Acceptance of the Society of Economic Geologists' Silver Medal for 2008

Abstract

President Thompson and fellow members of the Society: I am honored to accept the Silver Medal award for 2008. This award belongs to a great many people with whom I have had the good fortune to work and who have assisted me in my career in economic geology, first at Queen’s University and the University of Toronto, then at the Geological Survey of Canada, and now at the University of Ottawa. Attending graduate school at U of T in the 1980s was a unique opportunity. That was a time when dozens of the leading economic geologists, now in government, academia, and industry, were working with Steve Scott, Ed Spooner, Greg Anderson, and Tony Naldrett. Few geology departments have been able to duplicate that experience. While I learned a great deal from my colleagues at U of T, the 15 years that I spent subsequently at the Geological Survey of Canada were transformative. During my time at the GSC, I worked with some of the best geologists in the world on ore-forming hydrothermal systems that span the range of Earth’s history, from the Archean to the present-day sea floor. Now at the University of Ottawa, I am striving to create some of those same opportunities for my own graduate students. This award belongs particularly to a small community …