Last year, a new CIM Special volume was released, Special Volume # 55 on Mineral Agreements and Royalties, that has been well received (see review in the MDD Newsletter, The Gangue (Issue 79, October 2003) by Phil Olson). In addition, CIM Special Volume #54, The Geology, Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Mineral Benefication of Platinum-Group Elements, edited by Louis Cabri is still selling copies, although we should be getting greater distribution. Presently, we are looking for more opportunities to publish other key Special Volumes with CIM. George O'Reilly continues to act as editor for the geological papers submitted to the CIM Bulletin. After the Montreal AGM, George was handling numerous submissions on behalf of the Bulletin, some of which ended up being transferred to our journal, EMG. I have asked the Special Session chairs at Edmonton to encourage manuscript submissions to both the Bulletin and to EMG. The Julian Boldy Memorial Award for 2003-2004 was presented to James Franklin, geological consultant, in recognition of his long standing service with the Geological Society and CIM and, in particular, his work with our journal Exploration and Mining Geology. The Barlow Memorial Medal for the best geological-related paper in the journals Exploration and Mining Geology and CIM Bulletin was given for "Australian Proterozoic Oxide-Cu-Au Deposits: An Overview with New Metallogenic and Exploration Data from the Cloncurry District, Northwest Queensland", by Patrick J. Williams and Peter J. Pollard. The Medal is being accepted on behalf of the recipients by Reg Olson (VP CIM GeolSoc). The Society sincerely thanks the six reviewers of the papers for the Barlow Medal. Also, Dave Comba (PDAC exec), and the team of Dave Williams and Jean Richardson (Lakefield Research) were nominated for the CIM Distinguished Lecturer program (2004-2005). In addition, John Jambor was nominated by both the CIM Geological Society members and CIM Environmental Society members for the CIM Distinguished Service Medal in honour of his longstanding service to CIM, especially for his editorial work on Special Volumes, our journal EMG and much more. The Geological Society contributed expertise to several CIM committees. Phil Olson and Larry Cochrane served on the Mineral Reserves/Mineral Resources Committee that developed the Best Practices Guidelines, now posted on the CIM web site. The committee put the finishing touches on specific commodity sections (e.g., diamonds, uranium, and potash) and is working on oil sands. Another key issue that generates considerable debate is National Instrument 43-101, dealing with mandated reports and their format/content. Andrew Conly is chairing the Mineral Deposit Research Committee during 2003-2004. Chris Moreton is our new representative on the International Affairs Committee. Laurie Reed is participating in the Advanced Technologies Committee chaired by Laura Mottola. Marcel Vallee is contributing his excellent ideas to the Membership Committee. Dave Sinclair continues to be active on the Publications Committee, which is currently dealing with numerous philosophical and structural changes at the CIM National office. Venetia Bodycomb and I have been working to change the CIM Outreach strategy, although our efforts to date have been limited mainly to sending links to members & Branches listing key Educational Resources. CIM GeolSoc should seriously consider spending funds toward new Geosciences outreach information that could be distributed by other organizations, such as NRCan or PDAC Mining Matters, as well as us on the CIM website. Also, minimal information is available in French with respect to Geosciences Outreach. Hopefully we can work on this in the future. The Saskatoon Section has continued to run its full year speaker's program on a wide variety of topics. The Sudbury Section has also been very active under the new direction of Phil Thurston. The Geological Society organized another successful CIM "Meet & Greet" event, held during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention in March. The event was organized by Laurie Gaborit of the Society, and was cosponsored by CIM National and the CIM Geological Society. It was made a reality by the generous support of numerous mineral exploration companies, for which we are most grateful. The event helped welcome incoming CIM Executive Director Jean Vavrek, who was introduced by President Howard Stockford (Aur Resources). Many members of the local CIM Toronto Branch, as well as many other CIM officials, dedicated volunteers, and national members attended, including students. Laurie Gaborit raised $2,400 for the event, which will be underwritten by CIM National this year according to Jean Vavrek. This event provided the opportunity to advertise the Edmonton AGM (2004). Last year, the Geological Society became a founding donor of the Data Metallogenica (DM) Project, a continuously expanding, online searchable database for global mineral deposits with more than 20,000 image and text files. Since its launch last year, many of our members have subscribed to it. The database is owned by AMIRA International Limited and is housed in Adelaide, South Australia. AMIRA will provide permanent and prominent recognition of CIM's support on the DM web site (http://www.datametallogenica.com), including direct linkage to the CIM web site, and permanently provide all bona-fide individual CIM members with annual subscription rights to DM at 50% of normal cost. CIM's sponsorship in the DM project is considered a long-term marketing asset for CIM. It is my pleasure to thank outgoing Past President Tom Schroeter for his help this past year. In addition we welcome the incoming VP Elect Steve McRoberts (Teck-Cominco), who is well known and respected in the industry. Steve will be responsible for making the CIM Vancouver 2006 a major success by building on the momentum we have developed with our involvement in the CIM-AGMs.. I also thank all the CIM GeolSoc executives over the past few years for their help, encouragement, and particularly their advice. In particular, I thank David Sinclair, who has acted as my sounding board and consultant on a variety of Society issues. Also, Laurie Gaborit has been my right hand for making things happen; both are very important contributors to this Society's continued success. I also extend my thanks to the CIM National Office staff for their help to us and our members, in particular Jean Vavrek (CIM Executive Director) who has taken many of our suggestions to heart. He is trying to attend all our events to get a grasp of how we can make the CIM GeolSoc regain the membership levels of the mid 1990s. |
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| 2002-2003 |
Tom G. Schroeter
President's Report for 2002-2003 
