Logan addresses Hall audience

Guests attending the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame’s fourth annual induction dinner got a ghostly surprise when “numerous prayer meetings and seances” brought Sir William Logan, founding director of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) and a 1992 inductee, back to life.

After Anthony Petrina, president of Placer Dome cancelled his keynote speaking engagement for health reasons, the GSC’s Les Gallagher — playing the part of Logan — filled in. Dressed in the prospecting garb of the time, Gallagher delivered a stirring speech punctuated by genuine Scottish brogue. “I am tickled pink to be here tonight,” he told the gathering. “Recognition by one’s colleagues or family is the sweetest kind of honor even if it takes 150 years.” Logan, who died in 1875, and seven others — M.J. Boylen, Neil Campbell, A.O. Dufresne, Horace Fraser, Roycroft Gordon, Oliver Hall and Arthur White — were inducted into the Hall in front of a crowd of more than 500. On hand to accept most of the awards were relatives of the new members, including sons, brothers and one granddaughter.

Arthur White, the only surviving inductee, was the last to ascend the podium. Best known for the part he played in bringing the Campbell and Arthur W. White gold mines into production, the 81-year-old financier paid tribute to his family and to the “wonderful” people he had met during four decades in the mining business.

This year’s inductees bring the total Hall of Fame membership to 36. But after celebrating its fourth birthday, the Hall is still without a home. A number of possibilities in Ontario, including the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Ottawa, Cobalt, Elliot Lake, and the University of Toronto’s old mining building, are under consideration, Hall Chairman Maurice Brown told the dinner guests.

“But any such move would certainly require considerable funding, which I fear would be difficult in these trying times — unless, of course, some White Knight comes charging in with a much-needed bequest.”

Sponsors of the Hall include The Mining Association of Canada (MAC), the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) and The Northern Miner. Introducing Logan was Robert Smith, president and chief operating officer of American Barrick Resources. Thanks to the speaker were given by Walter Curlock, vice-chairman of Inco Ltd. and a metallurgist by trade. Referring to Logan, who spent the first years of his career overseeing a smelting operation in Wales, Curlock was encouraged to find out “that one can start off as a metallurgist, be inducted into the Hall of Fame and still make it to heaven.”

Also seated at the head table were: Fenton Scott, president of the PDAC; Lynne McGregor, president of the Women’s Association of the Mining Industry of Canada; Frank Schwab, a director of the U.S. National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum; John Cooke, publisher of The Northern Miner; Robert Ginn, immediate past president of the PDAC, who was also Master of Ceremonies at the dinner; Kenneth Babcock, assistant deputy minister, GSC sector, of Energy Mines and Resources Canada; Keith Hendrick, chairman of the MAC and of Noranda Minerals, and William Stanley, president of the CIM. Logan left the distinguished guests with a message: “Knowledge is the foundation, and if you don’t know what this country is made of and why it looks the way it does, you can’t understand the role of minerals in the development of the country’s economy . . . I encourage you minefinders to renew your efforts to show all Canadians the importance of your work.” The GSC is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.