Stewart R. Wallace — 1919–2009 - Society of Economic Geologists

Advancing Science and Discovery 

SEG www.segweb.org 

NEWSLETTER 

JULY 2009 NUMBER 78 

Stewart R. Wallace — 1919–2009 

SEG’s 

Anonymous 

Donor 

Mine Finders, Inc. office, Lakewood, Colorado – 1973 

SEG Headquarters 

Littleton, CO USA 

Judith Mountains, Montana — Summer 1951 

“. . . there absolutely should be some 

‘center’ from which the Society functions— 

preferably in one place and permanent.” 

—Stewart R. Wallace, 

July 1994 

to page 31–34 ...

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JULY 2009 No 78 SEG NEWSLETTER 3 

SEG 

NEWSLETTER 

Nº 78 — JULY 2009 

EXECUTIVE EDITOR 

Brian G. Hoal 

NEWS EDITOR 

Alice Bouley 

PRODUCTION MANAGER 

Christine Horrigan 

Society of Economic Geologists, Inc. 

7811 Shaffer Parkway 

Littleton, CO 80127-3732 USA 

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The SEG Newsletter is published quarterly in 

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of Economic Geologists, Littleton, Colorado, 

exclusively for members of the Society. 

Opinions expressed herein are those of the writers 

and do not necessarily represent official 

positions of the Society of Economic Geologists. 

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© 2009 The Society of Economic Geologists, Inc. 

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DEADLINE FOR NEWSLETTER #79: 

August 31, 2009 

Contents 

FEATURE ARTICLES 

1, 31-34 Stewart R. Wallace — 1919–2009 

13 Discovery and Geology of the Platinum Group Element Deposits of 

the Bushveld Complex, South Africa 

NEWSLETTER COLUMNS 

4 Letter to the Editor 

5 From the Executive Director: SEG Council Actions 

6 Contributions 

7 Presidential Perspective: Taking Advantage of Time 

8 SEGF Presidential Perspective: Student Programs and Fund-Raising Update 

9 SEG Foundation Special Request for Support Contributions 

10 SEG Foundation Special Request for Support Letter 

11 Contributions Form 

12 Editor’s Corner: What’s New in Economic Geology 

SEG NEWS 

20 

20 

22 

23 

Candidates for SEG Officers: Profiles and Vision Statements 

Vote Now for 2010 SEG Officers 

AME BC Roundup09 

SEG Distinguished Lecturer 2008 Report 

Vote Now 

(see page 20) 

25 SEG U2009 Field Course — Uranium Deposits of the Colorado Plateau 

26 SEG Co-Sponsored Short Course — Ore Deposit Models and Exploration 

27 6th ProExplo Conference: Discovering Human, Mineral, and Water Resources 

SEG STUDENT NEWS 

28 CODES, University of Tasmania 

28 Mackay School of Mines, University of Nevada, Reno 

29 SEGF Student-Dedicated Field Course — Gold Systems of Northern Nevada 

EXPLORATION REVIEWS 

35– Africa · 37– Alaska · 38– Asia · 40– Australasia · 43– Canada · 44– Europe · 

46– Latin America · 48– Northern Eurasia · 50– Contiguous United States 

MEMBERSHIP 

52 SEG Membership: Candidates and New Fellows, Members and Student Members 

54-55 SEG Membership Application 

56 SEG Announcements & Deadlines 

58 Personal Notes & News 

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

9 XII Congreso Colombiano de Geología 

22 Ores and Orogenesis: Circum-Pacific Tectonics, Geologic Evolution, and 

Ore Deposits — New Publication 

24 Northwest Mining Association’s 115th Annual Meeting, Reno/Sparks, Nevada, USA 

24 Guyana Geology and Mines Commission Conference 

40 11th International Platinum Symposium, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada 

51 SGA 2009 Smart Science for Exploration & Mining — Townsville, Australia 

57 SEG at GSA: Portland, Oregon 

58 GSN 2010 Symposium, Reno/Sparks, Nevada, USA 

64 SEG 2010 Conference — Keystone, Colorado (back cover) 

64 Gold Deposits: New Developments and Exploration Workshop (back cover) 

64 SEG Contact Information (back cover) 

PUBLICATIONS 

60-61 Publications Order Form 

CALENDAR 

62 Calendar 

ADVERTISERS — 

2 Actlabs, Ltd. (inside front cover) 

9 ALS Laboratory Group 

30 Animas Resources 

59 Anzman, Joseph R. 

63 bhp billiton (inside back cover) 

22 Big Sky Geophysics 

4 Economic & Environmental 

Geochemistry, Inc. 

2 Exploration with Aster 

(inside front cover) 

50 Geocon, Inc. 

2 Geosense (inside front cover) 

62 Krystallos Petrographic Consulting 

50 Kuhn, Paul W. 

4 Laravie, Joseph A. 

8 LTL Petrographics 

62 Mining Activity Update 

22 Petrographic Consultants Intl. 

56 Precambrian Research Center 

Workshop 

30 Recursos del Caribe, S.A. 

8 Resource Geosciences de Mexico 

2 SGS (inside front cover) 

59 Shea Clark Smith 

19 Spectral International, Inc. 

19 Zonge Engineering & Research

4 SEG NEWSLETTER No 78 JULY 2009 

Dear Editor: 

Letter to the Editor 

Kudos to Peter Laznicka for mining the excellent source of discovery data in the Exploration 

Reviews section of SEG Newsletter (“Metal Resources Announced in 2008: Do They Replenish the 

Mined-Out Tonnages?” April 2009, no. 77, p. 23). 

The advice in that article to “use more indium!” was based on an incorrect figure in Table 1. World 

production of indium in 2008 as reported on page 77 of USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2009 

(not Commodity Summaries, 2009) was 568 metric tons (t), not 0.568 t. The 396 t of indium discoveries 

announced in 2008 is about 70% of that year’s world production estimate, not 697 times that 

estimate. 

The excessive number of significant figures and the “Years to last” column heading in that table 

help perpetuate the public’s misunderstanding of resource numbers. Rather than thinking of mineral 

resources as stocks in a warehouse, users should be cautioned that the precision expressed in 

the world estimates should reflect the uncertainty of each of the country estimates. Furthermore, 

users of resource data are sometimes not aware that the effort needed for the acquisition of this 

information is the result of an investment decision by the mining company. An executive of a mining 

company in Idaho’s Silver Valley underscored this situation when she pointed out that “Lucky 

Friday has operated for 50 years, rarely with a projected mine life of more than four or five years 

based on proven and probable reserves, because of the way exploration is conducted from underground.” 

(Platts Metals Week, v. 78, no. 53, 31Dec07, p. 3). 

The 2008 production of 11.34 million metric tons (Mt, not mt; 1 mt = 1 x 10 -3 t = 1 kg) of zinc shown 

in Table 1 is not from Mineral Commodity Summaries 2009 (MCS 2009); the number there is 11.3 

Mt (page 187). MCS 2009 is not the source of the estimate of world uranium production in 2006; the 

Federal responsibility for production statistics for energy minerals was transferred to the 

Department of Energy in 1977. 

The production estimates in the Chromium and Iron Ore chapters of MCS 2009 are reported in 

thousand metric tons gross weight and in million metric tons of “usable ore” (agglomerates, concentrates, 

direct-shipping ore, and byproduct ore for consumption), respectively. Comparison with 

resources reported as a result of exploration presents even greater challenges with these mineral 

commodities than with those for which production is reported in terms of metal or mineral content. 

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FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 

SEG Council Actions — 

Toronto, Canada � February 28, 2009 

The SEG Council held a regularly scheduled 

meeting at the Radisson Admiral 

Hotel in Toronto, Canada. Members of 

the Council present were J.F.H. Thomp - 

son (Chair), S-J. Barnes, L.H. Chapman, 

J.L. Doebrich, B. Dubé, J.W. Hedenquist, 

B.G. Hoal, D.J. Kirwin, F. Molnár, S.J. 

Piercey, S.F. Simmons, B. Suchomel (Presi - 

dent of Foundation), and N. Wil liams. 

Apologies were received from A.C. Harris, 

H.J. Noyes, J. Perelló, R.D. Presnell, and Y. 