This past year, the Geological Society continued to focus on serving its members in the mining, exploration and earth sciences communities by concentrating its activities in core areas as laid out in our mission and objectives. These activities revolved around the advancement and promotion of geoscience in the search for new ore deposits, as well as the promotion of public awareness of the importance of the mineral industry to society. The Society organized one of the most comprehensive technical programs in Institute history for the CIM Mining Industry Conference & Exhibition, held in Montreal, May 4-7, 2003. Nine geology-related Special Sessions, with some 65 oral presentations, and four geology Poster Sessions constituted a good chunk of the technical program. Session topics included: Iron Ore-Titanium-Vanadium - Geology, Processing and Industrial Developments; Ni-Cu and PGEs in the New Millenium; Global Opportunities for VMS and SEDEX Exploration; Gold Deposits: Global Exploration - Recent Developments and Advances in New/Mature Gold Camps; Iron Ore and Related Deposits; Gold Deposits: Intrusion Related Systems; and Rare-Element Mineralization in Granitic Pegmatites. Three exploration-oriented field trips brought delegates around Quebec, New Brunswick and Ontario. The geology program was conceived of and organized by David Lentz, the Vice-President for 2002-2003. The CIM recently reaffirmed the important role that technical sessions, workshops and field trips play in the AGM, and the Society is already involved in the planning of several technical sessions, workshops and field trips for the upcoming AGM in Edmonton in 2004. Reg Olson, the Vice-President of the Geological Society for 2003-2004, is the person responsible for the Society's participation in Edmonton. Dave Lentz, President of the Society for 2003-2004, has provided many useful suggestions for the program. Following the very successful Superior PGE 2001 field conference (see: CIM Bulletin, January, 2002), the Society is particularly pleased to report that Field Conference "Ore Deposits At Depth: Challenges & Opportunities" will take place September 23-26, 2003 in Timmins, Ontario. Damien Duff of Falconbridge Kidd Creek is the Local Chairman of the CIM Geological Society field conference. The event is organized by the Porcupine Prospectors and Developers Association, in conjunction with the CIM Geological Society. This conference should have a very broad appeal to explorationists and mine geologists alike. Consideration is being given for a field conference in Flin Flon, Manitoba for 2004. The tour portion is essentially in place. An outstanding issue is whether or not the conference should/can be tied into CIM - Edmonton 2004. Co-chairs of the Symposia/Field Conference Committee, Phil Olson and Robert Linnen, have worked very hard on the Timmins and Flin Flon conferences. Publications continue to be the mainstay of the Society under the guidance of Dave Sinclair, the Publications Chairman. Jim Franklin and Jeremy Richards continue to oversee the publication of many interesting papers in Exploration and Mining Geology. The final issue of Volume 9 (nos. 3 & 4) was released in 2002. The first issue of Volume 10 (for 2001), a double issue on new mineral discoveries and developments in northern Ontario, was distributed in early 2003. The next two issues of Volume 10 (nos. 3 & 4) are in preparation and should be ready for distribution in 2003. A number of special issues are also in preparation. On the business side, the subscription base is currently 739 for Volume 10 (2001). The EMG web site (http://www.cim.org/geosoc/indexEmg.cfm) carries the tables of contents as well as information about forthcoming papers and the availability of back issues. In August, the Society published Special Volume #54 The Geology, Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Mineral Benefication of Platinum-Group Elements, edited by Louis Cabri. This 852-page volume, available in hard copy and on CD, has been advertised in various journals and newsletters. It has received very favourable reviews, including one by Tony Naldrett, published in a recent issue of Economic Geology. SV 54 is a "must have" for explorationists looking for PGE +/- Ni deposits and academic and government researchers, as well. An order form is available in a downloadable pdf format on the CIM web site (http://www.cim.org). A new Appendix with ten recent papers was recently added to Special Volume # 45 Guide to Evaluation of Gold Deposits. George O'Reilly continues to manage the input of geological papers to the CIM Bulletin. The 2003 issue, the Geological Society's issue, has three geology-related technical papers of varied subject matter. One is on the marriage of large geochemical databases with Geographic Information System technology. Another is on the mineralogical and metal distribution in the Lac des Iles PGE deposit and how these affect mining plans. The third discusses management practices in mining operations and how these can affect the bottom line. Mr. O'Reilly expects these high-quality papers to be well received by the readership. For 2003, the Society has one paper on using geostatistics to estimate resources in a vein gold deposit that is accepted for publication. In addition, four papers have gone through the peer review process and are back with their authors for revision. One paper is still out for peer review. The CIM has accepted a proposal to include Extended Abstracts for publication in the CIM Bulletin. These would be included in an appropriate mix with regular papers. The Julian Boldy Memorial Award for 2002-2003 was presented to Marcel Vallée, geological consultant, in recognition of his long standing service with the Geological Society and CIM and, in particular, his work with mineral statistics. The Barlow Memorial Medal for the best geological-related paper in the journals Exploration and Mining Geology and CIM Bulletin was given for "Estimation and Reporting of Mineral Resources for Coarse Gold-bearing Veins" (EMG, v. 9, no. 1, p. 13-42) by Dominy, S.C, Johansen, G.F., Cuffley, B.W., Platten, I.W. and Annels, A.E. (2000). Honourable mention went to Evans, D.T.W. and Wilton, D.H.C. (2000) for "The Midas Pond Gold Prospect, Victoria Lake Group, Central Newfoundland: A Mesothermal Quartz Vein System with Epithermal Characteristics" (EMG, v. 9, no. 1, p. 65-79), and to Gibson, H.L. et al. (2000) for "The Horne Mine: Geology, History, Influence on Genetic Models, and a Comparison to the Kidd Creek Mine" (EMG, v. 9, no. 2, p. 91-112). The Society sincerely thanks the reviewers of the papers for the Barlow Medal. The Society was also pleased that its support for the nomination for Arthur Brant (posthumous) for the A.O. Dufresne Award was accepted by CIM. The Geological Society contributed expertise to several CIM committees. Phil Olson reported that the Best Practices Guidelines, developed by the Mineral Reserves/Mineral Resources Committee, are posted on the CIM web site. The committee is also putting the finishing touches on specific commodity sections (e.g. diamonds, uranium and potash). Another key issue that generates considerable debate is National Instrument 43-101, dealing with mandated reports and their format/content. Robert Linnen continued to chair the Mineral Deposit Research Committee during 2002-2003, but has given his notice to step down in 2003. Similarly, Jeremy Richards has requested a replacement for the Geological Society on the International Affairs Committee. The Saskatoon Section has continued to run its full year speaker's program. Topics have varied widely, but emphasis was on mining and the image of mineral exploration, as presented by CIM Distinguished Lecturers' Marcello Veiga and Tony Andrews. The Geological Society continued to provide input and support for the popular CIM Distinguished Lecturers Program 2002-2003. For 2003-2004 (Sept. - June), the Society's nomination of Nand Dave was one of the selections. (http://www.cim.org/activities/lecturers.2004.html). The Society encourages local Branches to put forward key Society members for these national lecture tours. As a new initiative for the CIM, the Geological Society organized and hosted a very successful CIM "Meet & Greet" event held during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention during March in Toronto. The event, spearheaded by Dave Lentz and Laurie Gaborit of the Society, was sponsored by CIM National and the CIM Geological Society, and made a reality by the generous support of numerous