We regret to advise of the death of Arthur “Art” MacPherson on 25 September 2000.
Art was a veteran of WW II and served with the Royal Canadian Engineers in Canada, England, and Northwest Europe. He graduated from the Technical University of Nova Scotia in Halifax NS in 1934 and his early mining experience was in mining for gold in the Maritimes and in West Africa. He was internationally recognized for his innovations and development of many technologies employed in the mining industry.
In 1946, Art joined the Department of Mines & Technical Surveys in Ottawa ON where he developed his expertise in mineral processing. Five years later, he joined Aerofall Mills Limited in Toronto ON, ending as Executive Vice-President & General Manager. During the period 1960 to 1962, he worked as an independent consultant and developed the basis data for the design of wet autogenous mills. He joined Bechtel Canada Limited in 1962, working with them in Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto.
Art developed plant designs pioneering large grinding circuits for many major projects including the Carol Lake project of Iron Ore Company QC, the Griffith Mine in Red Lake ON, and the Lornex, Similkameen, and Valley Copper copper projects in British Columbia. In 1974 he was appointed Vice-President and Consulting Metallurgist for the Vancouver office where he remained until 1979. From 1980 until his retirement in 1990, he worked as a consultant to the mining community from his office in Mississauga ON.
In 1936, Art received a special citation from the Nova Scotia Legislature honouring his role in the dramatic rescue of two men trapped in a mine cave-in at Moose River near Halifax. In 1982, he received the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers ‘Robert H. Richards Award’ for "a lifetime of pioneering achievements in the field of mineral processing. He was the first Canadian to receive the honour in the 30-years of the Award's history. The same year he was made a Distinguished Member of the Society of Mining Engineers.
In 1984, the Technical University of Nova Scotia awarded him an honorary doctorate and created a bursary, known as the A.R. MacPherson Scholarship. In 2000, the Canadian Institute of Mining Metallurgy & Petroleum awarded him the Canadian Institute of Mining Fellowship "for outstanding contributions to the Canadian minerals industry and to the CIM". {gdMay2016kh}