Watanabe. F.I. de Azevedo, Regional VP 

for Latin America, attended briefly as a 

guest. President Thompson called the 

meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. 

The following actions were taken at 

the meeting: 

� Approved a motion from N. Williams 

to accept the minutes of the previous 

meeting and ratify the following 

actions taken by the Council since its 

meeting on October 24, 2008: 

– Approved on November 12, 2008, 

the draft Council Minutes for the 

October 24, 2008, meeting held at 

the SEG headquarters in Littleton, 

Colorado, USA. 

– Approved on November 29, 2008, to 

amend the SEG Bylaws, namely, 

Article XVI – Governance Policies. 

– In accordance with the SEG Bylaws, 

Article XVI, Sections 16.1 Conflict of 

Interest Policy, all SEG Council 

members submitted their Conflict of 

Interest Disclosure Forms as of 

February 15, 2009. 

And the following actions taken by 

the Executive Committee since its previous 

meeting on October 23, 2008: 

– Approved Fellowship List No. 08-03 

on November 28, 2008, thereby 

admitting the following 15 candidates 

to SEG Fellowship: Rempta P. 

Baluda, David W. Broughton, Lucy 

H. Chapman, Mark M. Davis, Jeff L. 

Doebrich, Mark C. Fletcher, Ken D. 

Galambos, Mirta M. Garrido, A. 

Keith Kenyon, Oswaldo Ordonez- 

Carmona, Keith D. Scott, Weidong 

Sun, Ghislain Tourigny, David R. 

Tretbar, and Gerard I. Tripp. 

� Accepted an oral report by President 

Thompson in which he highlighted the 

record membership total, numerous 

and widespread Society events and 

activities, including presentations by 

SEG lecturers, and the continuing 

strong support of students. He 

described his recent successful meeting 

with the staff at SEG and noted the 

implications for programs and funding 

in the recessionary economy. On 

request, Past President Williams added 

that the SEG-GSSA 2008 conference in 

South Africa had been particularly 

well organized and successful. 

� Accepted an oral report by B.J. Such - 

omel, President of the SEG Founda tion, 

in which he noted that contributions 

had exceeded budget with a significant 

input from corporations to the 

Graduate Student Fellowship program. 

Although student support over the 

year had been very strong ($525,000), 

the economic downturn had adversely 

affected the Founda tion’s ability to 

sustain this level of funding for 2009. 

This situation was exacerbated by the 

9% increase in the number of student 

grant applications received in the current 

year. In response to a question 

from J.W. Hedenquist on fund-raising 

strategy, Suchomel noted that there 

was unrealized funding potential 

among both corporate and individual 

sources, the possibility of more noncash 

contributions, and the need to 

increase matching contributions. 

� Passed a motion from J.W. Heden quist 

to accept the Executive Director’s 

annual report for 2008. Key highlights 

included the increased membership 

outside North America (now 54%), the 

historically high proportion of students 

(17%), and the launch of the online 

Economic Geology ar chive. A summary 

of this report will be published in the 

April issue of the SEG Newsletter. 

� Passed a motion from J.W. Heden - 

quist to approve the Treasurer’s and 

Auditor’s reports for 2008. In the latter, 

the Auditor found that the financial 

statements “present fairly, in all 

material respects, the financial position 

of the Society” – a copy of the 

auditor’s report was available for 

inspection at the meeting. 

� Passed a motion from S.F. Sim mons to 

approve the Amended budget for 

2008 as presented by the Executive 

Director on behalf of the Treasurer. 

� Accepted an oral report by S.F. 

Simmons, Chair of the Publications 

Board, in which he summarized the 

year’s key events, including the 

appointment of a new editor of 

Economic Geology, the increased market 

for publications as represented by 

a growing SEG 

membership, the 

decline in financial 

assets related 

to the market 

downturn, recent 

publications, and 

new initiatives 

such as digital 

downloads from the online bookstore. 

Simmons further noted that the online 

archive of Economic Geology via 

GeoScienceWorld merited more publicity 

and improved website visibility. 

Other issues raised during discussion 

included the need to focus on timeliness 

of journal publication as well as 

the cost of shipping as affected by the 

weight of journal issues. 

� On a motion from S-J. Barnes, the 

addition of Richard Goldfarb to the 

Publications Board was approved. 

Subsequent to the Publications Board 

meeting on March 1, 2009, the Coun - 

cil would be requested to approve a 

list of names from which future directors 

could be selected. This would 

assist in succession planning. 

� Passed a motion from S.J. Piercey to 

accept the report from the Vice 

President for Regional Affairs, D.J 

Kirwin, in which he noted the following 

Regional VP appointments for 

2009-2011: Maria Boni (Europe), 

Nikolai Goryachev (North Eurasia), 

Francisco de Azevedo (Latin America), 

and Paul Nex (Africa). Kirwin also 

listed the Honorary Lecturers for 2009 

as Andy Killick and Mike de Wit (both 

South Africa), Chusi Li (USA), Yasushi 

Watanabe (Japan), Noel White 

(Australia), Jeff Heden quist and Mark 

Hannington (both Canada), Rich 

Goldfarb (USA), Bill Chávez (USA), 

Steve Enders (USA), Francisco Camus 

(Chile), and Doug Kirwin (Thailand). 

A special vote of thanks was extended 

to the previous VP for Regional 

Affairs, Antonio Arribas R, Jr., for his 

active role in growing the membership 

and activities, especially in Latin 

America. After some discussion on 

specific proposals, it was agreed that 

each Traveling Lecturer and each 

Honorary Lecturer should receive a 

list of student chapters to facilitate 

the scheduling of talks. The list of lecturers 

should also be 

to page 6 ... 

communicated to student 

chapters and 

BRIAN G. HOAL 

SEG Executive Director 

and Editor


... from 5 

SEG Council Actions — Toronto, Canada (Continued) 

Regional VPs by e-mail in addition to 

publication in the SEG Newsletter. 

� On a motion from S-J. Barnes, 

accepted the Program Committee 

report presented by the Past President 

and Executive Director, with the following 

discussion items: 

– SEG participation in the Global 

Uranium Symposium in Colorado, 

USA (May 2009) would be through a 

field trip, workshop, technical session, 

and exhibit booth. Overall the 

interest by attendees was picking up 

but student registrations were low. 

– No official participation by SEG was 

planned for the April Arc-Continent 

Collision conference in NSW, 

Australia, or the May GAC-MAC 

meeting in Toronto. 

– SEG should have some participation 

in the Europe Student Chapter 

Conference but the dates had not 

been finalized. F. Molnár would follow 

up on this. 

– The XII Chilean Geocongress (Novem - 

ber) needs a contact person for SEG. 

– SEG 2010 was on track with an 

Organizing Committee meeting to be 

held during the PDAC in early March. 

– Participation by SEG in SME meetings 

should move forward using the 

vehicle of Geometallurgy—in particular, 

short courses. Better linkages 

between websites of the two organizations 

would be helpful. 

� Accepted, on a motion from S-J. Barnes, 

the Student Affairs Committee report 

as submitted by the Vice President for 

Student Affairs, Anthony Harris, and 

presented by the Execu tive Director. 

The importance of a staff person dedicated 

to student issues was recognized. 

� Approved, on a motion from J.W. 

Hedenquist, the slate for the Nominat - 

ing Committee as presented by N. 

Williams. Members are as follows: N. 

Williams (Chair), M.W. Hitzman, J.M. 

Franklin, A.D. Goode, V. Lickfold, R.D. 

Presnell, and F.I. de Azevedo. Y. 

Watanabe would be consulted with 

respect to candidates from Asia. 

� Approved, on a motion from L. Chap - 

man, the slate for the Committee on 

Committees as presented by J.W. 

Hedenquist. Members are as follows: 

C.D. Anglin (Chair), R.P. Moritz, J. 

Mavrogenes, G.J. Masterman, M.S. 

Enders, and Y. Watanabe. 

� Approved, on a motion from N. 

Williams, the addition of R.D. 

Presnell (Coun cilor) to the Fellowship 

Admissions Committee. 

� Agreed that there was a need to 

ensure consistency between language 

in the Bylaws and committee guidelines 

as published on the website. S-J. 