mineral exploration companies, for which we are most grateful. The event helped welcome incoming CIM National President, Howard Stockford (Aur Resources), many members of the local CIM Toronto Branch, as well as many other CIM officials, dedicated volunteers and national members. It also provided an opportunity to advertise the Montreal AGM (2003), the Timmins Field Conference (2003) and the Edmonton AGM (2004). The Geological Society wholeheartedly supported the request/decision for CIM to become a Founding Donor of the Data Metallogenica (DM) Project. DM is the world's most representative and comprehensive collection of mineral deposit samples and supporting data. It is owned by AMIRA International Limited and housed in Adelaide, South Australia. AMIRA will provide permanent and prominent recognition of CIM's support on the DM web site (http://www.datametallogenica.com), including direct linkage to the CIM web site, and permanently provide all bona-fide individual CIM members with annual subscription rights to DM at 50% of normal cost. The DM Project was officially launched at the PDAC convention in March in Toronto. We believe CIM's sponsorship in the Project offers enhanced services to CIM members and becomes an immediate and long-term asset for CIM. I wish to thank Geological Society Council Members for their time and effort over the past year. The Society relies heavily upon these dedicated volunteers, on volunteers of the various Branches and Sections of CIM, those on the AGM Committee, as well as the staff at CIM Headquarters in Montreal, to provide quality services for its members. At a time when many organizations are suffering from volunteer burn-out, it is important to acknowledge these individuals and this special relationship that exists within CIM. The existence and growth of the Society depend upon it. I would especially like to thank Garston Blackwell, General Chair of the Montreal 2003 Technical Program and Dave Lentz, Vice-President, Geological Society, for developing and delivering a most comprehensive and interesting geology-related technical program. |
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| 2001-2002 |
Francis Chartrand
President's Report for 2001-2002 
This past year, the Geological Society continued to focus on serving its members in the mining, exploration and earth science communities by concentrating its activities in core areas as laid out in our mission. These activities revolved around the advancement and promotion of geoscience in the search for new ore deposits, as well as the promotion of public awareness of the mineral industry. Some of our activities are highlighted below. The Society is particularly pleased that our field conference series was reinitiated this year following a three-year hiatus. Superior PGE 2001, hosted by the Thunder Bay Branch of the CIM, brought together more than 180 geologists, prospectors and other delegates in Thunder Bay, Ontario last September for a five-day event focussed on platinum-group element deposits and prospects in northwestern Ontario and northeastern Minnesota. The conference was capably chaired by Andrew Mitchell and featured a one-day technical session with numerous pre- and post-conference field trips. By all accounts, the conference was a technical and financial success. A detailed report of Superior PGE 2001 is included in the January 2002 issue of the CIM Bulletin. Planning is underway for the next Geological Society field conference. Discussions have been held with the Porcupine Prospectors and Developers Association to serve as the local organizers for a field conference on the geological considerations of deep ore deposits. Tentatively, this meeting will run concurrently with the 2003 CIM Underground Operators conference to be held in Timmins. Late in 2001, Robert Linnen agreed to join Phil Olson as the co-chair of the Symposia/Field Conference Committee. His addition to the committee will strengthen the Society’s ability to deliver sought-after field conferences. The Society organized two conference sessions chaired by Tom Schroeter and Nick Carter at the CIM annual general meeting in Vancouver. These sessions were conceived and organized by Tom Schroeter, the Vice-President for 2001-2002. Ten papers dealing with exploration and mining of base- and precious-metal deposits in British Columbia and Nunavut were presented. The CIM recently reaffirmed the important role that technical sessions play in the AGM, and the Society is already involved in the planning of several technical sessions and workshops for the upcoming AGM in Montreal in 2003. Dave Lentz, the Vice-President of the Geological Society, is the person responsible for the Society’s participation in Montreal. Publications continue to be a mainstay of the Society under the guidance of Dave Sinclair, the Publications chairman. Jim Franklin and Jeremy Richards continue to oversee the publication of many interesting articles in Exploration and Mining Geology. The final issue of Volume 8 (for 1999), a double issue on seafloor deposits, was distributed in 2001 along with the first two issues of Volume 9, which included a special issue on “Great Canadian Ore Deposits”. The final issue of Volume 9 (nos. 3&4) was distrbuted in early 2002. Another special double issue on new mineral discoveries and developments in northern Ontario (Volume 10, nos. 1&2) is in advanced stages of preparation for distribution later in 2002. On the business side, the subscription base has increased to more than 800 for Volume 9 (2000) from less than 500 for Volume 8. The EMG web site (http://www.cim.org/geosoc/indexEmg.cfm) has been augmented with information about forthcoming papers and the availability of back issues. This year, the Society produced its timely Special Publication 54 on platinum-group elements, edited by Louis Cabri. Publication is anticipated for the first half of 2002. The volume has been promoted at various meetings and other venues. A prepublication brochure and order form has been distributed in hard copy and in a downloadable pdf format on the CIM web site. George O’Reilly continues to manage the imput of geological papers in the CIM Bulletin. The February 2002 issue of the CIM Bulletin had four geology-related Technical Papers under the banner “Mineral exploration in a changing industry”. Two dealt with current advances in geophysical exploration techniques, and two with the issue of acquiring of mineral properties as opposed to exploring for new properties. Mr. O’Reilly expects these high-quality papers to be well received by the readership. As indicated in the President’s report for 2000, the trend towards increased submission of geology-related papers to the CIM Bulletin seems to be continuing in 2001-2002, and several more geology articles are anticipated before the end of 2002. The Geological Society contributed expertise to several CIM committees. New appointments for this year were Larry Cochrane and Phil Olson to the Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions (SCRD), Phil Olson to the Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves committee (EMRMR), and Jeremy Richards to International Affairs. Draft guidelines from the EMRMR committee were posted earlier this year on the CIM website for comment. The Society was one of the co-sponsors of Sustainable Mining in the 21st Century (SUM21). This two-day workshop that followed the AGM in Vancouver examined the role of geoscientists in sustainable development for the mineral industry. Topics that the Society recognizes as important to the mineral community, such as the concepts of sustainable practices in exploration and mining and total resource utilization, were discussed by the workshop participants. A report by Jeremy Richards, one of the conference chairs, will appear in an upcoming CIM Bulletin. The Saskatoon Section had another solid year in providing its membership with exposure to nationally recognized speakers. In the fiscal year September 2001 to August 2002, the events list includes the following:
