MetSoc Sustainability Award
This award was created by Teck in order to promote innovation and development in the field of environmental control technology for the metallurgical and materials industry in Canada. Future advances in the industry depend on the development of environmentally safe technologies. The award recognizes significant contributions by a MetSoc member to the field of environmental science and engineering and sustainable development in the metallurgical and materials industry.
This award is supported by:


2023 Recipient
David Kratochvil
BQE Water
Citation: In recognition of his enormous contribution to the development of the ground-breaking SelenixTM Process.
David Kratochvil is the President & CEO of BQE Water. He is a chemical engineer with over 20 years of experience in the treatment and management of water in the mining, metallurgical processing, metal smelting and refining industries. During his career David has had the opportunity to work with and be mentored by some of the industry legends including George Poling, Chris Fleming, Clem Pelletier, and John Marsden. They inspired David to challenge entrenched views about water and embrace innovation to achieve better outcomes for industry, the environment, and communities. Having worked on projects from early pre-permitting stages to post-closure, David gained insights into the true life cycle costs and risks of water. He strongly advocates for a better understanding of the interactions between water, mining, metallurgical processing, the environment, and people. Only when these are all carefully considered can water solutions be truly holistic, allowing mineral extraction projects to be environmentally responsible, socially acceptable, and financially successful. David is a registered professional engineer in British Columbia and received his doctorate in chemical engineering from McGill University in Montreal.
2022 – N. Ahern | 2016 – (No award) | 2010 – C. Pickles |
2021 – (No award) | 2015 – C. Jia | 2009 – (No award) |
2020 – B. Conard | 2014 – G.P. Demopoulos | 2008 – G. Monteith |
2019 – G. Holcroft | 2013 – Z. Xu | 2007 – L. Amaratunga |
2018 – not attributed | 2012 – V.I Lakshmanan | 2006 – R. Rao |
2017 – P.Queneau | 2011 – R. Lawrence | 2005 – M. Kalin |
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| 2004 – M. Sudbury |
Criteria
The nominee must have a clear record of impact (important changes related to policy, procedure or process) on the environment. This record should be highlighted in the nomination letter and in the citation.
The Metallurgy and Materials Society of CIM administers the award. The award can be given to an individual or a group of individuals.
There is no cash prize for this award.

All nominees must have a minimum of five years of CIM National membership and be in good standing. Membership is not required to be consecutive but the member has to have the current and previous year in good standing. Exceptions to this membership requirement may be made in the case where a candidate has a substantial historical record of contributions to MetSoc. The contributions and impact must be to the benefit of Canada.
The award nomination program is closed for 2023.
The nominator has 5 steps to complete. The documents can be uploaded to our online nomination system.
- Fill in the contribution box – a summary of why this person is being nominated (see item 3) with any information listed above that is not included in the CV.
- Fill in the citation – in 15 words this person is being recognized for.
- The CV should contain the items listed below. If the CV does not contain these items, consider adding them to the Contribution box and letter statement:
- Major contributions relevant to the award
- A record of at least five relevant patents and/or papers authored by the nominee plus a count of other patents and papers
- A service history related to CIM/MetSoc if applicable
- A record of the years of membership in CIM
- A listing of volunteer activities if applicable
- A listing of awards previously received
- A listing of academic achievements
- One written letter by the nominator on letterhead describing in full length why this candidate is nominated for the award.
- A minimum of 3 Endorsers (outside of company colleagues) – these endorsers simply must support with an online approval click, however, a supporting letter is also welcomed and encouraged.
Please refer to the REQUIREMENTS & PROCESS FOR NOMINATION webpage.
General Policies
- A nominator can put forward only one candidate up for nomination in each award category.
- No Member of the Executive Board shall be nominated for a MetSoc administered award while in office. The nomination will be held until the term on the executive board is expired.
- Each award shall be made from time to time as circumstances warrant with no more than one award recipient per year.
- The nominators are responsible for verifying that all conditions of the award have been satisfied and all procedures were properly followed in making the nomination.
- All nominations will stand for three years.
- The adjudication of the award shall be made by the MetSoc Awards Committee of The Metallurgy and Materials Society of CIM.
- The award shall be presented at the Awards Banquet of the Conference of Metallurgists.
- Posthumous awards will be allowed only if the candidate has already been shortlisted.
- Self-nominations are not permitted.