LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (November 11, 1991)

After reading “The facade of Soviet mining,” an excerpt from a paper by Pierre Lassonde (T.N.M., Oct. 21/91), I was disappointed that The Northern Miner could not do any better on the topic of Soviet mining: Soviet-bashing is passe.

One day in the life of Lassonde makes him as much an expert on Soviet gold and nickel mining as the Dutch minister who visited Johannesburg for one and a half days and preached for months thereafter in his home country about the evils of apartheid.

As a member of a Canadian delegation to Norilsk in 1978, I had hoped for an update on a city built on pillars in the permafrost and its people, the adverse conditions and how its people cope, its hospitality, the progress or lack of progress on the various mines and smelters. Instead, we were treated to a rather denigrating layout with plenty of “negativisms” in bold print. Norilsk may well be at the same elevation as Inuvik, N.W.T. if Inuvik is at 200 metres above sea level: we probably mean latitude. Norilsk is on the mainland, by the way. Road and railway building have less to do with the lack of ability of its people and its inhospitable climate (which I would question if they can build the Trans-Siberian railway) than the availability of a rather well developed transportation system by water.

Why build smelters in Norilsk in the first place? Initially because there were coal deposits next door and under the open pit, and in later years natural gas some 300 km away. Pollution? Sure, but how did Sudbury look some 10-15 years ago? A junk dealer’s paradise?

The article says little about the immense problems the Russians are facing, politically and economically. These problems are augmented considerably for those in the far north where isolation, remoteness and climate are additional factors in the struggle to make it work.

In many ways, the people of Norilsk are comparable to our miners in the north: free-spirited, tough and innovative.

J. Langelaar

Chase, B.C.

With regard to the article “The facade of Soviet mining” (T.N.M., Oct. 21/91) excerpted from a paper by Pierre Lassonde, I would like to make some comments.

I took an identical tour of Russian mining operations in mid-September. I totally agree with Lassonde’s appraisal of the Soviet mining industry in general, but not with his inferences about the Soviet mining personnel, whom he seems to characterize as alcoholic bozos.

When we visited the placer operations at Susuman, the dredges were working. Moreover, the placer reserves in this valley are thought to be 1.5 times that of Nome, or about 7.5 million oz.

Although the Karamken mine is overstaffed by about a factor of four, the individual miners, engineers and geologists appeared to be generally energetic, competent and well-trained people who have the misfortune to be working in a rotten system with equipment from the 1950s.

The top managers of SVG and SVZ, the giant combines that control the mining industry in this vast region of 1.2 sq. km, are aware of their many problems and are looking forward to free enterprise. The region has requested status as a free economic zone.

As Lassonde pointed out, the Norilsk district contains what are probably the largest and richest metal deposits on earth. The high-grade ore he described from the October mine doesn’t even go to a concentrator; it is smelted directly. District reserves are said to be sufficient for 150 years. It appears that the district’s gross value, considering modern-day metal prices, could exceed US$100 billion, and might be double that number or more. There will be many good investment opportunities for those of us in the mining industry, first for those who can contribute capital and technology, and later for the exploration-minded.

Consider what the opportunities might be in North America if all of the exploration on the continent had been carried out by a single monolithic organization. Hemlo would still be uncovered, Kidd Creek would be untouched and who knows what else might be hidden out there under the overburden. M.A. Kaufman

Spokane, Wash.