Barnes requested clarification on the 

Silver Medal in this regard. 

� Passed a motion from J.W. Heden - 

quist to ratify the membership of the 

Investment Committee for 2009 as 

follows: G.R. Ireland – Chair, N.D. 

Adshead, D.J. Baker, C.E. Herald, B.G. 

Hoal, G.C. Huber, J.R. Huspeni, H.J. 

Noyes, and B.J. Suchomel. 

� Passed a motion from N. Williams to 

accept the Investment Committee’s 

February 19, 2009, recommendation 

that the Investment Policy Statement 

be amended to further diversify the 

asset allocation and improve the current 

balance of risk and reward. 

� Agreed, after discussion on the consequences 

of the economic downturn 

and the impact on students, to implement 

the following measures that 

would also be recommended to the 

SEG Foundation: 

– Focus on overall student support 

rather than particular programs provided 

that selectivity was exercised. 

The Student Affairs Com mittee 

should consider improvements in the 

current process of awarding grants to 

SEG Student Chapters. 

– Improve visibility of student-related 

materials, particularly on the website, 

but also through direct distribution 

to students and Student Chapters, 

e.g., multilingual mentoring posters/ 

flyers. 

– Encourage Traveling Lecturers (and 

other experienced SEG members) to 

visit Student Chapters and meet 

with students. 

– Market the Society and its products/ 

services more professionally, recognizing 

that this would require additional 

resources including outsourcing 

and upgrading the website. 

� Agreed with the President’s argument 

for scenario planning over a threeyear 

period to include best/ worst case 

scenarios that would aid budgeting, 

in particular the Founda tion’s allocation 

of funds for student support. This 

planning would better allow the 

Society and Foundation to allocate 

priorities to expenditures. 

� Agreed to hold the next meeting of the 

Council at the GSA annual conference 

in Portland, Oregon, USA, on the 

morning of Saturday, October 17, 

2009. This meeting would be succeeded 

in the afternoon by a gathering of the 

SEG Foundation Board of Trustees. 

� Adjourned the meeting at 12:25 p.m. 

on a motion from L.H. Chapman. 1 

Contributions 3/1/09–5/31/09 

Thank you for your generous contributions to the Society and the SEG Foundation. 

SEG 

Seavoy, Ronald E., USA 

Student Field Trip 

Fund 

Tooker, Edwin W., USA 

Garay, Enrique, Peru 

Halbert, Gary R., USA 

Hishida, Hajime, Chile 

Kelly, James M., USA 

Rayner, Jeffrey G., Italy 

Silva, Pedro G., Chile 

SEG Foundation 

General Fund 

Cheney, Eric S., USA 

Field, Cyrus W., USA 

Highsmith, R. Patrick, USA 

Student Fellowship 

Fund 

Corporate Sponsor 

Gold Fields Exploration, USA 

Byrne, Kevin, Canada 

Hugo Dummett Fund 

Kelly, James M., USA 

Stanton, Richard L., Australia 

Wolfgram, Diane, USA 

Hickok-Radford Fund 

Cathles, Lawrence M., USA 

McKinstry Fund 

Cathles, Lawrence M., USA 

The Timothy Nutt 

Memorial Fund 

Deane, John G., South Africa 

Coeur d’Alene Mines, USA 

Seavoy, Ronald E., USA 

Talon Gold (US) Llc, USA 

Pulido Rodriguez, William A., 

Colombia 

The Discovery Fund 

Enders, M. Stephen, USA 

Canada Foundation 

Franklin, James M., Canada 

Robertson, David S., Canada 

Jebrak, Michel, Canada


PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVE 

Taking Advantage of Time 

As the northern hemisphere warms with 

the beginning of summer, there are 

some signs of an improving economy. 

Commodity prices have firmed and the 

debate is now focused on whether this is 

sustainable—or just a false start! When 

SEG held customary meetings around a 

typically chilly Prospectors and Develop - 

ers Association Conference (PDAC) in 

Toronto just a few months ago the mood 

was resilient—recognition of challenges 

but determination to move forward. 

Young employees and students were on 

most peoples’ minds since this is the 

group that typically suffers during 

downturns, with a negative impact that 

lasts well beyond. We are fortunate as a 

society to have 900 student members 

spread around the globe. We have a 

responsibility to help these students, 

because if we can be sure of one thing, 

it is that SEG, the industry, and academia 

will need their youthful energy and 

ideas, possibly in the relatively near 

future, if the recovery is really approaching. 

Now is the time to support students! 

That takes me to my topic for this 

Perspective – Time – both geological 

time with its significance to economic 

geology and exploration, and also our 

individual and collective ability to use 

time effectively. 

Understanding time in millions and 

billions of years is another one of those 

attributes that defines geoscientists. In 

economic geology, we debate the role 

that major secular changes in the earth 

and atmosphere play on the formation 

of different types of ore deposits—for 

example, komatiite-hosted nickel, iron 

formation, various types of uranium 

deposits, and different types of gold and 

copper deposits. Conversely, the anomalous 

nature of the deposits themselves 

help to constrain the chemistry of the 

atmosphere and oceans, the development 

of organic processes, the evolution 

of the crust, and the variation of major 

earth processes through time. Deposits 

and their temporal relationship to 

regional geology define metallogenic 

epochs and form the basis for broad 

area selection. 

Understanding both relative and 

absolute temporal constraints allows 

explorers to focus on key formations, 

structures, magmatic suites, or tectonic 

events. New geochronological methods 

that allow us to more accurately constrain 

metallogenic events are therefore 

widely sought by both researchers and 

explorationists. A new age often creates 

excitement, particularly when it confounds 

conventional thinking. The date 

and its interpreted significance can 

invigorate regional exploration and 

demand mapping or remapping of 

regional geological relationships. A new 

date can also generate debate, which of 

course can be stimulating or possibly 

misleading, depending on the understanding 

of temporal relations. Herein 

lies the fascination with applied geo - 

chronology: it offers the possibility of 

confirming or refuting current interpretations 

at least until a new and improved 

technique produces a different age! 

Absolute age is accepted as important 

but even greater debate surrounds 

the evolution and longevity of major 

ore-forming systems. Systematic studies 

on individual districts provide evidence 

for short dramatic events, protracted 

processes, episodic activity, and the 

coincidental superposition of ores systems 

over hundreds of millions of years. 

As with new dates for individual 

deposits, some of the interpretations of 

longevity confound current models and 

force us to reexamine accepted dogma. 

My current job has taken me into the 

world of hydrometallurgy—the technology 

to extract metals from rocks or concentrates 

using water, acid, and other 

reagents under varying conditions. 

From my (biased) perspective, this is an 

attempt to reverse hydrothermal processes 

at extremely rapid rates—for 

example, in minutes or hours under 

appropriate pressure and temperature 

in an autoclave. Involvement with 

chemists and engineers in this work has 

changed my perspective. I have learnt 

much, gained respect for practitioners 

in another part of our business, and 

realized how rapidly some processes can 

occur under conditions somewhat similar 

to those we invoke for ore formation. 

Although I am not suggesting that 

deposits formed in minutes or hours, 

hydrometallurgy demonstrates that it is 

possible to significantly accelerate some 

of the processes that are relevant to ore 

formation. 

Few would deny the importance of 

understanding timing in economic geology 

from both scientific and practical 

perspectives, but we frequently pay less 

attention to understanding the importance 

of timing in other aspects of our 

work. Over the last few years of frenetic 

activity, did we take enough time to 

plan, complete 

work, and perhaps 

most importantly, 

think? 

In exploration, 

it is my perspective 

that some of 

our work in the 

last five years has 

JOHN F. H. THOMPSON 

SEG President 

2009 

been substandard. At the very least, 

information has not been recorded adequately 

in spite of the availability of 

numerous digital tools and databases. 

Now is the time to catch up, review past 

work, complete quality mapping and 

core logging, record the data properly, 

and prioritize targets for future drilling 

when funds become available. For 

researchers, this is also a good time to 

consider new research areas that will 

provide projects for a new crop of talented 

graduate students, many of whom 

will have industry experience and be 

highly motivated. Attracting industry 

funding will be an issue, but now is the 

time to build new relationships with the 

companies that are poised to prosper in 

the future and are willing to look 

beyond their current difficulties. 

