Geoscience event to draw 500
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Nov 24/00) - Often, the most interesting stories about mining, are about the individuals who took mining matters into their own hands.
Take Tom Payne, whose claims, staked in the late 1930s, were at the heart of what is now the Con mine.
He staked the claims, which took the shape of a T, in the middle of the night. Star and Midnight were among the names he gave them.
According to Alice Payne, who has written a book about her father, Tom made sure when the claims came up, he was right there to stake them.
Payne says her father later overheard some people with Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company suggest that "maybe they ought to get out and stake those claims." Payne stood up and said, "Gentlemen, it's done."
Alice Payne, who took her father's notes and contacted the people he mentioned to write the book, was at the 28th annual Geoscience Forum at the Explorer this week. Her book is titled Quin Kola, for Tom Payne's mining company name.
The prospector paid $20 to register the claims. In 1938, Consolidated Smelting paid him $500,000 for a 60 per-cent ownership. Payne retained 40 per cent share of his claims for decades.
"For people who grubstaked him, it was a great deal," Payne said.
Mike Vaydik, executive director of the NWT Chamber of Mines, says the book makes for a great read.
"It's biographical, but it's written, kind of like sitting around the coffee shop, with several people telling stories," he said.
"I bought a couple."
On this year's edition of the forum, Vaydik said attendance is good. Some 421 people have registered for the forum, which wraps up today (Friday) and tomorrow at the Explorer Hotel.
"The talks have been extremely well attended," he said.
The oil and gas section, in its third year, has been growing since started in 1998, he adds.
Often, 80 or 90 people took in the oil and gas sessions.
Vaydik adds the oil and gas industry will continue to be a big part of future forums.
Resources Wildlife and Economic Development Minister Joe Handley, said non-renewable resources, like minerals, oil and gas, are a "key to our economy."
Oil and gas companies are poised to spend about $1 billion on exploration in the NWT over the next five years, he said.
