People (October 01, 2003)

The Order of Engineers of Quebec, which represents 46,000 engineers, presented its 2003 Excellence Award to Ren Defour. This award recognizes his career in teaching, research management, and his contribution to the development of the Canadian minerals industry and it is the first time the Order of Engineers has awarded its highest award to a member of the minerals industry.

Dufour, who is currently the chairman of the board of Niocan Inc., a company he co-founded in 1995, has committed a significant portion of his working life to the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. He has occupied the presidency or chairmanship of most of the Institute’s offices. In 1988-1989 he was the president of the Institute, from 1991 to 1997 he was the president of the CIM foundation and from 1994 to 1999 he was president of the 1998 Centennial celebration. Dufour has received several awards from the CIM including its Past President’s Gold Medal in 1970 and its highest award, the Distinguished Service Award in 1995.

Alcan Inc. of Montreal has announced these changes to its board of directors: Christine Morin-Postel becomes a director following her retirement as executive VP of human resources; and the departure of Clarence J. Chandran who joined the board in 2001.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2004, Barrick Gold is reorganizing itself and has announced the following key personnel changes. Peter Kinver will become COO, succeeding John Carrington, who will remain vice-chairman; Greg Lang will leave behind his Australian duties to become VP of North America; Steve Orr becomes VP for Australia and Africa; Igor Gonzales becomes VP for Peruvian operations; Ray Threlkeld moves from VP of project development to VP for Chile and Argentina; and in the Toronto head office Rene Marion will be named VP technical services and John Turney VP capital projects.

Obituary

Nuinsco Resources Ltd. announced today profound sorrow the death of its founder and chairman H. Douglas Hume. Hume passed away at his home the afternoon of September 17th with his family at his side.

“Doug Hume epitomized the grit and determination of the best of Canada’s mine exploration pioneers,” said Warren Holmes, president and CEO of Nuinsco. “Throughout a career that spanned more than three decades of mine exploration he represented not only his own company but also, as vice-president and then president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada from 1981 to 1985, the whole industry with a sense of class and dignity.”

Hume founded Nuinsco, or New Insco Mines as it was then called, in 1970, with George Archibald, a geologist whose ability to identify sound geological prospects matched Hume’s remarkable ability, under sometimes very difficult market conditions, to finance their projects. The partnership flourished for more than 30 years.

“We at Nuinsco and his colleagues in the industry will miss him tremendously,” said Archibald, who is currently vice-president of exploration for Nuinsco.

Nuinsco’s first discovery was the massive sulphide copper deposit in Hebecourt Township, Que., which was brought into production in the 1970s. Other discoveries include the Cameron Lake gold deposit and the Rainy River gold and nickel/copper finds in northwestern Ontario, as well as the Prairie Lake tantalum prospect. In the late 1990s, Nuinsco drilled into a spectacular massive sulphide zone at Lac Rocher, Que., which intersected 10.8% nickel. Unfortunately, follow-up drilling did not yield a major find. In the past few years, Hume focused on the nickel prospects of the Thompson Nickel Belt near Thompson, Man.