The downturn offers an opportunity 

to rebalance our efforts in industry, in 

research, and in SEG. We can take some 

time to pay attention to details while 

also devoting time to develop new 

ideas. We need to be in circulation by 

getting out and talking to colleagues, 

potential partners, and students. To succeed 

at this, we should also take the 

time to communicate properly, listening 

and considering before offering our preferred 

solution. I have been confronted 

by numerous communication issues in 

recent years—my own and others. So 

now is the time to sort this out! 

As stated above, many of us believe 

that SEG must give even more attention 

to students. This includes student chapters, 

field trips, research grants, and 

conferences. It also includes efforts to 

get more SEG visitors to the chapters 

and universities. By my calculation, 

well over 50 lectures were given in universities 

by visiting SEG lecturers in 

2008, both formally and informally. 

We have to maintain this fantastic 

effort in these difficult times by giving 

local lectures and taking advantage of 

trips to visit chapters and groups of 

interested students whenever possible. 

Let’s take the time now to secure the 

future of SEG. 1


FOUNDATION PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVE 

Student Programs and Fund-Raising Update 

STUDENT PROGRAMS 

Each year, the period between mid- 

February and mid-May is the busiest 

time for SEG Foundation volunteers. 

They receive and review Student 

Research Grant, Fellowship, and Field 

Trip applications and decide who will 

receive awards. Following is a brief 

summary of the results of our three 

main student support programs for 2009. 

Student Research Grants 

There were 97 grant applications 

received and 42 awards given for a total 

of US$100,000. In addition, the SEG 

Canada Foundation awarded 13 grants 

totaling CDN$34,500. These grants will 

help students attending 30 different 

universities in 10 countries cover field 

and laboratory expenses for thesis 

research on mineral deposits. A complete 

summary of 2009 research grant 

awards is posted on the SEG website 

under Students. 

Student Fellowship Awards 

There were 28 fellowship applications 

received and 16 awards given for a total 

of US$150,000. These awards will provide 

much-needed assistance to students 

commencing graduate studies in economic 

geology. The fellowship review 

committee commented that the general 

quality of fellowship applications this 

year was exceptional. 

Student Field Trip 

Seventeen students were selected from 

31 total applicants to participate in the 

field trip to Nevada gold deposits, which 

was held during May 12–21. The student 

participants represented 17 different 

universities in 9 countries. Feedback on 

the field trip has been received from 

nearly all student participants and it is 

overwhelmingly positive. 

Please join me in congratulating all 

this year’s award recipients. I also extend 

our profound thanks to Dick Nielsen, 

Gerry Carlson (Research Grants), and 

John Thoms (Fellowships and Field Trip) 

and their respective committee members 

for the careful review of more than 

150 total student applications (all programs) 

this year. These volunteers put 

tremendous effort and care into the student 

support review process and we are 

most grateful for their dedication. 

Finally, we thank field trip leaders 

Bill Chávez and Erich Petersen for their 

usual tireless, enthusiastic effort, and 

the various mine operations for their 

gracious cooperation. The field trips 

are extremely important development 

opportunities for economic geology 

students. 

The Foundation also provides support 

for SEG Student Chapters (US$20,000), 

student membership sub sidies 

(US$9,300), and travel for lec turers and 

Regional VP activities (US$50,000 total). 

In nearly all instances, the lectures and 

Regional VP activities reach and have 

an important impact on students. 

FUND-RAISING 

In the last News letter, I mentioned the 

fund-raising challenges facing the 

Foundation due to the severe global 

financial crisis of 2008 –2009. The SEGF 

Trustees have responded in part by 

releasing a “Special Request for Support” 

that was sent to the 

SEG membership by 

e-mail on May 15. 

The request also 

appears in this 

Newsletter on 

page 10. 

This special 

request appeals to 

our members and 

corporate support- 

BARTON SUCHOMEL 

SEG Foundation 

President 2009 

ers for small additional contributions, 

in this difficult year, to help the 

Foundation maintain the level of student 

support achieved in the past few 

years. The Student Facts shown in the 

request are remarkable (e.g., 1,870 students 

supported by over $1 million 

during 2006–2008; global student 

membership increased over 100% in 

the same period) and demonstrate that 

your generosity is being rewarded 

through the encouragement and development 

of the next generation of economic 

geologists! 

To date (June 1), since initial release 

of the special request, we have received 

45 additional contributions totaling 

$8,500, and we are hopeful that 

significant further responses will flow in 

the weeks ahead. You will find a contribution 

form on the SEG website and we 

are working to facilitate direct, webbased 

contribution capability. 

Remainder of 2009 

For the balance of this year, we pri - 

marily will be focused on raising funds 

to meet and possibly exceed our annual 

contributions budget. Together with 

SEG Council, we will continue to review 

our student support programs and to 

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General Fund 

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Sosa, Leo A., Philippines 

Van Maastrigt, Peter J. M., 

Netherlands 

Hugo Dummett Fund 

Tyrwhitt, David S., Australia 

Finally, a very special thanks to all 

of our loyal individual contributors and 

corporate benefactors for your continued 

support. It is our aim to be good 

stewards of your resources to the benefit 

of the next generation of economic 

geologists. 1 

Thank you for your generous contributions to the SEG Foundation. 

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A SPECIAL REQUEST FOR SUPPORT 

The cumulative impact of many small donations can make a big difference! 

The financial assets held by the Society of Economic Geologists Foundation have been impacted by the substantial decline in 

stock markets around the world. Consequently, continued support of our student education programs at similar levels to the 

past three years is threatened in the years ahead. The demographics of an aging workforce of economic geologists are 

independent of the current global economic downturn, and we believe it is imperative to maintain a robust pipeline of capable 

students going forward. The Trustees of SEG Foundation, the Directors of the SEG Canada Foundation, and the Council 

Members of the Society all remain convinced that support for our student education programs is essential to our industry, our 

Society and the world. 

Over three years ago, the Trustees for the SEG Foundation approved new initiatives to more broadly support education in 

economic geology. We did this to rekindle enthusiasm in the field and develop the next generation of economic geologists to fill 

the widening gap left by retiring members. These initiatives include the Graduate Student Research Grants Program, the 

Graduate Student Fellowship Program and the Student Field Trip Program. As a result of these and other initiatives, SEG 

Foundation provided $149,924, $439,626 and $427,176 for student support in 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively. These 

programs have true global reach and we continue to see membership applications from a broadening base of countries. We 

have seen strong growth in student membership during the last three years and these initiatives have bolstered the flow of 

economic geologists from students to working professionals. 

To provide continued strong funding of our SEG Foundation Student Programs, we are making this SPECIAL REQUEST FOR 

SUPPORT. We are asking every member of our society to make an additional $50 contribution to the SEG Foundation to 

support these programs. We are also asking our corporate supporters to make an additional $1,000 to $2,500 donation. All 

SEGF Trustees and SEG Council Members have committed their support and individual contributions! 

The cumulative impact of these small additional donations from all of us will make a big difference. Please help support our 

students through these very important programs – they are the future of SEG. 

Thank you! 

STUDENT FACTS over the past 3 years (2006-2008): 

* 34 active SEG Student Chapters Worldwide have grown to 46 – an all-time high! 

* 422 Student Members Worldwide have increased to 892 – an all-time high! 

* 1,870 Students were supported by SEG Foundation Programs 

* $1,016,726 in total support was provided to students by the SEG Foundation 

Your Contributions Do Make A Difference! 

Please fill out the contribution form at www.segweb.org/forms/ContributionForm.pdf or on the adjacent page 

and fax it to +1.720.981.7874 

or mail to Society of Economic Geologists, 7811 Shaffer Parkway, Littleton, CO 80127-3732, USA


SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGISTS, INC. 

SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGISTS FOUNDATION, INC. 

