PDAC announces six industry leaders in 2014 awards – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – January 9, 2014)

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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) on Thursday announced the names of six industry leaders that would receive the 2014 PDAC awards during the association’s yearly convention in Toronto, slated for March 2 to 5.

The yearly awards showcase the achievements of companies, individuals and groups in the mineral exploration and mining sector by highlighting the best in domestic and international mineral discovery, mine development, Aboriginal achievement, environmental and social responsibility, and distinguished service.

The PDAC awarded the Bill Dennis award for a Canadian mineral discovery or prospecting success to Ross McElroy for leading explorer Fission Uranium’s team of geologists in one of the most significant discoveries in the Athabasca basin in recent years.

The Patterson Lake South property is a high-grade, shallow-depth uranium discovery located on the south-western margin of the Athabasca basin, in northern Saskatchewan. McElroy has over 30 years experience as a professional geologist and, under his leadership, Fission’s uranium discovery had rejuvenated the exploration industry in the Athabasca basin.

The Viola R MacMillan award for company or mine development was awarded to Canadian base metals miner Capstone Mining for demonstrating leadership and management in the successful development of the Minto copper mine, in Canada’s Yukon Territory, and the Cozamin copper mine, in Mexico, and in its acquisition of Pinto Valley copper mine, located in the Globe-Miami mining district of Arizona, as well as transforming it into an intermediate copper producer.

The Pinto Valley site was expected to produce between 130-million and 150-million pounds of copper-in-concentrate a year, projecting the company’s yearly copper output to increase by more than 160%, from 85-million pounds of copper to 235-million pounds.

The Thayer Lindsley award for international mineral discoveries was awarded to Barrick Gold Corp’s Goldrush discovery team, for the discovery of the 14.1-million-ounce Goldrush deposit in the Cortez district of Nevada.

The deposit, located in the eastern portion of the Cortez mining district, 6 km south-east of Cortez Hills, potentially represents the largest Carlin-style discovery in Nevada since Cortez Hills more than a decade ago. The Goldrush deposit has the third-highest grade and is one of the few or only plus ten-million-ounce gold discoveries since 2001.

The 25-person Goldrush discovery team was led by senior VP global exploration (Toronto) Rob Krcmarov, VP and chief geologist (Toronto) Francois Robert, VP for exploration North America (Elko, Nevada) Ed Cope, chief exploration geologist Kevin Creel, district geologist Mark Bradley and project geologist Alejandro Ly.

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