Two separate mining awards set for Yellowknife next week

For the past eight years, the Max Awards – ‘Max’ stands for mining and exploration – have been part of a banquet that wraps up the annual Yellowknife Geoscience Forum.

This year, after some behind-the-scenes friction, there is a change.

The Max Awards will still go ahead, but they will be held separately from the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines’ Hearts of Gold charity auction and dinner. Hearts of Gold – an official geoscience forum event – will include its own industry awards ceremony.

The presence of two ceremonies has led to confusion among some people who previously attended the Max Awards as part of the forum.

Kathy Gray, president of Gray Matters Design and Marketing, said she developed the Max Awards in 2017 as a way to promote and celebrate mining and mineral exploration in the NWT.

She said the mining chamber and territorial government previously sponsored the awards as part of the geoscience forum.

“So much of our revenues depend on the mining industry,” she said.

This year, Gray said, the mining chamber “decided to do their own thing.”

Grey alleged that, at a meeting between herself, the territorial government and the chamber of mines, it was agreed she would organize the Max Awards for a final time this year and the chamber would take over next year.

A few days later, Gray said, the chamber changed its mind and decided to host its own, separate event.

“I’ve been a member of the chamber for many, many years and, as a member, I think what they’ve done to me is unfair,” Gray said.

“It’s not right. As an organization, they’re trying to steal what I’ve created over eight years.

“I’m personally hurt that they reneged on their agreement with me and I’m sad for everybody that’s confused, because it is very, very confusing.”

Karen Costello, executive director of the chamber of mines, told Cabin Radio in a statement that the chamber “made a few changes” to the geoscience forum this year – including to the closing dinner –to “keep the event relevant and fresh for all attendees.”

She added there are several private events being held in Yellowknife next week beyond the forum, including the Max Awards. That is “not unusual,” Costello wrote.

Costello did not provide further details regarding why the Max Awards are not part of the forum this year.

This year’s Max Awards, hosted by Gray Matters Design and Marketing, are set to take place on the evening of Tuesday, November 25 at the Air Tindi hangar on Berry Street. Proceeds from a fundraising auction at the event will go to the Yellowknife Community Fundraising Club’s Adopt-a-Family program.

The mining chamber’s Hearts of Gold Geoscience Forum charity gala is scheduled to take place on the evening of Thursday, November 27 at the Explorer Hotel. Awards at the event will cover three categories: industry, Indigenous organization and trailblazer.

Proceeds from the Hearts of Gold charity auction will go to the YWCA’s Adopt-a-Family program.

An NWT government spokesperson said the territory’s industry minister, Caitlin Cleveland, plans to attend both events.