In addition, there will be the Student Night presentations in March and two more regular presentations in April and May, with speakers to be announced. Total number of meetings for the year will be eight with attendance varying between 30 and 70 members. The Julian Boldy Memorial Award was presented posthumously to Dr. Daniel Robert Boyle of the Geological Survey of Canada. The Barlow Memorial Medal for the best geological paper was given for “The Vazante Zinc mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil: Constraints on Willemitic mineralization and fluid inclusions” that appeared in Exploration and Mining Geology. Lastly, I would like to report the nomination of Reg Olson of the Alberta Geological Survey as Vice-President for 2002-2003, and of Michele Winton, James Moorhead and James McCann as councillors through to 2004. I wish to thank the the councillors of the Geological Society for their time and effort over the past year. The Geological Society relies upon these dedicated volunteers, on volunteers of the various branches and sections of CIM, those on the AGM committee, as well as the staff at CIM headquarters in Montreal, to provide quality services for its members. At a time when many organizations are suffering from volunteer burn-out, it is important to acknowledge these individuals and this special relationship that exists within CIM. The existence and growth of the Society depend upon it. |
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| 2000-2001 |
Jayanta Guha
President's Report for 2000-2001 
The year 2000-2001 saw the Society repositioning itself to give better service to our membership and add professional value to our activities. Concentrating on critical areas, we have the Journal of Exploration and Mining Geology back on track, restarted our Field Conference Series with one exciting conference coming up in September 2001, increased the quality and content of geology papers in the CIM Bulletin, have started to build bridges with other societies and are seriously looking into revamping our role towards the student community. Beyond the benefits to the membership of the Society, we contributed in the setting up of new CIM Standards on Mineral Resource and Reserve Definitions which are referenced in the National Instrument 43-101 and, in the realm of public awareness, distributed the Ground Work CD-ROM to a wider audience. There is a sad note to this year’s events. Dan Boyle, our President to be, passed away prematurely and our sincere sympathies reside with his family and friends. It was not only a loss to our Society but to the professional community as well. My unplanned second year of presidency could not have succeeded without the extraordinary support of the Executive Committee, the Council members of the Geological Society and as well as the President and the Executive Director of CIM and their staff. We have a number of new team members: Francis Chartrand as VP, Tom Schroeter as VP-Elect, Réal Daigneault, and Jeremy Richards as Council members, Brenda Koziol, Bob Linnen and Phil Olson chairing committees, Phil Olson and Mike Sweeney as Section Representatives and Jeremy Richards as the co-editor of EMG. The incoming VP-Elect Dave Lentz and Laurie Gaborit as Secretary Treasurer are joining the team shortly. Cecilia Jenkins served as our able Secretary-Treasurer for two years and is leaving the Council to pursue her other commitments and we thank her for the service rendered to the Society. I want to thank Marcel Vallée, our Past President for two years, for his devotion to the betterment of our profession and the Society. The Barlow Memorial Medal, normally awarded by CIM for the best geological paper published during the previous year in either the CIM Bulletin or Exploration and Mining Geology, has been affected by publishing delays. This year, the 1998 medal was awarded to Ken Card and Howard Poulsen for their paper "Archean and Paleoproterozoic geology and metallogeny of the southern Canadian Shield". The 1999 Barlow Medal will be awarded at the CIM Annual General Meeting in 2002. The Julian Boldy Memorial Award, which recognizes exceptional contributions to the Geological Society, was presented this year to Dave Sinclair. The success of the Society depends on a host of volunteers working passionately to serve the members. Most often they are working behind the scenes so this year’s report will be a deviation from our traditional President’s report so that you can hear directly from some of them as to what has been going on this year. Jayanta Guha AGM Quebec City The Geological Society of the CIM has organized four sessions for Minespace 2001 to be held in Quebec City from April 29 to May 2, 2001. Frank Chartrand, senior research geologist with SOQUEM inc. in Quebec City and incoming president of the Geological Society, was responsible for the geology sessions. Mr. Chartrand would like to acknowledge the ongoing collaboration of Messrs. Pierre Verpaelst of the MRNQ and Serge Major of the CIM. The first session, to be held on the afternoon of Monday, April 30, is entitled Ore Deposits and Models for the Future. Six papers have been assembled for this session by its chairman, Frank Chartrand. The second session, PGE Deposits, is chaired by Professor Réal Daigneault of UQAC. This session will be presented on Tuesday morning, May 1, and follows up on the APGGQ short course on the genesis and exploration of PGE deposits scheduled for Sunday, April 29. Five papers covering various aspects of PGE exploration and projects are to be presented. James Moorhead, a geologist with the MRNQ specializing in diamond deposits, chairs the session on Diamond Deposits and Their Exploration scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, May 1. Five papers will be given in this session. Marcel Vallée, a consulting geologist and former president of the Geological Society, is organizing a session to be held on Wednesday afternoon, May 2, entitled Applied Geology and Economics. Francis Chartrand, Vice President Geological Society Publications Exploration and Mining Geology (EMG) Under the editorship of Jim Franklin, recently joined by Jeremy Richards (University of Alberta) as co-editor, the Geological Society's quarterly journal has made great strides to recover from delays in publication that occurred several years ago. The final issue for 1999 (volume 8), a double issue on seafloor deposits, will be distributed in early 2001. This special issue will be quickly followed in 2001 by single issues, including a special issue on Great Canadian Ore Deposits - Historical Review. A special issue on new mineral discoveries in northwestern Ontario is in preparation and another special issue on the geology and mineral deposits of the Bathurst camp in New Brunswick is underway. On the business side, the Society is working hard to improve the profitability of the journal by increasing the subscription base. Volume 7 (1998), the first volume published by CIM after the transfer from Elsevier Science Ltd. reported a profit of more than $16,000 on about 1100 subscriptions in total. Volume 8 (1999), which saw subscriptions fall to less than 500 because of delays in publication, has incurred a loss of about $8,000, shared equally by the Institute and the Society. Some, if not all, of this loss will