Ashley Fish-Robertson - 03 May 2024

Stuart McTavish, a longtime member of CIM and the Canadian Mineral Processors Society (CMP), has announced that he will be stepping down from his role as CMP Society CIM Council representative. McTavish, president of SF McTavish Consulting Inc., is a graduate of Queen’s University’s Engineering (BSc) in metallurgy and mineral processing. He first entered the mining industry after graduating in 1971, when he found work at Wabush Mines in Labrador.

In 1972, McTavish became involved with CIM. He credits several people and companies for urging him to join the institute and make use of its many opportunities. “The companies [I worked for] and my bosses were strongly encouraging me to get involved in CIM, which I think is something we need to really encourage,” he said. 

He named three influential figures who inspired him to join CIM. The first one was Tim Ebee, a colleague from Wabush Mines who was the mill superintendent at the time. “He was a strong supporter of CIM, so he tried to get as many people involved as possible,” McTavish recalled. 

The second person was the late Klaus Konigsmann, who passed away in 2018. McTavish met Konigsmann when the two worked at Noranda’s Mattagami Lake mine. “Noranda as a company was a very strong supporter of CIM and CMP,” he said, reminiscing how Konigsmann would encourage McTavish to attend plenty of mining conferences and write papers to be considered for publication. 

“The third person was my wife, who started paying my membership fees and didn’t let it lapse,” he chuckled. “That’s how I got to be a life member.”

Upon returning to his home of Waterloo in 2004, he officially joined CMP, where he later became involved with the society’s Southern Ontario (Toronto) Region branch, becoming the branch chair in 2005. Following this, he stayed on the CMP board, working as regional coordinator and director at large before he took on the most recent role of CIM Council representative. He also provided mentoring services, and helped students form valuable connections within the industry. 

He emphasized that Canada’s mining industry is relatively small and explained that if companies want people to get involved with the mining industry, they need to continue to encourage people to attend conferences and other events that promote learning, as well as networking within the mining community.

“There’s a lot of benefits. If you had to present a paper, you’d learn how to do it. If you went to the conferences, you’d get to know a lot of people and you would get a lot of knowledge out of it.”

McTavish remains involved with CMP as a mentor and also represents CIM in the Global Action on Tailings, an initiative aimed at finding ways to reduce the amount of tailings produced. 

“Stuart’s presence at CIM Council will definitely be missed,” said Angela Hamlyn, chief executive officer of CIM. “His enduring commitment, sharp eye and curious mind were invaluable in the work that our institute does.”