Western District Distinguished Service Award

John Cairns is a fifth-generation mining man. He was introduced to mining when his father took him underground at Waterpan Colliery in 1944.

He started work as a learner official at Greenside Colliery in 1954 and very shortly thereafter found himself as an 18-year-old carrying out all the mine surveying functions, ventilation surveys and weekly coal analyses.

John was one of five students from the South African coal industry awarded Chamber of Mines Scholarships. He graduated from Heriot-Watt College in Edinburgh in 1961 with a BSc in Mining Engineering.

The National Coal Board offered Cairns a position as a directed practical trainee, and for the next two years, he worked in longwall coal operations at a number of Scottish collieries. He then worked in the area ventilation department doing calculations leading to the link of Valleyfield and Kinneil Collieries under the Firth of Forth by an underground tunnel. He later designed the ventilation system for the Longannet Complex of new mines. In 1965, Cairns was a manager at Solsgirth mine.

In 1966 John relocated to Saskatchewan where he was a shaft engineer during the sinking of the Allan Potash shafts. He worked for the company for 14 years prior to joining SMDC and later Cameco. In later years he marketed mining equipment and has been working as a mining consultant since 2007.

Cairns has been underground in over 65 mines during his career.