be offset by additional subscriptions for 1999 and casual sales. The Society is undertaking several initiatives to increase the subscription base for Volume 9 (2000). For example, payment of subscription fees was included on the form for payment of annual Institute dues for 2001 which resulted in an increase of subscriptions which stood at 594 as of January 31, 2001. Subscriptions are also being offered to members of the Society of Economic Geologist at a special rate for members of an affiliated society. An initiative to develop an e-mail distribution list to disseminate information about the journal and encourage new subscriptions is also being considered. The Society has already implemented web pages for the journal on the CIM/Geological Society web site and these will be augmented with information about forthcoming papers and the availability of back issues. Special Volumes The business plan for the proposed special volume on platinum-group elements, tentatively accepted by CIM Council, was revised based on feedback from the Special Volumes Committee and the Central Publications Committee and has been accepted formally by the Council. Preparation of this volume, edited by Louis Cabri, is now underway along with plans to promote the volume and encourage pre-publication sales. The target date for release of the volume is May, 2002 at the CIM Annual General Meeting in Vancouver. W. David Sinclair CIM Bulletin Geology Theses Compilation: The compilation of Geology Theses for 1998-2000 has been completed and is scheduled to be published in the February 2001 issue of the CIM Bulletin. Robert Linnen (U. Waterloo) did a fine job of overseeing the compilation and provided me with a version that was not an onerous task to edit. The appreciation of the Society should be extended to Robert. Technical Papers: I'm pleased to report that during the latter part of 2000 and the first part of this year, there have been several excellent geology-related papers submitted for publication to the Bulletin. This stops a disturbing trend of lack of submissions I had noted over the last year or two and have reported to the Council on previous occasions. Whether or not this resurgence of submissions is due to efforts or phone calls on the part of unknown individuals is not known, but it is a refreshing change. Attached is a copy of the most recent portion of a Paper Progress Table that I maintain. You will see that during 2000, there were 3 Technical Papers published in the March "Geology" issue of the Bulletin and there are 2 scheduled to appear in the February 2001 issue. To date there are: 2 papers that have completed peer review and are now with their authors for revision; 6 papers currently out for peer review; and 1 paper for which I am currently seeking reviewers. One paper has been rejected. G. A. O’Reilly Report on Earth Science theses compilation A total of 25 Earth Science and related departments responded to our survey letter. Their cooperation is greatly appreciated. The help of Marion Brown, at the University of Waterloo, who typed many of the abstracts was also indispensable and Isabelle Cadieux helped with the editing of abstracts written in French. The authors and titles of 465 M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses that were completed between 1997 and 1999 have been compiled, although this number also includes a few that are still in progress. Out of this total, 40 theses pertained to economic geology or were of interest to the mineral exploration industry. A breakdown of the categories, with the number of theses in brackets is as follows: Diamonds, kimberlites and alkaline rocks (7), Geochemical Techniques (1), Geophysical techniques (1), Gold deposits (18), Mafic & Ultramafic associated mineralization (5), Mineral economics (1), Porphyry, granite and pegmatite-related deposits (11), Mississippi Valley-Type lead-zinc deposits (1), Uranium mineralization (1), Volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits (6). Robert Linnen Symposia After an extended hiatus, the CIM Geological Society is once again in a position to offer field conferences to its members. As per the attachment, the CIM Geological Society will be hosting a field conference this fall (September 16 - 19, 2001) in Thunder Bay, Ontario. This event is entitled "SUPERIOR PGE 2001" and will focus on the platinum group element potential of northwestern Ontario. The organizing committee is chaired by Andrew Mitchell (Wardrop Engineering) and includes: Moe Lavigne (North American Palladium Ltd), Al Smith (Noranda), Mark Smyk and Mark O'Brien (Ontario Geological Survey) and Karen Rees (Avalon Ventures Ltd). The event allocates one day (Sept. 17th) for technical presentations and boasts five field trips, two pre-conference and three post-conference. Field trip locations include the Coldwell complex, Lac des Isles and Legris Lake Complex (pre- and post-conference trips), the Duluth Complex and the Nipigon Basin. Andrew Mitchell and his committee have selected the Travelodge Hotel Airlane in Thunder Bay as the conference location. Speakers for the technical program have been selected and confirmed as have the trip leaders for the various field trips. The remaining issue to be addressed is publicizing this event. Brochures will be available at the PDAC, flyers will go out to Geological Society members in an upcoming issue of the CIM Bulletin and the GAC and SEG will be asked to include this event in their calendars. Philip E. Olson, P. Geo., Saskatoon Section Report The Saskatoon Section of the CIM Geological Society has continued to provide its membership with exposure to developments within the geosciences through a series of noon hour presentations. Attendance has averaged between thirty-five and fifty members, down somewhat from the peak numbers five years ago. This drop reflects the overall reduction in exploration spending in the province. From a high of $43 million in 1997, exploration expenditures for 2001 are forecast in the $20 million range. Although it is sheer happenstance, all four lectures delivered in the current term have shared a common theme, the noble metals. In chronological order, Saskatoon's program has included the following presentations: October 20th, 2000. "Stillwater: A Geologist’s Nightmare" by Jerry Doherty of the Stillwater Mining Company. November 22nd, 2000. "So what if the Witwatersrand Basin isn’t a detrital gold deposit? Exploration implications and links to other hydrothermal systems" by Nick Fox of AngloGold Inc. January 11th, 2001. "Placer Mining in the Klondike: The Third Century" by Norman Ross of the Ross Mining Company. February 8th, 2001. "Structural Setting and style of pyritic gold mineralization of Bousquet and Bousquet 2 mines, southern Abitibi Belt, Quebec" by Ghislain Tourigny of Saskatchewan Energy and Mines. The program for the remainder of the year includes one additional speaker and Student Night. The Saskatoon Section is capably chaired by Ken Wheatley of Cogema Resources. Dan Brisbin of Cameco Corporation is the Program Chairman. Section members have also participated in discussions with other provincial geotechnical groups and university representatives about coordinating activities to develop synergies and deliver high quality programs cost effectively. Philip E. Olson, P. Geo. Sudbury Section (Sudbury Geological Discussion Group) Report The last year has been one of ups and downs for the Sudbury Geological Discussion Group (SGDG). After our previous chairman Tom Hart finished his term, Mike Sweeny assumed the chair temporarily and still holds the position. This year, during the winter/spring/fall of 2000, a total of 10 talks were presented