LETTERS TO THE EDITOR — Pronto details are clarified

Your tribute to Paul Young (T.N.M., Mar. 8/93), longtime mining engineer and mine manager with Rio Algom, contained some minor inaccuracies deserving of clarification.

The Pronto mine (1955-1960), first uranium producer in the Elliot Lake camp in northern Ontario, was not “mined out” in 1960 but closed down due to cancellation of contracts by the U.S. government. When I was working on Rio Algom’s Stanleigh mine re-activation study in the late 1970s, a feasibility study was initiated to contract-mine the remaining reserves at Pronto. This development never came to fruition.

The “nearby copper deposit” was reference to the Pater mine which overlooked the scenic north shore of Lake Huron. Rather than closing in 1960, the old Pater shaft was re-activated in 1960.

That same year, the grinding bay at the Pronto mill was retro-fitted for a copper flotation circuit and renamed the Pater mill. A trucking contract was subsequently negotiated with Commercial Construction to haul the ore from the mine site to the mill.

Pater was Paul Young’s “brainchild,” which kept much of his loyal Pronto workforce gainfully employed for another 7-8 years. He provided me with my first mining job at Pater in the summer of 1963.

Paul was a good mining man, a role model and a gentleman who garnered respect through respect for others — long before it was fashionable. He had many friends in the industry and will be sadly missed by all who knew him. Bill Glover

Mining Engineer

Kirkland Lake, Ont.