7811 Shaffer Parkway Littleton, CO 80127-3732 USA Tel: +1.720.981.7882 Fax: +1.720.981.7874 E-mail: seg@segweb.org 

Contributions 

(This form may also be used by Companies, Institutions and Non-Members) 

Member Name ________________________________________________ ________________________________ ____________ Member No. ______________ 

Last Name First Name Middle Initial 

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� Society General Fund $_______________ 

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PAYMENT (US dollars only) 

TOTAL $ ____________________ 

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Please Mail or Fax to: +1.720.981.7874 

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*CONTRIBUTIONS: Income from invested contributions is used to support professional activities of both organizations. The SEG and 

the SEG Foundation are tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporations under U.S. IRS code. The SEG Canada Foundation is a charitable organization 

registered with the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.


EDITOR’S CORNER 

What’s New in Economic Geology 

As stated in my previous column, one of 

the goals of streamlining the 

manuscript submission and review process 

is get the journal back on schedule, 

with issues being mailed in the month 

listed on the cover. This goal was 

achieved with the May issue and most 

SEG members in North America 

received their copies at the end of May; 

understandably, international mail 

takes a bit longer. Issue no. 4 (June- 

July) was mailed by early July so that 

all readers should have a copy in their 

hands by the end of that month. This 

marks the first time in many decades 

that this benchmark has been achieved. 

The more rapid recent review and publication 

process is due to several factors, 

including the recent increase in electronic 

handling of most aspects of 

manuscript submission and review 

(approximately 95% of ~140 

manuscripts received since July 2008 

have been submitted electronically and 

80% of these have been submitted 

online), the hard work of the editorial 

board and dedicated reviewers around 

the world, and streamlining of the copyediting, 

layout, and journal assembly 

process by the dedicated staff in the SEG 

Littleton office, particularly Alice Bouley 

and Vivian Smallwood. 

A second notable change is represented 

by the first paper in issue no. 3, 

by Braxton et al., on deep oxidation 

and exotic Cu formation of porphyry 

Cu-Au deposits in the Philippines. This 

paper was originally presented at the 

2007 SEG Supergene Processes 

SEG production staff Alice Bouley and Vivian Smallwood 

show their delight at the surprise get-together organized 

by Execu tive Director Brian Hoal to celebrate the on-time 

publication of Economic Geology. 

Symposium held in Tucson, Arizona, 

and is one of a dozen papers that will 

be published later this year as SEG 

Special Publication 14 on Supergene 

Processes, edited by Spencer Titley. As a 

way of increasing visibility for SEG 

stand-alone publications such as 

Reviews and Special Publications, 

selected individual papers will first be 

published in the journal, to receive very 

broad distribution, and will then be 

included in the forthcoming standalone 

publication. Thus, readers who 

are interested in a particular subject, 

such as Braxton et al.’s outstanding 

study of supergene processes, will be 

alerted to the availability of additional 

papers on similar topics in the standalone 

Special Publication. 

A final change that has been visible 

in the journal for some time is the in - 

creasing use of color, where appropriate, 

to illustrate articles published in Economic 

Geology. As a way of increasing value 

for SEG membership, color illustrations 

are now free in the journal for SEG 

members. Another increase in value is 

that all Economic Geology papers back to 

1905 (volume 1, issue no. 1) are available 

to members online. We will continue 

to make changes to increase value 

to members and to maintain Economic 

Geology’s position as the premiere scientific 

journal in our field, as we move 

into the 104 th year of publication. 

Papers in issues 3 and 4 of 2009: 

Deep oxidation and exotic copper formation 

at the late Pliocene Boyongan 

and Bayugo porphyry 

copper-gold deposits, 

Surigao, Philippines: 

Geology, mineralogy, 

paleoaltimetry, and their 

implications for geologic, 

physiographic, and tectonic 

controls 

Rb-Sr geochronology of 

chalcopyrite from the 

Chehugou porphyry Mo- 

Cu deposit (NE China) 

and geochemical constraints 

on the origin of 

hosting granites 

The Raúl-Condestable 

iron oxide copper-gold 

deposit, central coast of 

Peru: Ore and related 

hydrothermal 

alteration, sulfur 

isotopes, and 

thermodynamic 

constraints 

A new chrono - 

stratigraphic 

paradigm for the 

age and tectonic 

history of the Mesoproterozoic 

LARRY MEINERT 

Editor 

Economic Geology 

Bushmanland ore district, South 

Africa 

Empirical equations for estimating 

sulfur contents in silicate melts at 

S-saturation and example applications 

Critical geochemical and miner - 

alogical factors for the formation 

of unconformity related uranium 

deposits: Comparison between barren 

and mineralized systems in the 

Athabasca basin, Canada 

Re-Os sulfide (bornite, chalcopyrite, 

and pyrite) systematics of the carbonate-hosted 

copper deposits at Ruby 

Creek, southern Brooks Range, Alaska 

Evolution of magmatic vapor to goldrich 

epithermal liquid: The porphyry 

to epithermal transition at Nevados 

de Famatina, northwest Argentina 

Bracketing the age of magmatichydrothermal 

activity at the Cerro de 

Pasco polymetallic deposit, central 

Peru: A U-Pb and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar study 

Source of fluorine and petrogenesis 

of the Rio Grande rift type baritefluorite-galena 

deposits 

Reevaluation of the role of external 

sulfur addition in the genesis of Ni- 

Cu-PGE deposits: Evidence from the 

Nebo-Babel Ni-Cu-PGE deposit, West 

Musgrave, Western Australia 

Effects of magmatic processes, serpentinization, 

and talc carbonate alteration 

on sulfide mineralogy and ore 

textures in the Black Swan disseminated 

nickel sulfide deposit, Yilgarn 

craton 

Chemical and mineralogical signatures 

of gold formed in oxidizing 

chloride hydrothermal systems and 

their significance within populations 

of placer gold grains collected during 

reconnaissance 

Porphyry copper-gold mineralization 

at Yulong, China, promoted by 

decreasing redox potential during 

magnetite alteration 1


Discovery and Geology of the Platinum Group Element 

Deposits of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa 

ROGER N. SCOON (SEG 1985 F), † Postnet Suite 291, Private Bag X31, Knysna 6570, South Africa, and ANDREW A. MITCHELL 

(SEG 2001 F), Department of Geology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa 

INTRODUCTION 

The Bushveld Complex, which 

includes the largest known 

mafic intrusion in the world, 

reveals some spectacular geology, 

including the classic layering 

of dark ultramafics and 

light-colored anorthositic rocks 

(Fig. 1). Three distinct groups of 

rocks make up the complex 

(Tankard et al., 1982), the oldest 

of which is the Rooiberg 

Group (dominated by rhyolite) 

and the youngest, the Lebowa 

Granite Suite (including a suite 

of granophyres). The majority 

of the ore deposits are, however, 

restricted to the intervening 

group of ultramafic-mafic 

rocks, or Rustenburg Layered 

Suite. The Rustenburg Layered 

Suite is intrusive into the sedimentary 

rocks and subordinate 

volcanic rocks of the Transvaal 

Supergroup (ca. 2.5–2.1 Ga) and has 

been dated at 2.055 Ga (Scoates and 

Friedman, 2008). The Bushveld contains 

the greatest concentration of mineral 

wealth on the planet and includes, in 

addition to the platinum group element 

(PGE) ores, base metals (e.g., chromium, 

iron, tin, titanium, and vanadium) and 

industrial minerals (e.g., andalusite, 

dimension stone, and magnesite), as 

described by Willemse (1969) and 

Wilson and Anhaeusser (1988). Mining 

operations have spawned extensive 

towns and associated industrial complexes, 

including downstream processing 

plants with smelters and precious 

metal refineries, many of which use 

technology specifically designed for the 

Bushveld ores. 

THE RUSTENBURG 

LAYERED SUITE 

The Rustenburg Layered Suite forms 

three principal limbs (Fig. 2) together 

† Corresponding author: 

e-mail, rnscoon@iafrica.com 

FIGURE 1. Classic layering at the contact between the Lower Critical 

and Upper Critical zones in the Olifants River section, Eastern limb. 

Dark-colored layers of feldspathic orthopyroxenite and chromitite are 

intercalated with light-colored layers of anorthosite. 

with a number of smaller satellite bodies. 

