At age 77 and still working in mining exploration, Gord Garfield Morrison was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame on January 8 in Toronto. 
In 2009, FNX Mining, which had bought Inco, renamed the Levack Footwall Deposit the Morrison Mine, with Gord Morrison’s innovative exploration techniques having identified new sources of high grade copper, nickel and precious metals at the site. 
Gord Morrison got his start in mining as a summer student for Inco, exploring out in the bush, in the sixties. 
Gord Morrison’s TMAC Resources helped develop the Hope Bay gold mining project in the Arctic, starting in 2012 before selling in 2021. They built a landing strip and an ice highway, brought in Hercules cargo haulers for equipment, and most important, formed a model partnership with the Inuit people to share in the benefits. 
Gord Morrison’s TMAC Resources helped develop the Hope Bay gold mining project in the Arctic, starting in 2012 before selling in 2021. They built a landing strip and an ice highway, brought in Hercules cargo haulers for equipment, and most important, formed a model partnership with the Inuit people to share in the benefits. 
Gord Morrison’s TMAC Resources helped develop the Hope Bay gold mining project in the Arctic, starting in 2012 before selling in 2021. They built a landing strip and an ice highway, brought in Hercules cargo haulers for equipment, and most important, formed a model partnership with the Inuit people to share in the benefits. 
Gord Morrison inducted into Canadian Mining Hall of Fame
Joyce Beauchamp
Special to the Tribune
On January 8, Gord Morrison of Sturgeon Falls was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame at a gala dinner and awards ceremony attended by Canadian mining industry leaders. Of the four inductees, Morrison was applauded as being “one of Canada’s most accomplished and respected mining exploration leaders, having shaped the modern understanding of mineral discovery in the Sudbury Basin and beyond.”
The Toronto audience heard that “Morrison’s exploration leadership has led to 17 major mineral discoveries – many under the banners of Inco and later FNX Mining. Of these, nine advanced into full production and three into partial development. The sheer scale of these discoveries, valued at more than $70 billion in today’s metal prices, cements his place among the most successful mine finders in Canadian history.”
In a documentary piece shown at the event, Morrison himself explained that he spent his first four years underground in the Levack Mine, just northwest of Sudbury. He says, “Exploration geologists should start underground because it’s important to be able to ‘touch the beast’.” Once above ground, however, he broke away from the more traditional exploration techniques focusing on fresh “green” sites, and began taking a second look at existing “brown” sites using 3D modeling software based on electromagnetic findings in boreholes. This way he was able to build multi-layered digital models of the subsurface.
Morrison began to find untapped mineral deposits very near existing Sudbury Basin mines. Nobody dreamed they existed. These finds were critically important to Inco’s future operations. In the 1970’s, Inco was extracting 10 million tons of ore a year to feed the steel and metals industry that, in turn, built much of Canada and the USA. As Morrison put it, “We were actually chewing through our existing resources and wondering how we were going to replace it.” Gord Morrison found all the ore Inco needed within steps of existing mines. It couldn’t have been better. Inco was ecstatic.
