AME BC Members Directory & Buyers Guide - The Association for ...

PROFILE
Dr. Nick Carter
SUCCESS BUILDING ON SUCCESS
BY JULIE DOMVILE
The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC)
recently acknowledged Dr. Nicholas Carter for fostering
mineral exploration and mining in Canada through his active role in associations and professional
societies. To list all of his other achievements, contributions and publications would take more space
than we have for this profile – suffice to say they are vast and varied. And although retired in principle,
Carter isn’t resting on his laurels, and he hasn’t put away his maps.
You were key in the launch of Mineral
Exploration Roundup in 1984. It has since
grown to become an internationally
respected annual event that draws thousands
to Vancouver every year. What do
you think about the evolution of Roundup?
Success always builds on success, and
Roundup has always been successful. It
has grown beyond the “old home week”
atmosphere, but that is to be expected.
You recently received the PDAC Distinguished
Services Award. Why has it
always been so important to you to give
back to the industry?
Throughout my career people have been
quick to lend a hand, and I have always
tried to do the same for others. For my
acceptance speech I attempted to put
together a list of the people who have
contributed to my career, but it quickly
became too long to read out. The exercise
was interesting, though, because I realized
the vast majority were prospectors.
What do you feel is your most significant
career contribution?
Looking back I would say I had the ability
to bring people together – to encourage
good people to join the government and
the private sector. I was also able to bring
together those who needed financing
with the right people in Toronto. It’s very
satisfying to see partnerships work out. I
was also very fortunate to be working
with what is now the Geological Survey
Branch during the mid-1960s and ’70s
when things were booming in this province.
I really got a sense of accomplishment
and of contributing something
significant to the sector.
As a former senior geologist with the B.C.
Geological Branch what, in your view, are
the greatest challenges it faces?
A lack of funding! The branch has been
around for 115 years and if you look back
through B.C. Ministry of Mines annual
reports you will see the good, solid work
done in documenting mineral deposits
throughout the province. The quality of
this compendium of annual reports is
unprecedented anywhere else in the
world. There wouldn’t be a MINFILE if
it weren’t for the data in those annual
reports, and MINFILE itself has not been
updated for a number of years – consistent
independent documentation of mineral
information is critical, and the branch no
longer has the resources to do this.
B.C. is blessed with mineral potential yet
continues to struggle to re-establish itself
as the exploration mecca it once was.
What is holding the province back?
Two things: land claims and permitting
delays. In both cases, work is being done
but progress is not being made. The onewindow
approach was going to solve the
permitting delays but it hasn’t. It saddens
me to see a project such as Tulsequah
Chief Mine project go into receivership
because the process dragged on for too
many years.
What do you think will be B.C.’s big
mining story of the next decade?
If we could get back to having over 20
producing mines, especially if they were
situated in areas of the province that have
been hit by the mountain pine beetle,
that would be B.C.’s mining story of the
decade; the area has some very prospective
ground. Another is molybdenum;
there are few areas in the world that have
molybdenum deposits and B.C. happens
to be one of them.
What has been the most exciting period
of your career so far?
Being part of the boom times in B.C. as I
mentioned. I was lucky enough to be
mainly responsible for the identification
of some new mineralization in the
Toodoggone area in the 1980s that subsequently
was mined. I was extremely fortunate
to be able to travel to the edge of the
Tibetan plateau in the remote southwest
part of China to look at a moly project a
few years ago.
What projects are you working on now?
I have some interests in a couple of molybdenum
properties in northern B.C. I’m
also working on a part-time basis for some
junior companies, and I’m working on an
article for the Geological Association of
Canada Camps of Fame series on the
Beardmore Geraldton Gold Camp, formerly
known as the Little Long Lac camp.
I was born virtually next door to the head
frame of the Little Long Lac mine. ■
42 SUMMER 2010 Photograph: courtesy Nick Carter