Frank Racicot, a Sudbury-based consulting geologist, prospector and filmmaker, has launched a website to preserve and celebrate the bizarre and unusual stories of what he fears is a dying breed of mineral explorers.
The Canadian Bush Stories website features dozens of videos of geologists, prospectors and other members of the exploration community telling stories of hair-raising encounters with wildlife, serendipitous mineral discoveries and staking rush shenanigans.
“These stories are part of our heritage,” said Racicot. “It’s critical that we capture them and preserve them – otherwise, they’ll be lost forever.”
Racicot walked the floor of the Investor’s Exchange at the PDAC last year to recruit storytellers and hosted a get-together of the Sudbury Prospectors and Developers Association in November to add to his collection of videos.
Storytellers currently featured on Racicot’s website include Pat Sheridan, Ulrich Kretschmar, Hadyn Butler, Stewart Hamilton, Wally Rayner and Max Juby.
The mineral exploration industry is changing, said Racicot. These days, geologists and prospectors spend a lot more time staring at computers.
“Many of the easy, close to surface discoveries have been made, so traditional practices like stripping moss and breaking rocks are much less prevalent, so much less time is spent in the bush. With the introduction of map staking, it will be even worse,” he said.
The Canadian Bush Stories website is a good start, but there are a lot more stories out there and Racicot wants to capture as many of them as possible.
To take the project to the next level, Racicot is seeking sponsors to help cover the costs of travel, editing and web design.
“I’m doing this for love, but I can’t do it on my own,” he said.
Sponsors will have their logos prominently displayed on his website and contribute to preserving the history of the Canadian mineral exploration industry.
Prospective storytellers and sponsors can contact Racicot through his website: canadianbushstories.ca.
