|
|
|
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
President's Report 2004-2005 - R. A. Olson 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; 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). |
||||||||||||||||||||||
