Outstanding Achievement in the Mining Industry

The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame recognizes outstanding achievement in the mining industry, celebrates individual leadership and aims to inspire future generations in mining.

Tom Palangio, President of WipWare Inc, was inducted into the Mining Hall of Fame. SAMSSA presented the award at Dynamic Earth in Sudbury December 5th. After 15 years, Tom decided to retire as President of SAMSSA. SAMSSA honoured him last night at the SAMSSA AGM.

From Humble Beginnings Come Great Things

Thomas Palangio, Chief Technical Officer at WipWare spoke at the induction and had the honour of introducing his father, Tom. Thomas spoke about Tom’s life in the early years including his academic accomplishments and early career. The full speech is available in the here.

Tom’s story began when a couple of Italian immigrants chose to call Northern Ontario home. In 1965 Tom moved to Southern Ontario and dabbled with electrical and mechanical engineering. Also, while there he met and married his wife, Phyllis. Eventually, he completed his education in architectural design and returned to Northern Ontario.

When an opportunity arose with Dupont, he accepted and so began is love affair with explosives. After 27 years with Dupont, later ETI, he became the Technical Specialist. He quickly realized measuring the blast might be lucrative niche in the mining industry. In 1986, Tom Palangio, in collaboration with John Franklin and Norbert Marez created the Waterloo Image Enhancement Process, or WIEP.  John and Norbert worked in Waterloo’s Earth and Computer Sciences divisions. Recognizing the importance and sales potential of their discovery, the trio formed WipWare to further develop and market the technology internationally. 

Tom has taken some leaps

Prior to Tom’s induction into the Mining Hall of Fame, Hugh Kruzel wrote a featured SAMSSA article on October 17th. In this article, Hugh speaks with Tom about the leaps Tom has taken as an entrepreneur and innovator.

When Hugh asked Tom about his childhood, Tom explained how he liked to build things.

“I was always drawn to art, mechanical, electrical and scientific topics at a time when space was in the news. I’m a real boomer. I liked to build things and take them apart and was resourceful, but never thought I’d earn a living playing with the stuff that interested me. Leonardo da Vinci would be my history hero. My teachers said I was “disruptive” and it took me many years to realize that’s a good thing”.

Image Analysis Technology – Mining Industry

In 1995, Tom started Topex Inc – his own explosives consulting firm. Later, he formed WipWare Inc. to commercially market and sell image analysis technology that improves blast fragmentation results.

“The explosives business was ‘booming’ and I worked in Peru, Chile, South Africa, Australia and Hong Kong in the next few years providing training, troubleshooting, blast designs, vibration control, high speed camera work and other specialized services.”

Tom Palangio, President and CEO WipWare Inc.

One thing Tom has always believed in – mentoring newcomers to the world of business because this creates new jobs and he tries to participate in organizations that support this. After 15 years as President of SAMSSA, Tom decided to retire.

Tom has more than 40 years in the mining and explosives industries, over 22 years as an entrepreneur and won various awards and recognitions including: the NOBA Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2003; Export Development Awards in 2001 and 2002; the Ontario Leadership Award in the Provincial Global Traders Award category in 2003; the OACETT Outstanding Technical Achievement Award in 2009; was recognized by PROFIT 500 as being in the top third of growth companies in Canada in 2013 and received the Northern Ontario Business Award for Innovation in 2015.