Duncan R. Derry Medal

The Duncan R. Derry Medal is the highest award bestowed by the Mineral Deposits Division (MDD). It is awarded annually to the outstanding economic geologist who has made significant contributions to the science of economic geology in Canada.

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Candidates should be recognized for their skill and stature as professional economic geologists, and also by their public contributions to the science field. It is acknowledged that publication is the prime, but not only method, of disseminating scientific information in any discipline. Candidates should be members of the GAC®, and preferably, but not necessarily, MDD members.

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The 2025 Duncan R. Derry Medal is awarded to Dr. Georges Beaudoin (Université Laval) 

Prof. Georges Beaudoin is a global leader in his contributions to mineral exploration and the genesis of hydrothermal ore deposits. He received his BSc (1985) and MSc (1987) from Université Laval, and his PhD (1991) from the University of Ottawa. Following this he completed a 2 year postdoctoral fellowship at the Geological Survey of Canada. He was an assistant (1993-1998), associate (1998-2002) and full professor (since 2002) in metallogeny at Université Laval. From 2012 to 2022, Prof Beaudoin held the NSERC-Agnico Eagle Industrial Research Chair in Mineral Exploration at Université Laval. He now leads the Agnico Eagle-Eldorado Gold Québec Research Chair in Mineral Exploration. From 2013 to 2022, he was the Founding Director of the Centre de recherche sur la géologie et l’ingénierie des ressources minérales (E4m), a recognized research centre at Université Laval, consisting of 34 researchers and 150 graduate students and HQP. From 2009 to 2019, he was Director of the DIVEX research network, regrouping researchers in metallogeny from 7 universities in Québec.

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Georges is an internationally recognized expert in metallogeny, hydrothermal mineral deposits, and isotope geochemistry, in addition to his world-leading research in indicator mineral methodologies for exploration. With his team of HQP he has developed indicator minerals for orogenic gold deposits, in addition to establishing magnetite and hematite as ubiquitous fertility indicator minerals (Dupuis and Beaudoin 2011, 704 citations; Dare et al. 2014, 548 citations).

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Prof Beaudoin was Chief-Editor of Mineralium Deposita between 2012-2022, contributing to increasing the international scientific journal’s impact factor to the highest (5.1) in the field. He was elected as the first Canadian President (2014-2016) of the Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits (SGA), during which he presided over the organization of the 14th Biennial Meeting in Québec in 2017.

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Prof Beaudoin has published 174 peer-reviewed papers and more than 230 conference abstracts (+8200 citations, h-index=48). He has experience leading large research teams, as shown by his leadership as Research Chair, and his involvement in large research initiatives such as the NSERC CRD Footprints and CFREF Metal Earth programs.

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In and outside of these initiatives, Prof Beaudoin has trained 10 PDFs, 24 PhD students, 32 MSc students, 24 BSc students, and 12 Research Assistants. Evidently, Professor Beaudoin is an outstanding geologist in the field of ore deposit geology, having contributed to our understanding of ore deposits and indicator mineral exploration, and therefore a worthy recipient of the Duncan Derry award.

Past Winners

  • 2024: K. Hattori
  • 2023: S. J. Piercey
  • 2022: P. Mercier-Langevin
  • 2021: I. Samson
  • 2020: S.-J. Barnes
  • 2019: J. Richards
  • 2018: W. Bleeker
  • 2017: K. Kyser
  • 2016: D. Kontak
  • 2015: D. Ames
  • 2014: B. H. S. Smith
  • 2013: A. Galley
  • 2012: H. L. Gibson
  • 2011: B. Dube
  • 2010: N. Duke
  • 2009: F. Robert
  • 2008: M. Hannington
  • 2007: C. M. Lesher
  • 2006: H. Poulsen
  • 2005: J. Hedenquist
  • 2003: R. Kerrich
  • 2002: A. Clark
  • 2001: H. S. Swinden
  • 2000: A. E. Williams-Jones
  • 1999: D. H. Watkinson
  • 1998: R. V. Kirkham
  • 1997: S. D. Scott
  • 1996: F. R. Joubin
  • 1995: C. J. Hodgson
  • 1994: A. C. Brown
  • 1993: W. H. MacLean
  • 1992: J. M. Franklin
  • 1991: J. D. Harvey
  • 1990: C. I. Goodwin
  • 1989: G. O. Allard
  • 1988: E. A. Swanson
  • 1987: A. E. Soregaroli
  • 1986: R. W. Hodder
  • 1985: M. J. Knuckey
  • 1984: J. J. Brummer
  • 1983: R. W. Hutchinson
  • 1982: G. D. J. Boldy
  • 1981: D. F. Sangster
  • 1980: A. J. Naldrett

About Duncan R. Derry (1906-1987)

An eminent economic geologist, known internationally for his many contributions to mineral exploration on nearly every continent of the world, Duncan R. Derry was one of the Canadian mining industry’s leading spokesmen. The recipient of many honours and awards for his work, Derry had special qualities which were described, at the time he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Toronto, as “his humanity, his integrity, his logic and his wisdom.”

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He was a past-president of the Society of Economic Geologists and one of the founders of the Geological Association of Canada.

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He also launched the Canadian Geological Foundation and was a member of the founding group of the Canadian Geoscience Council.

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Among his many awards were the Logan Medal, presented for “distinguished contributions to the earth sciences”, and the Selwyn Blaylock Medal from the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, “in recognition of his meritorious service to the Canadian mining industry in general, and especially related to his widely-recognized talents in the geological sciences.”

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So highly was he valued in these sciences that in 1980, the Geological Association of Canada inaugurated a new medal, the Duncan R. Derry Medal, which is now awarded annually to an outstanding economic geologist who has made major contributions in the field in Canada.

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Dr. Derry was born in England in 1906, graduated at Cambridge in honor science, then, moving to Canada, took his M.A. and Ph.D. in geology at the University of Toronto.

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In 1935, he joined Thayer Lindsley at Ventures Ltd., forerunner of Falconbridge, and worked closely with Lindsley for many years in a highly successful team. It was interrupted only by Derry’s service in World War II, as a squadron leader navigation training officer.

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At Ventures, he supervised exploration and mining programs in Canada and many other countries, including South Africa, Greece, Guyana, Chile, Peru, and Greenland. In Canada, he was responsible for the mine geology for such operations as Canadian Malartic, Matachewan Consolidated and Opemiska Copper. His contribution to the success of the latter company was one of his most important undertakings while with Ventures.

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In 1954, Derry joined Rio Tinto as president of Rio Tinto Exploration, and that job led to the acquisition and development of what is now Rio Algom’s bit uranium mines in the Elliot Lake area of Ontario.

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Derry left Rio in 1960 to form his own consulting firm, Derry Michener Booth & Wahl, which partnership has since become a highly-respected, household name not just in Canada, but throughout the mining world.

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Dr. Derry added immeasurably not only to the advancement of the geological sciences and their practical application to mining development in Canada and elsewhere, but to the publication of world literature in the field. Most notably, he spent some three years researching, compiling, funding and publishing an impressive “World Atlas of Geology and Mineral Deposits.”

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Dr. Derry was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame the year it was established in 1989.

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Source: https://mininghalloffame.ca/.