The eastern limb is particularly well 

known owing to the excellent exposures 

(Hall, 1932). Here, the 

Transvaal Supergroup 

has been tilted and 

uplifted in response to 

vertical tectonics 

induced by intrusion of 

the mafic rocks (Daly, 

1926) to form a 2,000m-high 

range, whereas 

the Rustenburg Layered 

Suite crops out in wide 

valleys associated with 

the Olifants River system, 

and also forms a 

rugged, 250-km-long 

escarpment. This area 

influenced development 

of the Great Escarpment, 

which in turn formed by 

uplift during the 

Cenozoic era (Du Toit, 

1933) and has resulted 

in a discrete geographicbotanic 

system known as the 

Middleveld (located 

between the central 

to page 14 ... 

FIGURE 2. Schematic map of the Bushveld Complex depicting the three main limbs of the 

intrusion with mines and other localities referred to in the text: 1 = Winnaarshoek, 2 = 

Maandagshoek, Mooihoek and Driekop, 3 = Onverwacht, 4 = Brits, 5 = Kroondal, 6 = 

Union, 7 = Amandelbult, 8 = Sandsloot. Outliers and satellites not shown.


... from 13 

Discovery and Geology of the PGE Deposits of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa (Continued) 

plateau and coastal lowlands). In contrast, 

the western and northern limbs 

are covered by thick soils on the 

Highveld. Knowledge of these areas is 

largely based on mining activity and 

extensive drilling programs, most 

notably in the western limb, where mining 

has revealed details of some of the 

economic reefs over many tens of kilometers. 

Despite excellent overviews of 

the Rustenburg Layered Suite (Wager 

and Brown, 1968; Von Gruenewaldt et 

al., 1985) our understanding is inhibited 

by subjective interpretion of field 

relationships between widely separated 

chambers which are unlikely to be 

interconnected. 

The eastern and western limbs are 

subdivided into sectors on the basis of 

regional differences in the stratigraphy, 

although this has never been formalized. 

Sectors are separated by structurally 

complex boundary areas. 

Regular changes in the stratigraphy of 

the southern sector of the western limb 

led Eales et al. (1988) to recognize different 

facies (broadly referred to as 

proximal and distal) on the basis of 

(theoretical) feeder localities. This interpretation 

is probably widely applicable 

and can assist with our understanding 

of similarities between, for example, the 

distal components of both the western 

and eastern limbs. Sectors are further 

subdivided into subchambers, typically 

from detailed knowledge of chromitite 

layers and PGE reefs. In the northern 

sector of the western limb, for example, 

the Union (Viljoen et al., 1986a) and 

Amandelbult (Viljoen et al., 1986b) 

mines comprise discrete subchambers. 

Facies changes may in part be ascribed 

to synBushveld tectonism (Scoon and 

Teigler, 1994), despite a conflict with a 

widely held belief that layered intrusions 

occur in stable continental settings 

(e.g., Irvine, 1982). Structural disruptions 

in the Bushveld include 

diapirism of the floor rocks (Uken and 

Watkeys, 1997), and development of 

the Rustenburg Layered Suite on the 

flanks of domes was influenced by associated 

episodic uplift (Scoon, 2002). This 

is ascribed to multiple phases of 

magma replenishment—an important 

tenet of our understanding of the 

Rustenburg Layered Suite, as proposed 

and discussed by Eales et al. (1988). 

The Rustenburg Layered Suite attains 

a maximum thickness of some 9 to 12 

km within the western and eastern 

limbs, whereas the sequence in the 

northern limb is significantly truncated. 

On a smaller scale, each sector (and 

each subchamber) reveals considerable 

variability (South African Committee 

for Stratigraphy, 1980). The unconformable 

relationship with the floor 

rocks, which is most apparent in the 

eastern limb (Sharpe, 1981), results in 

the lowermost parts of the Suite 

sequence being spatially restricted in 

their development, with only the uppermost 

layers being laterally extensive. 

Various parental magma types have 

been identified to explain the development 

of the Suite (e.g., Eales, 2002), 

over and above the effects of upward 

fractional crystallization (Wager and 

Brown, 1968), although the mechanisms 

of magma intrusion are poorly 

constrained. Scoon and Teigler (1994) 

and Uken and Watkeys (1997) suggested 

that the thermal and loading 

effects of new influxes are important in 

enhancing floor rock irregularities, 

which must be accounted 

for in the interpretation of lateral 

variations between sectors 

and subchambers. 

The Rustenburg Layered 

Suite is subdivided into zones 

on the basis of a repetitive 

cyclicity and laterally extensive 

marker layers (Fig. 3). The Mar - 

ginal zone consists of relatively 

fine grained norite and feldspathic 

pyroxenite with little discernible 

layering. The Lower 

zone is almost entirely ultramafic 

and is dominated by layers 

of dunite, harzburgite, and 

orthopyroxenite. It is the 

Critical zone (Hall, 1932), however, 

that reveals the most spectacular 

layering and contains 

the PGE deposits and chromitite 

layers. The modern practice is 

to recognize a Lower Critical 

zone, dominated by feldspathic 

orthopyroxenite, and an Upper 

Critical zone, with more complex 

layering of lithological 

units, typically including feldspathic 

orthopyroxenite and 

norite-anorthosite. Chromitite 

layers, which are a defining 

characteristic of both the Upper 

and Lower Critical zones, are 

subdivided into Lower, Middle, 

and Upper groups. Chromite 

mining is mostly concentrated 

on the somewhat higher grade layers in 

the Lower Critical zone and lower parts 

of the Upper Critical zone (Schurmann 

et al., 1998). The Main zone that overlies 

the Critical zone is characterized by 

relatively monotonous sequences of 

norite and gabbronorite, albeit with 

prominent layers of anorthosite. The 

Upper zone includes numerous Ti magnetite 

layers intercalated with magnetite 

gabbro, anorthosite, and ferrodiorite. 

PLATINUM DISCOVERIES 

Details of the original discoveries of 

platinum are summarized here from 

the review by Scoon and Mitchell 

(2004a), which in turn was based on 

articles and editorial comments in the 

popular mining press of the time (e.g., 

Merensky, 1925), as well as on a biog - 

raphy of Hans Merensky (Fig. 4) by 

Lehmann (1955). Exploration started 

FIGURE 3. Generalized vertical section of the layered 

sequence from the eastern limb of the 

Bushveld Complex, depicting zonal subdivisions 

and important marker layers.


FIGURE 4. Photograph of Dr Hans Meren - 

sky “pointing out a diamond in matrix 

from Alexander Bay (from Lehmann, 1955). 

when a sample panned by Andries 

Lombaard from an ephemeral stream 

on his farm Maandagshoek, located 

some 40 km from Lydenburg, was dispatched 

in June 1924 to the Johannes - 

burg office of Merensky. The assay 

reported native Pt and Au, together 

with iron oxide and traces of Rh and Ir. 

Merensky immediately undertook a 

field visit, during which he requested 

Lombaard, an experienced gold 

prospector, together with his cousins 

Schalk and Willem Schoeman, to continue 

the search. The “Lydenburg 

Platinum Syndicate” was formed by 

Merensky, privately funded by close 

friends, with the objective of locating 

alluvial and hard-rock PGE ores. After 

acquiring some mineral rights titles, 

Merensky returned to the field to find 

that the Schoeman brothers had 

panned Pt in soils to the east of the 

stream. Three days later, on August 15, 

1924, the Syndicate located Pt in outcrops 

of “dark, lustrous crystalline 

pyroxenites and ultrabasic rocks” on 

Mooihoek to the east of Maandagshoek. 

The mineralization occurred in a discordant 

body (pipe) over which the syndicate 

had to apply for claims. Discovery 

of the Driekop pipe is credited to Willem 

Schoeman, who recollected seeing similar 

rocks on a small hill to the north of 

Maandagshoek. The Syndicate also 

located the low-grade Twyfelaar pipe, 

but the Onverwacht pipe was discovered 

by Rand Mines (in October 1924), 

with geologist F.W. Blaine undertaking 

the field program. No additional platiniferous 

pipes have been discovered in 

the Bushveld, despite the subsequent 

recognition of many thousands of discordant 

bodies! 

