CIM

CIM Distinguished Service Medal

Join

CIM Distinguished Service Medal

For meritorious service to the Institute or the mineral industry

Origins & Conditions

X

History

This award was inaugurated by the 1956-1957 CIM Council for distinguished or meritorious service to the Institute or the mineral industry, of a nature not necessarily technical or scientific.

Purpose

For meritorious service to the Institute and the mining industry

Judging based on

The contribution or achievement made by a CIM member through innovation, research, project management, education, and any form of exceptional service to the Institute and to the mining industry.

Other criteria

This award is for CIM National members only.  

Those who have already received a CIM Career Excellence award for this nominated exceptional achievement are not eligible.

Recipients

There is only one recipient of this award every year. This award is solely for individual nominations (no teams). 

Winners

2025

Richard A. McIvor

R. A. (Dick) McIvor is a chartered engineer and an internationally recognized expert in the field of mining facilities. He is president of McIvor Engineering and Maintenance Services Inc. and a CIM Life Member who has worked in the mining industry for nearly 60 years in a variety of operations, maintenance and engineering roles.

Dick was born and raised in Miramichi, New Brunswick. He graduated from the University of New Brunswick in 1971 with a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, then joined the International Nickel Company in Sudbury for the third time after graduating from UNB. He retired from INCO, now VALE, in 2000 as senior specialist engineer for the company's mining facilities, and established McIvor Engineering, where he has provided specialized mining facility services to the mining industry for the past 25 years.

Dick was selected as a CIM Distinguished Lecturer in 1992, received the McParland Memorial Medal in 1994 and was awarded CIM Fellowship in 1998. He was president of CIM's MERS in 1995-1996 and is currently treasurer of the society. He was a member of the Ontario Mining Association Hoist Plant Committee from 1992 to 2000 and served as chairman for several years.

Dick has authored and presented numerous technical papers at CIM and other conferences over the years, and was chairman of the international Hoist and Haul 2023 conference organized by CIM in Montreal.

 

2024

Garth Kirkham

Past President of CIM (2015-2016)

Garth Kirkham is a prolific author of technical reports in support of projects from initial resource estimations, Scoping Study and PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) through to Feasibility Studies, as well as due diligence on both the buy and sell sides. 

He is a Past President of  CIM and Director-at-Large as well as Co-Chair of the CIM Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Committee (MRMR). He has also served as CIM Distinguished Lecturer presenting NI43-101 and the International Regulatory Framework. He is currently the Chairperson of the Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards (CRIRSCO) and Chair of Geoscientists Canada, Securities Committee.

Kirkham has created a short Course for students entitled “Your Career and Public Reporting—The QP Short Course for Students.” He is currently developing a short course for practicing professionals. Additionally, he has created and taught a full-term 3rd year engineering course for resource estimation at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).

Distinguished Lecturer 2013-14

Lecture Abstract

X

NI43-101 Mineral Resource Estimation and CIM Best Practices

Mineral resource and reserve estimation has changed significantly in the past 30 years: use of primarily manual techniques is shifting to use of complex geostatistical techniques, which are becoming commonplace and continuing to evolve. Computational horsepower has revolutionized all facets of numerical modelling and has allowed for increasingly complex methods and techniques to be employed to solve geological and mining-related problems. With the introduction of NI 43-101 in the 90s, a prescribed format and detailed set of rules guide the reporting of resources. In addition, a set of basic principles or “best practices” has been developed and guides the practitioner in all aspects of mineral resource evaluation and estimation, from data management, data analysis, geological modelling and domaining, geostatistical analysis, estimation and classification, to mine design and material scheduling.