including: Dr. Steve Scott (U. of Toronto), Dr. Murray Hitzman (SEG Thayer Lindsley Distinguished Lecturer), Dr Robert Linnen (GAC-MDD Special Lecturer), Dr. Al Galley (GSC), Dr. Tom Morris (OGS), Richard Moore (Falconbridge), two speakers from Rio Tinto and a joint talk with Exploration Geophysicists by Keith Witherly. Our annual membership luncheon was held in December and the guest speaker was Maureen Jensen from the TSE who spoke on "Mining and the Capital Markets: Building on Success". Approximately 80 members have signed up for 2001. Since January we have resumed our normal schedule and have had talks by Dr. Sarah Jane Barnes (U. of Montreal at Chicoutimi), Dr Sandy Cruden (U. of Toronto) and an upcoming talk by Dr. Reid Keays (Monash University, Australia) on "PGE mineralization in layered mafic/ ultramafic intrusions". We are also planning a workshop, public lecture, SGDG talk and field trips in the second week of May. The featured speaker will be Dr. Bruce Simonson from Oberlin University in Ohio who will talk about "When asteroids attack! Evidence of ancient impacts". We have also donated money to the Northeastern Symposium being held in Sudbury in April and for mining week prizes in May. p>SGDG is still awaiting final figures from the GAC/MAC conference held in 1999. A portion of the proceeds will be directed to SGDG and will be used to further the earth sciences in a manner to be decided upon in conjunction with the local GAC/MAC Organizing Committee, SGDG and Laurentian University. Our membership currently stands at 92 paid members including students. Mike Sweeny |
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| 1999-2000 |
Jayanta Guha
President's Report for 1999-2000
One of the major achievements of the Society this year has been to get the Exploration and Mining Geology (EMG) journal back on track. The Society succeeded in negotiating with Elsevier Science and has brought the EMG home to CIM. We are proud to say that the staff at the CIM National Office worked hard with the Editorial board and the Publication Chair of the Society to bring out a double issue on "Quality assurance, continuous quality improvement and standards in mineral resources estimation." This is a timely topic, when our industry is paying greater attention to "best practice" as a part of our profession. Guest editors Marcel Vallée and Alastair Sinclair deserve a hearty vote of thanks. Chief Editor, J.M. Franklin, will be seconded in the near future by Jeremy P. Richards. The EMG will certainly benefit from two such distinguished professionals. With regards to the Society’s effort to promote the technical aspects of our profession, it has participated in the preparation of thematic issues for the CIM Bulletin, such as the February 2000 issue on "Sustainable Development" and the March 2000 issue entitled "Project Feasibility for Profitability." The Society actively participated in the organization of technical sessions at the CIM Calgary’99 AGM, which attracted a number of national and international participants. There was a session on "Applied Geophysics and Potash Mines," a session on "Mining Geology in Uranium Mines" and a third on "Geophysical Applications." One of the principal concerns of the Society, at the present time, is to determine how membership can be not only maintained, but also increased and, in particular, what activities the Society can offer to its members. A number of issues are being looked into, one of which is the reintroduction of the successful field conferences. In this regard, the Society recognizes the need to collaborate actively with organizations with similar interests to conduct field conferences and symposia. Through personal contacts, as well as the rejuvenation of the EMG, queries for membership have increased, and the Society has been able to add three new members, well known in the profession, to its Council for the years 2000-2001. In the domain of public awareness, the CD-ROM entitled "Ground Work — Exploring for Minerals in Canada" has been revised and updated so that a fully bilingual version is now available. The CD-ROM, developed as a collaborative effort between our Society and Science North in Sudbury, and with financial support from our parent CIM, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (Mining Matters) and the Geological Survey of Canada, is attracting considerable attention from different educational groups across Canada and abroad. With respect to the running of the Society, we are pleased to announce the names of new Council members who have come forward to help steer the Society to higher goals: Cecilia Jenkins from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada as the Secretary-Treasurer; Francis Chartrand, chief geologist of SOQUEM Inc., as the Vice-President; Craig Leitch, consultant, as Vice-President Elect; Jeremy P. Richards of the University of Alberta and Réal Daigneault of the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi as Councillors; and Mike Sweeney of Falconbridge Exploration as the Chair of the Sudbury Section of the Geological Society. One discordant note is that the incoming President, Dan Boyle, will not be able to take up his post due to health problems and Jayanta Guha will continue as President until further notice. Rapport du président 1999-2000 (en français) Une réalisation importante de la Société a été de remettre en route, cette année, l’Explortion and Mining Geology (EMG) journal. De plus, la Société a réussi à négocier avec Elsevier Science et a rapatrié le EMG à l’ICM. Nous sommes fiers d’affirmer que le personnel du bureau chef de l’ICM a travaillé dur en compagnie du comité de rédaction et de la présidence de la publication de la Société pour publier un numéro double sur l’«Assurance de qualité et standards dans l’estimation des ressources minérales.» C’est un sujet opportun puisque notre industrie prête particulièrement attention au "meilleur pratique" dans le cadre de notre profession. Marcel Vallée et Alastair Sinclair, nos rédacteurs hôtes, méritent nos plus chaleureux remerciements. Notre éditeur en chef, J.M. Franklin, sera prochainement appuyé par le Jeremy P. Richards. Ces deux distingués personnages seront, sans doute, très utiles au journal. En ce qui concerne les efforts que la Société met à promouvoir les aspects techniques de notre profession, nous avons participé à la préparation de deux parutions récentes du Bulletin de l’ICM. Le numéro de février 2000 portait sur le «Développement durable» et celui de mars 2000 s’intitule «Étude de faisabilité pour des projets rentables.» La société a participé activement à l’organisation de sessions techniques lors de la conférence annuelle de l’ICM à Calgary qui a attiré un bon nombre de participants nationaux et internationaux. Nous avons tenu trois sessions: «Géophysique appliquée et mines de potasse»; «Géologie minière des mines d’uranium» et «Applications géophysiques.» Une des principales préocupations de la Société, en ce moment, est non seulement le maintien du nombre d’adhésion mais aussi son augmentation, et de plus, elle se concentre sur quels types d’activités elle peut offrir à ses membres. Nous avons examiné un bon nombre de questions dont celle de reprendre les «conférences sur le terrain» qui avaient été couronnées de succès. À cet égard, nous nous rendons compte de notre besoin de collaborer avec d’autres organismes ayant des intérêts semblables aux nôtres en ce qui concerne les «Conférences sur le terrain et les symposia.» Grâce à nos relations personnelles aussi bien qu’à cause de la reprise de la publication de notre journal, le nombre de demandes de renseignements pour devenir membre a augmenté