In September 1924, the Syndicate 

made the “far more important finding” 

of a layered reef at Maandagshoek. This 

was initially credited to Lombaard, as 

he undertook the rock chip sampling, 

but the prospecting team insisted it be 

named the “Merensky reef.” Merensky 

was aware that the pipes were of limited 

size and was convinced that layered 

rocks, specifically ultramafics with secondary 

Cu, were a far more important 

target. Wagner (1929) referred to the 

Merensky reef as the “Mother Lode” 

despite the pipes being successfully 

mined, and despite problems with 

exploitation of the Merensky reef as 

described below. The Syndicate delineated 

the reef over much of the eastern 

limb, and several months later found 

the reef in the western limb; Merensky 

also assisted with discovery of the 

Platreef in the northern limb. Addi - 

tional funding was acquired and the 

company was renamed “Lydenburg 

Platinum Ltd.” Evaluation of the three 

pipes, the Merensky reef, and some 

alluvial concentrations was undertaken, 

and many of the trenches and underground 

workings from this period can 

still be examined, including several reef 

declines and drives at the Winnaarshoek 

locality (Mitchell and Scoon, 2007). In 

1925, the company was purchased by 

the Gold Fields group and floated on 

both the JSE and LSE during a shortlived 

boom when the Pt price was five 

times that of gold, driven by shortages 

and stockpiling. 

It is interesting that Merensky’s parents, 

who were German missionaries, 

passed through the discovery area while 

fleeing an uprising in Sekhukhuneland 

prior to settling at Botshabelo, not far 

from the eastern limb of the intrusion, 

where Hans was born and lived as a 

young child. Merensky played a pivotal 

role in a number of additional discoveries, 

including the west coast diamond 

fields, the chromite deposits at Jagdlust, 

the apatite orebody at Phalaborwa, and 

the southern extension of the Wit - 

watersrand gold fields, and several of 

the Lombaard and Schoeman families 

became successful geologists. 

EXPLORATION METHODOLOGY 

Our research has led us to conclude that 

South African geologists, including 

Merensky, had speculated for many 

years about the possibility of finding Pt 

in ultramafic rocks of the Bushveld 

Complex. Merensky first sampled and 

assayed rocks from the eastern limb in 

1904, including chromitite layers. The 

association of PGE with the Bushveld 

chromitites was discovered by Bettel 

(1925) in 1906 and it should be noted 

that chromite was mined from the 

Bushveld long before the platinum discoveries, 

including at the Winterveld 

mine, where the Onverwacht pipe is 

located. Merensky also provided samples 

for Hall and Humphrey (1908), 

who reported that one chromitite layer 

yielded a grade >6 g/t (the UG2?). This 

did not constitute a “discovery,” as the 

fineness of the PGM meant extraction 

problems were not resolved for many 

years (Vermaak, 1985). Discovery of the 

nickel-rich Vlakfontein pipes in 1923 

was also important, and the association 

of Pt and chromitite as well as similarities 

between the pipes and the deposits 

of the Russian Urals were widely discussed. 

During announcement of the 

discoveries, Merensky was supported by 

both A. L. Hall and P. A. Wagner, an 

important point as financial scandals 

resulting from earlier “discoveries,” 

together with problems with the 

Waterberg vein deposits, had hampered 

previous investment. In summary, we 

recognize three important components 

to the exploration methodology: knowledge 

of field relationships, an exploration 

model focusing on ultramafic 

rocks, and use of stream sediment sampling 

despite the polygenetic source 

(Oberthur et al., 2004). 

SOME EARLY MINING HISTORY 

Prior to mining of the Bushveld ores, 

the main supply of Pt was from alluvial 

deposits, mostly located in Russia. The 

Bushveld pipes are the oldest underground 

Pt mines (Onverwacht was 

opened in 1925), with the exception of 

small-scale workings at Solovyov Hill in 

the Urals. The pipes were evaluated by 

core drilling and trial mining. They 

yielded spectacular grades, notably at 

Onverwacht, where resources were initially 

calculated as 55,000 t at 16 g/t 

PGE (>90% Pt) to a depth of 76 m (mining 

eventually attained a depth of 320 

m). They proved relatively easy to mine 

and process, as ore minerals, dominated 

by sperrylite and Pt-Fe alloy, were 

coarse-grained and amenable to gravity 

concentration (Wagner, 1929). 

Production costs amounted to half the 

Pt price. In comparison, development 

of the Merensky reef proved far more 

difficult, owing to higher mining costs, 

metallurgical problems caused by oxidation 

of near-surface 

to page 

ore, and the presence of 16 ...


... from 15 

base-metal sulfides in deeper ore 

(Wagner, 1929). Some areas were trial 

mined, but low metal prices in 1929 

resulted in closure of most operations in 

the Bushveld, including those on the 

pipes. The one exception was Kroondal, 

where mining of the thin yet extraordinarily 

high grade Merensky reef (ore 

was hand sorted prior to milling) 

proved to be viable (Wagner, 1929). 

THE PGE DEPOSITS 


The UG2 reef 

The UG2 reef is a textbook example of a 

stratiform deposit: mineralization is 

constrained to a layer of chromitite, 

albeit locally with one or more barren 

partings of feldspathic orthopyroxenite, 

which may vary from a few centimeters 

to several meters thick (Fig. 5A). The 

UG2 is persistent in some sectors of the 

eastern and western limbs for tens of 

kilometers along strike and to depths of 

at least several kilometers. The footwall 

and hanging-wall rock units reveal considerable 

lateral variation, but, typically, 

the chromitite occurs in association with 

feldspathic orthopyroxenite and noriteanorthosite. 

Mining of a narrow reef, 

particularly in high tonnage operations, 

is a specialized business and in the case 

of the UG2 is exacerbated by problems 

caused by potholes (Lomberg et al., 

1999), areas from a few meters to several 

hundreds of meters in diameter 

where part of the footwall sequence is 

absent. Dilution resulting from hanging-wall 

collapse due to planes of weakness 

associated with thin chromitite 

stringers (“leader seams”) is an additional 

problem. 

Ore reserve calculations, excluding 

losses due to potholes and dilution, are, 

however, relatively simplistic, despite 

evidence of a pronounced nugget effect. 

The double peak of mineralization (bottom 

and either middle or top loaded, 

depending on layer thickness) is persistent 

throughout the intrusion, and is 

defined by total PGE and interelement 

ratios (Hiemstra, 1986). The antipathetic 

relationship between grade and 

thickness has been widely remarked 

upon (e.g., Viljoen and Schurmann, 

1998). The footwall lithology of the UG2 

varies from anorthosite, leuconorite, or 

orthopyroxenite to pegmatoidal feldspathic 

pyroxenite. Minor amounts of 

PGE are located in the footwall, specifically 

if it is pegmatoidal, but are typically 

directly associated with disseminations 

or stringers of chromitite. The 

irregular basal contact of the chromitite 

FIGURE 5. Vertical profiles of some typical reefs: (A) UG2 reef from the Marula mine, 

Winnaarshoek; (B) Merensky “thin-reef” from the Brakspruit section, Rustenburg Platinum 

mine (after Viljoen and Hieber, 1986); (C) Merensky “wide-reef” from the Marula mine, 

Winnaarshoek. 

when the footwall is pegmatoidal contrasts 

sharply with the planar upper 

contact. The chromitite layer may be 

thinner in areas where the pegmatoid 

contains abundant chromitite, an 

observation the authors have made at 

the Crocodile River mine, where large 

areas of the UG2 are underlain by leuconorite. 

The grade of the UG2 is typically 

4 to 8 g/t PGE+Au. The content of 

base-metal sulfides is typically very low 

(avg


may be preserved (>50 g/t). In some 

areas, PGE are associated with interstitial 

base-metal sulfides that extend into 

the footwall (Cawthorn, 1999). In some 

parts of the eastern limb, cryptic layering 

occurs on a scale of centimeters in a 

wide-reef facies (Fig. 5C), as described in 

the Winnaarshoek locality by Mitchell 

and Scoon (2007). In the wide-reef 

facies, two chromitite stringers constrain 

the width of the mineralized reef 

zone, as is typically the case, but they 

are separated by a layer of feldspathic 

orthopyroxenite that is relatively thick 

(1.8 m on average) and includes a barren 

middling. Moreover, the lithology 

between the chromite stringers throughout 

most of the western limb is a pegmatoidal 

orthopyroxenite, an unusual 

assemblage the origin of which has 

been much debated (e.g., Cawthorn and 

Boerst, 2006), whereas in the eastern 

limb the principal layer of pegmatoid 

occurs below the mineralized zone. 

