The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) has announced award recipients in seven categories for 2018. Recipients were celebrated at the Awards Gala & After Party on Tuesday, March 6, 2018, at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, during the annual PDAC Convention in Toronto.

• PDAC

The PDAC 2018 Award recipients include:

Bill Dennis Award:
NexGen Energy Ltd.
NexGen Energy discovered Saskatchewan’s Arrow uranium deposit in 2014, less than a year after listing on the TSX-V. Subsequent drilling established Arrow as the largest undeveloped uranium deposit in the Athabasca Basin, and one of the most prolific uranium camps globally. Based on a maiden 2017 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), Arrow will conceptually be the world’s largest uranium mine.

Arrow was a blind discovery resulting from innovative, methodical exploration by NexGen Energy on their Rook I property. Using this elite exploration approach, high-grade uranium discoveries were made on the property from 2015 to 2017.

The release of a PEA determined that, after tax, Arrow has a net present value of $3.9B and an internal rate of return of 56.7% based on a uranium price of US $50 per pound.

During 2018 NexGen plans to update the resource model, and release a prefeasibility study. Arrow remains open in most directions and at depth, and NexGen is aggressively stepping out with drilling, suggesting this already huge deposit will continue to grow.

Distinguished Service Award:
Ted Reeve
Geologist Ted Reeve worked in the US, Chile, Australia and other parts of the world before returning to U of T and completing an MBA in 1979. In his new career as a mining analyst in Toronto, he became known internationally for his authoritative reviews of hedging trends in the gold mining industry.

In 2002, he founded Haliburton Mineral Services, becoming an independent researcher and consultant. He served on the boards of junior mining companies and worked tirelessly to help make the PDAC Convention the most well attended industry event in the world. He chaired several sessions. Later, he organized or suggested topics for several convention events. He was on the selection committee for the corporate presentation forum (2006-2012) and has helped select the convention’s short courses.

Environmental & Social Responsibility Award:
Golden Star Resources
Golden Star has reached beyond expectations of corporate environmental and social initiatives at its operations on the Ashanti gold belt in Ghana. From protecting and preserving the environment, to encouraging local businesses to supply goods and services to its gold mines, Golden Star is seen as a global leader in corporate responsibility.

Already aligned with the United Nations’ Ten Principles on human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption, Golden Star is taking the commitment a step further by incorporating the UN’s 2030 Agenda (consisting of 17 goals to end poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change) into its corporate responsibility program.

Skookum Jim Award:
Lana Eagle
Lana Eagle is a member of Saskatchewan’s Whitecap Dakota Nation. She has devoted her career to building relationships between the mining industry and Indigenous communities. She is the driving force behind the Association for Mineral Exploration’s (AME) Gathering Place, where industry and Indigenous representatives meet to forge common ground, and donates her time to several other industry organizations.

Lana developed a profound understanding of the complexities and challenges facing both mining companies and Indigenous people when, as chair of Electra Gold, she negotiated with and gained support from First Nations communities to secure a coal licence on Vancouver Island. She became an independent consultant, using her gift for constructive dialogue to bring companies and communities together.

Special Achievement Award:
Jean Descarreaux (deceased)
Jean Descarreaux is best known for his role in developing the Québec mineral exploration sector. In 1975 he co-founded the Québec Prospectors’ Association (now the Québec Mineral Exploration Association, or AEMQ) to promote exploration and entrepreneurship in the province. He then spearheaded an effort to convince then Premier René Levesque to adopt legislation allowing flow-through shares to be issued in Québec. The tax incentive for exploration helped finance several mineral discoveries.

Jean was the founding president of Claude Resources (purchased by Silver Standard Resources in 2016), co-founder of Cartier Resources and advisor to several junior companies. He participated in the discovery of gold and base metal deposits in Québec, and in 1986 was awarded the Discovery of the Year award by the AEMQ. He served on PDAC’s Board of Directors from 1978-1984. Jean died in March 2017 at the age of 76.

Thayer Lindsley Award:
Don Taylor, Arizona Mining Inc.
When geologist Don Taylor joined the management team at Arizona Mining (then Wildcat Silver) in 2010, his main task was to move the firm’s silver-manganese project in southern Arizona through advanced exploration to development. Don compiled the historical exploration data for the area and flew an airborne survey in 2011. Using this information to develop a new geological model, he launched a drilling campaign down dip of the silver-manganese oxide zone. In 2014 Arizona Mining discovered the Taylor deposit, a carbonate replacement deposit containing lead, zinc and silver sulphide mineralization in altered limestone.

The Taylor deposit continues to grow and Don continues to guide the rapid expansion of this large carbonate replacement deposit, considered one of the top 10 undeveloped lead-zinc deposits in the world.

Viola R. MacMillan Award:
IAMGOLD Corporation & Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd.
In June 2017, Sumitomo Metal Mining purchased a 30% interest in the Côté Gold project in northeastern Ontario from IAMGOLD for US$195M. The investment and subsequent 70-30 joint venture agreement was a breakthrough, allowing IAMGOLD to proceed toward development of a major gold project in a challenging financing environment. Côté Gold would be the first new major open pit gold mine developed in northern Ontario in over five years and is expected to produce an average of 320,000 oz. of gold per year over a 17-year life span when it enters production in 2021.

The joint venture is a success story because it mitigates the risk of the Côté Gold project by giving IAMGOLD access to Sumitomo’s considerable financial resources and mine building and operating expertise. Together, the two companies are confident they can begin construction as early as 2019 and achieve production by 2021, while ensuring a net positive impact on local and regional communities.