Lenard first started prospecting and mining with this father Andrew Diduck on the Finley and Skookumchuck rivers near Cranbrook, B.C. when he was only 12 years old. They hand shovelled gravel out of the creek banks into sluice boxes and used small suction dredges to recover the gold in the bed of the creek. Andrew did most of the work as Lenard loved to catch the beautiful cutthroat trout that inhabited these clear mountain creeks. Lenard and Andrew enjoyed this hobby for about six years.

In 1978 Andrew Diduck went to Atlin for a holiday to investigate the Atlin gold fields, that he had often read about. Andrew loved the beautiful countryside and purchased mining leases on Wright Creek, a small alpine creek, 14 miles east of Atlin.

In 1979 Andrew returned to Atlin and began mining and for the next 14 years mined on Wright Creek, making friends with many of the old retired miners who lived in Atlin. One miner in particular, Alan Matson who had spent all his life mining in Atlin, used to come up and frequently visit with Andrew. Over the next few years Alan and Andrew became very good friends. Alan was fond of Andrew and had spent many years mining on Wright Creek. One evening Alan told Andrew if he ever got a chance to purchase leases opposite the old town site of Discovery to do so, as there was an incredible amount of fine gold left in those tailings especially in what was called the Old Willow Creek Drain. He also talked of the portions of virgin ground that had never been mined and how poorly the gravels were processed leaving an incredible amount of gold in the tailings. Six months later Alan died of a heart attack.

While Andrew was mining in Atlin, Lenard started his own logging company in Fort Nelson and was logging in Fort Nelson in the winter months and Stewart in the summer. In 1979 Lenard had one employee working with him and by 1982 formed his own limited company, and by 1983 had nearly one hundred employees and sub contractors working for him.

Every fall when Andrew finished mining he would come to Fort Nelson and work with Lenard for the winter months. Every winter in the evenings, Andrew would tell his son about his mining experiences and Lenard was learning about the Atlin area. Whenever possible Lenard would travel to Atlin in August to visit his father as his father’s birthday was August 13th. In 1989 the B.C. government began restructuring the forestry cut block system and Lenard could foresee difficult times ahead for the industry. In August 1989 Lenard sold all the assets of his company and took a two year break.

Lenard spent one summer working with his father on Andrews mining leases on Wright Creek and learned much about the Atlin area. In 1991 Lenard drawing from his father’s knowledge of the area, Lenard began purchasing and acquiring leases around the old town site of Discovery. For the next 11 years he continued purchasing leases, until now he owns in excess of 1200 acres of placer ground encompassing all the old hydraulic tailings.

In 1995 Lenard and Andrew mined approximately 22.000 tons of hydraulic tailings. Andrew retired in 1996 and Lenard spent the next three years surveying his own leases and all the leases surrounding his own. While they were mining in the 1995 season, Lenard and Andrew found numerous large nuggets ranging in size from one ounce, to in excess of seven ounces. One nugget in particular was mainly quartz and having showed it to a geologist. The geologist's comment was that he suspected it had been broken off of a mother lode vein. With this information in mind, Lenard began investigating the mother lode hard rock potential that was underlying and surrounding his placer properties. He uncovered a lot of valuable information about the mother lode deposit and over the next seven years acquired all the underlying hard rock titles.

Lenard now owns over 10,000 acres of hard rock mineral properties, commonly known as the Yellowjacket. He then acquired over 3500 acres of hardrock properties, commonly known as the Monarch Mountain and Pictou.