et trois nouveaux membres connus dans la profession se sont joints à notre conseil pour les années 2000 à 2002. Pour ce qui est de la sensibilisation publique, nous avons revisé et mis à jour le CD-ROM intitulé «L’exploration minérale une activité fondamentale» de sorte qu’il y ait une version entièrement bilingue. Ce CD-ROM a grandement attiré l’attention de divers groupes éducatifs au Canada et à l’étranger. Son développement s’est fait en collaboration entre notre Société et le Science North de Sudbury grâce au support financier de la société mère de l’ICM, l’Association canadienne des prospecteurs et entrepreneurs (Affaires minières) et de la Commission géologique du Canada. Quant à la direction et au fonctionnement de la Société, nous sommes heureux de vous annoncer le nom des nouveaux membres du Conseil qui se sont offerts pour guider la Société vers d’autres grands objectifs: Cecilia Jenkins, du Conseil national de recherche en sciences naturelles et génie, secrétaire-trésorière; Francis Chartrand, géologue en chef de recherche de SOQUEM Inc., vice-président; Craig Leitch, consultant, vice-président élu; Jeremy P. Richards, Université d’Alberta et Réal Daigneault, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, conseillers; et Mike Sweeney, Falconbridge Exploration, président de la Section Sudbury de la Société géologique. Un malheureux contretemps, Dan Boyle ne peut accédé au poste de président à cause d’ennuis de santé, alors Jayanta Guha demeurera à la présidence jusqu’à nouvel ordre. |
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| 1997-1998 |
Derek H.C. Wilton
President's Report for 1997-1998 
The Geological Society (GS) had an active and productive year especially with respect to development of Ground Work our CIM Centennial Project and some significant changes to the Exploration and Mining Geology journal. Other activities included conducting our University Visiting Lecturers program, organization of the Geology technical sessions for the Vancouver '97 and Montréal '98 AGMs, participation in CIM Council and Committees, and involvement with national organizations such as the Canadian Geoscience Council; none which could have been accomplished without the dedication and support of the entire GS Council. Centennial Project In collaboration with Science North of Sudbury, the GS developed this interactive computer program as our Centennial Project. The rational for the project was to develop a means of educating the general public about the importance of mineral exploration and mining to Canada's economy. The project received a generous grant of $4890 from the Centennial Corporation and was supported by the PDAC Mining Matters program and the Mining Association of BC Education Committee. The project was designed and programmed by Science North with financial and technical support provided by the GS. The program has three main components, viz.; (1) "Virtual" exploration programs for various types of mineral deposits including copper, gold and diamonds, using exploration data gleaned from geochemical, geophysical and geological surveys. Based on the accumulated data, the user can spot a drill hole and drill a "virtual deposit"; (2) interactive quizzes about minerals and mineral exploration (eg. What was the total value of Canadian mineral production in 1996? What were the two most important minerals? etc.); and (3) a case history of the exploration program which lead to the discovery of the Voisey's Bay Ni-Cu-Co deposit in Labrador. The program, in both French and English, is available in CD-ROM format and can be run on either IBM-compatible or Macintosh personal computers (both versions are on the CD-ROM). The program is also a stand-alone display at the Science North facility in Sudbury and is downloadable from the Science North webpage (http://www.sciencenorth.on.ca/groundwork/). The CD-ROM will be distributed by the GS to any interested individuals or groups who wish it, and will be included in educational kits distributed by the PDAC Mining Matters program to Ontario elementary schools (1000 copies) and by the Mining Association of British Columbia to BC schools (400 copies). The GS also displayed the program at the Montréal meeting. This very worthwhile project could not have been accomplished without the keen support and dedicated involvement of Dave Sinclair (Past- President GS) and Ed Debicki. Publications The GS's quarterly journal, Exploration and Mining Geology, underwent some significant changes over the past year. Elsevier Science Ltd. withdrew as publisher of the journal at the end of 1997 and the GS entered into an agreement with CIM to publish the journal. This means that CIM will print and distribute the journal. Editorship of the journal also changed with the resignation of Dr. Tim Barrett. Dr. Jim Franklin, the recently retired former Chief Scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada, has taken over the helm and is our new editor. Jim comes to this position with an internationally renowned reputation for scientific leadership in mineral deposit research. Under Jim' stewardship, the journal is approaching the point of having sufficient papers for two full years of publication. Special Volume No. 25 "A guide to the evaluation of gold deposits" by Marcel Vallée was reprinted in 1997 and has just about been sold out again. Membership As of April 30, 1998, the membership of the GS stood at 1672 members with 237 unpaid. If the unpaid memberships are truly canceled, this is a decrease from the 1996 membership of 1897. The Membership Committee of the CIM plans to attack this problem at its roots by developing means to attract greater numbers of student members and retaining them following graduation. Awards The Barlow Memorial Medal is awarded for the best geological paper published during the previous year in either the CIM Bulletin or Exploration and Mining Geology. This award has been made annually since 1926. The decision for 1997 presented somewhat of a problem as the first two issues of 1997 for Exploration and Mining Geology were not available until early 1998, hence the decision was based on these two issues and the CIM Bulletin papers. The medal was subsequently awarded to D. Roussel, H. Gibson and I.R. Jonasson for their paper "The tectonic, magmatic and mineralization history of the Sudbury Structure". Honourable mention was given to G. Rizzi and C.J.R. Braithwaite for their paper "Sedimentary cycles and selective dolomitization in limestones hosting the giant Navan Zinc-lead ore deposit, Ireland". The Julian Boldy Memorial Award, for exceptional contributions to the Geological Society was awarded to Jayanta Guha. The Geological Society also nominated Giles Allard for the A.O. Dufresne Award with which he was subsequently bestowed. University Visiting Lecturers Program The University Visiting Lecturers Committee, chaired by Kevin Ansdell, selected Dr. Mike Lesher from Laurentian University in Sudbury as the 1997-98 speaker. Mike presented his talk "Recent advances in the understanding of magmatic sulphide deposits" at the University of Saskatchewan, Lakehead University, Brandon University, University of Manitoba, University of Toronto, University of Windsor and University of Western Ontario. Council Meetings The council of the GS held three meetings during 1997-98; including an October meeting at CIM Headquarters in Montréal; a meeting at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada meeting in Toronto, early March 1998; and a meeting at the CIM 100th Annual General Meeting in Montréal. Annual Field Conference The Annual Field Conference for 1997, co-sponsored with Yukon Chamber of Mines, was to have been