It is Friday evening and weekend plans are being formulated for parties and social gatherings. I have just returned from a dinner with three of the most ethical people I know. The cook is the best I have ever encountered: one of those “natural” cooks who make even the ordinary extraordinary. We started with Mexican beer and crips that reminded me of The Folk of the Faraway Tree who ate burst-balls that exploded with unique flavors in the mouth. Then a pasta with green beans and small, bright red tomatoes, and shrip barbequed outside to a crisp perfection. The wine pleased the palate and induced generalizations of intense insight. These are some of the highlights about mining that peppered our conversation.

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Sitting in the luxurious staff restaurant of the University of British Columbia eating fine food and looking out over the best view in the world, I have been honored to meet some of the top professors in the UBC mining department. So I am prejudiced and biased towards their success. Thus I was delighted to see that the Province of British Columbia is providing $7.5 million to expand faculty and increase student spaces in the Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering. This money is in addition to the $7.5 million that Teck Cominco has also committed in support of the Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering.

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