message from the president of the northwestern ontario prospectors association
Mike Grant didates when the bad news arrived. The NWOPA board of directors has not considered how and when we will hold our AGM and elections but will inform the membership when a decision is made (you may already have the information by the time you read this article). However, we do have an award to celebrate. On March 3, 2020, Rudy Wahl, vice-president of NWOPA, received the Bill Dennis Award from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC). This award "honours an individual or team of explorationists who have accomplished one or both of the following: made a significant mineral discovery; made an important contribution to the prospecting and/or exploration industry". The specific citation for Rudy recognizes "his enduring perseverance as a prospector and for the discovery of several precious metal, diamond and Dr. Rudy Wahl accepts trophy.
A
rare earth occurrences in northwestern
s I start this, it is four days since the equinox and spring is slowly creeping
do is to invite you on June 20, the day
Ontario". This is the latest of a series of
planned for the celebration, to take a
awards given to Rudy over the past sev-
few moments to visit the Mining Day
eral years and may be almost as close to
into Thunder Bay with temperatures
website and relive last year's wonder-
his heart as the honourary doctorate he
on the plus side and a little rain. While
ful event, when more than 2,500 peo-
received from Lakehead University in
spring heralds the coming field season
ple came out to meet our community
2017. The full citation and a brief video
for many prospectors, there is not a
and enjoy the perfect summer weath-
of Rudy are available from the PDAC
great deal else to celebrate this year as
er. The photo gallery is at http://www.
at
we face pandemic anxiety, the suspen-
thunderbayminingday.com/2019-photo-
awards/2020-award-recipients/2020-
sion of operations at mines, the curtail-
gallery.html.
bill-dennis-award. Our sincerest con-
https://www.pdac.ca/about-pdac/
gratulations go to Dr. Wahl.
ing or postponement of many explora-
The Northwestern Ontario Pros-
tion programs and the cancellation of
pectors Association (NWOPA) has post-
I want to extend a personal note of
activities including the Ontario Pros-
poned its annual general meeting and
thanks to Newmont Mines and New
pectors Exploration Showcase (OPES)
elections but of greater impact is the loss
Gold for their efforts to curtail the
and Thunder Bay's Mining Day.
of our annual awards ceremony which is
spread of COVID-19 into particularly
I had expected to be sitting back
also held at the OPES. It is the highlight
vulnerable populations. In Newmont's
awaiting an article from our direc-
of the year for NWOPA: an opportunity
case, the potential to introduce the virus
tor Pam Coles touting Mining Day
to gather and celebrate the hard work
into remote First Nation communities
but, as the chair of the organizing
and successes of the exploration com-
was great, given the relatively high rates
committee, Pam is run off her feet as
munity. The awards committee has re-
of employment of First Nations’ mem-
her customers re-schedule their ex-
viewed the submissions and was in the
bers at Musselwhite and Éléonore. New
ploration programs. The best we can
process of informing the successful can-
Gold, which also has a high rate of First
6 Ontario Prospector summer 2020