to Yukon Territory to examine volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits. Unfortunately the conference had to be canceled due to the lack of sufficient registrants by the deadline date. The 1998 Field conference was to be held in the Val d'Or region of Québec in conjunction with the 1998 Annual General Meeting of the CIM but was deferred in favor of the Chapai-Chibougamau Symposium and associated field trips to be held in September, 1998. The 1999 Field Conference scheduled for Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has also been canceled. The problems with holding the field conferences seems to stem from the recent plethora of meetings, symposiums, etc., which are available to exploration geologists; the field symposium concept is being reviewed by the GS. Annual General Meetings Five technical sessions at the '97 CIM Annual General Meeting in Vancouver were organized by Derek Wilton for the GS in conjunction with Steven Hodgson of the Local Organizing Committee. These sessions included three on New Developments in Canadian Exploration and one each on New Developments in Cordilleran Exploration, and Geochemical Exploration Techniques. The sessions for the '98 AGM in Montréal were organized by Cecilia Jenkins and focused on Great Canadian Ore Deposits, and Great Ideas for a Promising Future. |
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| 1996-1997 |
W. D. Sinclair
President's Report for 1996-1997 
The Geological Society was active in numerous areas in 1996-97, including technical sessions at the Annual General Meeting, a University Visiting Lecturers program, and publications such as the CIM Bulletin, CIM Special Volumes, and the quarterly journal - Exploration and Mining Geology. Other highlights include the development of a home page on the Internet, the publication of a Society brochure, and initiation of a project with Science North in Sudbury to develop computer software highlighting the importance of Canada's mineral resources and the activities of exploration geologists that lead to the discovery and development of mineral deposits. The accomplishments of the Geological Society reflect the hard work and support of all the Officers, Councillors, Committee Chairmen and Institute Committee Representatives who served on the 1996-97 Geological Society Council. The Geological Survey of Canada is acknowledged for support in helping me to fulfill my commitment to CIM. Annual Field Conference The Sixth Annual Field Conference, organized together with the Newfoundland Branch of CIM, was scheduled to be held in September, 1996 in Gander, Newfoundland. The organizing committee, chaired by Dave Evans, put together an excellent, well-advertised program to highlight numerous mines and exploration opportunities in Newfoundland and Labrador, including Voisey's Bay type exploration targets. However, despite the relevance of the theme and for reasons yet unclear, the field conference failed to attract sufficient registrants for the field trips and, regrettably, had to be cancelled to avoid substantial financial losses. In 1997, the Geological Society had planned to co-sponsor, together with the Yukon Chamber of Mines, a field trip to examine mineral deposits in the Yukon Territory, particularly recent discoveries of volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits in southeastern Yukon Territory. Unfortunately, this field trip was also undersubscribed and was cancelled. Undeterred by these setbacks, the Geological Society is organizing field trips to be run in conjunction with the Pathways to Discovery meeting in Vancouver, January 28-30, 1998. Two field trips are planned, one to visit mines in British Columbia and the other to visit mines in the Abitibi belt in Ontario. The 1999 Field Conference is scheduled for Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Annual General Meeting At the CIM Annual General Meeting in Edmonton in 1996, three technical sessions were organized by Michael Dufresne for the Geological Society; these included one on "Exploration and Development in the Arctic" and two on "Canadian and Foreign Exploration Developments". The CIM Annual General Meeting in 1997 was held in Vancouver and highlighted recent exploration developments across Canada. The 100th AGM of CIM in Montreal in 1998 will be a major international event; geology sessions at the meeting will focus on "Major Canadian Ore Deposits", "New Targets" and "New Tools" in exploration. Awards The Barlow Memorial Medal, presented annually since 1926, is awarded to the author(s) of the most outstanding geological paper published during the year in either the CIM Bulletin or Exploration and Mining Geology. For 1996, the selection committee, chaired by Marcel Vallée, chose the paper "An Archean volcanic-related gold-sulfide-quartz vein orebody" by Damien Gaboury, Réal Daigneault, Ghislain Tourigny and Claude Gobeil. In the CIM Student Essay Competition, the graduate award winners were Werner E. Halter of McGill University, who won first prize for his essay, "Physiochemical controls of greisen formation and cassiterite deposition of the East Kemptville tin deposit, Nova Scotia", and Michael Lewchuk, University of Windsor, who won second prize for his essay, "Genesis of the Central Tennessee Mississippi Valley-type ore deposits and host rock dolomitization from paleomagnetism". The undergraduate winner, who also won the President's Medal, was Stephen J. Piercy of Memorial University for his essay, "The geology and geochemistry of the Southern Pacquet Harbour Group Volcanics, Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland". The Julian Boldy Memorial Award, initiated in 1986, recognizes exceptional contributions to the Geological Society; this award was presented to Oliver Bonham for his outstanding work and commitment related to the business side of the Society's quarterly journal, Exploration and Mining Geology. The Geological Society also successfully nominated Dave Watkins for the A.O. Dufresne Award and Chuck Fipke for the J.C. Sproule Memorial Plaque. Society members who received CIM Fellowship awards were Gordon Gross and John Jambor. Also in 1996, the Society successfully nominated R.W. Boyle for induction into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. Council Meetings The Geological Society held three council meetings during the year. The highlights of the Fall Council meeting, held in October in Montreal, were published in the January 1997 issue of the CIM Bulletin. Council meetings were also held in Toronto in March at the time of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada meeting and in Vancouver in late April in conjunction with the CIM Annual General Meeting. Financial Position The Society started the calendar year with a balance of $44,980; the bank balance at the end of 1996 was $58,063. The major expenditures during the year included $10,000 for the computer software program being developed by Science North in Sudbury; an additional $10,000 is committed for the completion of this project in 1997. Other expenditures were for the reprinting of CIM Special Volume No. 45 ($2,000) and the Society's commitment to the CIM Endowment Fund ($2,000). These expenses were more than offset by revenue from the highly successful Yellowknife Field Conference ($16,905), sales of Special Volumes ($9,367), and the Society's share of the profit from Exploration and Mining Geology ($2,227). Membership At the end of 1996, membership in the Geological Society stood at 1897, a decrease of about 5% compared to the 1995 members in good standing at the end of 1995, and down consi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||