Published on September 20, 2020
As I approach 40 years in the mining industry and 10 years with Midas Gold Corp., I look back on my time with both and reflect on the evolution of each, and myself, during those times.
In 1981, I started in the mining industry in Canada as a field exploration geologist but was fortunate to get assigned to an advanced project in the UK where I was soon exposed to community and government relations, project economics and environmental considerations. Thus began a long journey through projects in Wales, British Columbia, Nevada, Argentina, Cuba, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon. The latter two were on wholly owned Inuit and First Nations lands, adding in the dimension of aboriginal relations. These projects, their differing settings, and the people and relationships that I built around them, shaped me and my perspective and led me to Midas Gold and the Stibnite Gold Project.
When I first visited Stibnite a decade ago, it immediately struck me that here was the opportunity for something quite different – not just an economic project but one that could make a significant positive contribution to a rural economy over an extended period but, even more, one that could repair a heavily impacted brownfields mining site – industry taking care of its own messes (even if someone else’s) at no cost to taxpayers. From that initial thinking developed Midas Gold’s vision of ‘Restore the Site’ that was the culmination of a growing team of leaders in Midas Gold that shaped, molded and adjusted that vision, based on their own backgrounds and experiences as well as that of communities, NGOs, Tribes and others.
Then, a few years ago, I read an article about being a ‘Purpose Driven Company’ and that crystalized the term that we had all been developing as our vision for Midas Gold without having a label to stick on it. A company that was not just profit driven, but one that benefited communities, peoples and business in the area, one that focused on taking on more than just its own responsibilities for the site, one that engaged and listened to people who cared about the future of their communities and what happened at Stibnite.
Profit has never been the driving motivation for me. And, since my wife and I adopted our two children almost 20 years ago, our vision has been to support the orphanage from whence they came, a task to which we have dedicated most of what I have earned from Midas Gold in the past decade. Similar to our vision for a purpose driven company that does the right thing for this abandoned brownfields site, for the local communities and for those interested in working together for the greater good, how can we not take care of the most vulnerable in society – abandoned, abused and neglected children? I feel blessed that we are in a position to fund the care of children that are in a similar situation to where my children came from.
So, in the heat of comment period, let us all step back and recognize the people who have embraced the vision for Stibnite, those individuals that make up Midas Gold. Each in our own way, we at Midas Gold are here because we are passionate about this project, the future it can bring to so many and to the long-term sustainable future of the area. Is our vision perfect? By no means, but we recognize that and our team has reached out hundreds of times to engage, listen and adapt our thinking and we continue to do that through comment period on the Draft EIS and will continue to do so afterwards, so please engage knowing who we are and what motivates us.
Stephen Quin in the President of Midas Gold Corp.
