June 28, 1996
(Mines and Energy)

Provincial geoscientist receives national award

The Minister of Mines and Energy, Rex Gibbons, is pleased to announce that the national Julian Boldy Award has been presented to one of his department's employees, Bruce Ryan.

Mr. Ryan is a geoscientist in the Mines Branch's Geological Survey and a long-time investigator of the geology of central and northern Labrador. Part of his area of expertise is the so-called Nain Plutonic Suite, host rocks to the now-famous Voisey's Bay nickel-copper-cobalt deposit.

At a recent national conference of the Geological Association of Canada and the Mineralogical Association of Canada in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Mr. Ryan was invited to give the keynote address in a Special Session called Geological Settings of Nickel Deposits. The title of his scientific paper was The Voisey's Bay massive sulphide deposit: Its geological setting within anorogenic plutonic rocks of the Nain area, Labrador.

The Julian Boldy Award is presented each year by the Mineral Deposits Division of the Geological Association of Canada for a geoscientific paper judged to best describe significant and pragmatic advances in mineral-deposit research or exploration. However, the paper must embody more than technical excellence - it must also be elegantly and concisely presented. Mr. Ryan's presentation certainly lived up to those standards: for 40 minutes geoscientists in the crowded University of Manitoba lecture theatre were treated to an enthusiastic, beautifully illustrated address that depicted the geological evolution of the ancient rocks of northern Labrador, including a convincing model for the origin of the Voisey's Bay ore deposit.

To be invited to give a keynote paper at a national meeting of approximately 900 geoscientists is in itself a tribute to Mr. Ryan's expertise and knowledge on Labrador geology. But to have his presentation singled out from among 60 others for special commendation is a prestigious achievement for which Bruce Ryan and the Geological Survey of Newfoundland and Labrador can be justifiably proud.

Bruce Ryan joined the Geological Survey in 1976 as a project geologist, having done research in Labrador for his master's degree at Memorial University. Since then, he has been one of the chief government geoscientists carrying out geological mapping and assessing mineral potential in Labrador. He is the author of numerous Geological Survey reports and maps, and has had his results published in some of the leading international journals on geology. His work continues during the 1996 field season with the mapping of the region inland from Okak Bay. According to the minister, Mr. Ryan's studies and those of his colleagues at the Geological Survey are important contributions to a successful minerals industry in the province.

     Contact:
     Bruce Ryan      -   (709) 729-2111, fax (709) 729-3493, 
                         e-mail abr@zeppo.geosurv.gov.nf.ca

     Frank Blackwood -   (709) 729-6541, fax (709) 729-4491, 
                         e-mail rfb@zeppo.geosurv.gov.nf.ca

     Re: photograph  -   Ken Byrne at (709) 729-2956, fax (709) 729-4491


     NOTE TO EDITORS:    A copy of the photograph is available by
                         contacting Newfoundland and Labrador
                         Information Services at (709) 729-3610.