Donald Schmitt, former head of Pamour Porcupine Mines and senior vice-president of Noranda, has died. He was 89.
A native of Kitchener, Ont., Schmitt graduated with a bachelor of science degree in mining engineering from the University of Toronto in 1937, where he was a classmate of former Northern Miner editor Maurice R. Brown. Upon graduation, he worked for Sherritt Gordon, Bralorne, Kerr Addison, and Preston East Dome before enlisting in the Canadian Royal Engineers.
He joined the Noranda Group of companies in 1950 as superintendent of the Pamour mine, in the Porcupine gold camp, near Timmins, Ont. Three years later, he became mine manager. He went on to serve in numerous posts at Noranda but never really left Pamour, and eventually became president. He remained in that position until his retirement in the early 1980s.
After Pamour, he became assistant manager of Horne Mines in 1956, assistant general manager of Noranda Mines in 1962, general manager in 1965, and vice-president of mines in 1966. He then served as president of Orchan Mines and Central Canada Potash Co. until amalgamation with Noranda Mines and Noranda Metal Industries, respectively, in 1978.
But Schmitt is perhaps best known for what he achieved at Pamour Porcupine: he took the lowest-grade underground gold operation in the world and made it profitable.
He started by acquiring dormant mines for next to nothing and was in a good position once the price of gold shot up. At Peak, Pamour was milling 6,000 tons of ore daily, drawing feed from as many as nine separate sources, some of it trucked in from as far as 160 km distant.
Schmitt also initiated a profit-sharing program at Pamour, which was a first for Canadian mining.
He was a member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario, president of the Quebec Metal Mining Association, and chairman and president of the Toronto branch of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.
When describing Schmitt in the late 1970s, William James, former executive vice-president of Noranda, said: “He loves mining, has spent a lifetime at it, and has done one hell of a job.”
Schmitt is survived by his children Bonnie, Elizabeth Ann, Douglas and Donald, and by eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
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