The average grade of the Merensky 

reef is similar to the UG2, al though it is 

far more variable. Typically, a much 

larger number of PGM species occur 

(Kinloch and Peyerl, 1990) and lateral 

variation of the PGM contrasts with the 

regularity of the primary layering. PGM 

are spatially associated with base-metal 

sulfides (1–2 %), constituting approximately 

equal abundances of pyrrhotite, 

pentlandite, and chalcopyrite; the relative 

paucity of pyrrhotite is unusual 

(Liebenberg, 1970). Base-metal sulfides 

are an important by-product from the 

Merensky and assist with downstream 

smelting operations, whereas smelting 

of sulfide-poor UG2 concentrates is 

problematic. 

The Platreef 

The Platreef is restricted to a relatively 

small area of the northern limb, and is 

typically located a few tens of meters 

above the base of the intrusion, where 

the floor ranges from Archean granite 

to sedimentary rocks of the Transvaal 

Supergroup. The lowermost zones of the 

Rustenburg Layered Suite are not developed 

in this area. The Platreef is far 

more irregular than the UG2 and 

Merensky, is typically much thicker (up 

to 100 m or more), and contains PGE 

that are invariably associated with 

base-metal sulfides throughout (Viljoen 

and Schurmann, 1998). The Platreef is 

also characterized by a much lower 

Pt/Pd ratio than the Merensky and UG2 

reefs, although the lower average grades 

are offset by the width of the reef. The 

Platreef may constitute a localized 

equivalent to the Merensky reef, and at 

the Tweefontein locality, a few kilometers 

to the south of the Sandsloot mine, 

the mineralized sequence is relatively 

thin and includes both chromitite 

stringers and a pegmatoidal pyroxenite 

(Viljoen and Schurmann, 1998). 

We find the importance of footwall 

contamination to the Platreef has been 

overstated, in part as earlier studies 

were restricted to an area where the 

floor rocks are dolomite (White, 1994). 

A new terminology may assist with 

explaining this: the sequence below the 

(barren) Main zone should be categorized 

as a Platreef unit rather than the 

“Platreef.” This consists of gabbronorite, 

feldspathic websterite, feldspathic 

harzburgite, and reconstituted feldspathic 

pyroxenite, the latter revealing a 

pegmatoidal or glassy texture. These 

rock units are in discordant intrusive 

relationship with one another and with 

the overlying Main zone. Thus the 

sequential stratigraphy (A, B, and C 

reefs of earlier workers) is inappropriate, 

yet despite this, a Main mineralized 

layer (analogous to the “B” reef?) can 

generally be identified. At the Akanani 

locality, where deep drilling has 

revealed a relatively thick Platreef unit 

downdip from the open pit Sandsloot 

deposit, we found PGE to be most abundant 

in sinuous layers of harzburgite 

and, to a lesser extent, reconstituted 

pyroxenite; the gabbronorite and feldspathic 

websterite are relatively weakly 

mineralized. 

The pipe deposits 

The pipe deposits are no longer of commercial 

interest and, paradoxically, 

have a negative affect on reef-type 

mines, as they disrupt the layered wall 

rocks. PGE were concentrated in small 

core zones (max diam 24 m) of coarsegrained, 

iron-rich dunite and wehrlite 

(Wagner, 1929), now mostly mined out. 

The bulk of each pipe (diam >300 m), 

however, is dominated by barren magnesian 

dunite. Barren outer envelopes 

also occur, and our unpublished mapping 

at Mooihoek demonstrates this 

component is even more extensive than 

the magnesian dunite. Bushveld pipes 

that do not reveal this zonation are typically 

barren (Viljoen and Scoon, 1985). 

LOW-GRADE PGE DEPOSITS 

An understanding of the economic 

deposits is incomplete without mention 

of low-grade ores in the Bushveld. These 

include all the chromitite layers located 

below the UG2 reef, as well as the 

Pseudoreefs that are situated between 

the UG2 and Merensky in the northwestern 

Bushveld. The Bushveld 

chromitites reveal regular upward 

trends in both their composition (e.g., 

decrease in the Cr/Fe ratio) and the PGE 

grade and tenor (Scoon and Teigler, 

1994). These chromitite layers, however, 

report very low contents of sulfide. These 

data are important as they demonstrate 

that the UG2 and Merensky reefs do not 

occur in isolation but represent the culmination 

of a general upward increase 

in the PGE content of mineralized layers 

within the Rustenburg Layered Suite. 

This trend is disrupted by the low-grade, 

harzburgitic Pseudoreefs. The bifurcation 

and subsequent elimination of discrete 

layers of harzburgite (bounded top 

and bottom by stringers of chromitite) is 

indicative of rejuvenation of more primitive 

magmas that were intruded laterally 

and which may be interpreted as 

precursors to the Merensky reef (Scoon 

and De Klerk, 1987). 

GENESIS AND 

CONCLUDING REMARKS 

The holistic approach advocated by 

Wagner (1929) is important to our 

understanding of the PGE deposits in 

the Bushveld Complex. There is a 

marked spatial association of PGE with 

chromitite and other ultramafic rocks 

that have sharply defined and demonstrably 

discordant basal contacts, and 

not uncommonly sharp upper contacts. 

Norite-anorthosite is almost invariably 

barren, except in isolated cases. These 

relationships, in addition to the restriction 

of economic ores to the Upper 

Critical zone, are unlikely to be coincidental. 

Rather than the model of Camp - 

bell et al. (1983), in which the resident 

magma column provides the PGE, we 

believe field relationships and mass balance 

considerations are consistent with 

the “lateral mixing hypothesis” of 

Scoon and Eales (1989) and Scoon and 

Teigler (1994). Thin, hot layers of fresh, 

ultramafic magma, enriched in PGE 

(and chromite: Eales, 2000) streamed 

laterally into the different chambers of 

the intrusion. In the case of the 

Merensky reef, as well as some other 

units, the new, U-type magma was 

intruded into an earlier-formed crystalline 

substrate of 

to page 

norite-anorthosite 

18 ...


... from 17 

(Mitchell and Scoon, 2007), an important 

consideration if, as suggested by 

Eales et al. (1986), the lowermost part of 

the Main zone was emplaced after the 

reef. A similar hypothesis is applicable 

to the Platreef: U-type magma intruded 

earlier-formed gabbronorite and websterite, 

forming mineralized harzburgite 

and pegmatoid, which in turn was 

emplaced prior to the Main zone. 

Chromitite layers formed by mixing of 

U-type and more evolved magma (Atype), 

a hypothesis presented by Sharpe 

and Irvine (1983), albeit we have suggested 

the latter, at least in the Upper 

Critical zone was derived by partial 

melting of plagioclase cumulates under 

the influence of the new influxes of Utype 

magma. The spectacular grade of 

some chromitite stringers, as well as 

PGE-bearing chromitites with low sulfide 

contents, suggests two processes— 

nucleation of PGM triggered by crystallization 

of copious amounts of chromite 

and S-saturation—were necessary to 

generate economic deposits. U-type 

magmas also intruded the complex in 

vertical conduits (Scoon and Mitchell, 

2004b). Partial melting of earlierformed 

reefs, triggered by heat associated 

with the magnesian dunite, generated 

a PGE- and iron-rich melt which 

drained downward into the cores of specific 

pipes, a hypothesis supported by 

similarities with so-called replaced 

Merensky reef (reef invaded by discordant 

iron-rich ultramafic pegmatite: 

Scoon and Mitchell, 2004a). In summary, 

we find that hydrothermal fluids 

are of little importance in formation of 

PGE deposits in the Bushveld, as discussed 

by Barnes and Campbell (1983), 

and recognition of orthomagmatic processes 

is fundamental. The uniquely 

layered Upper Critical zone, containing 

the world’s premier PGE ores, resulted 

from episodic replenishment by U-type 

magmas that persisted long after the 

onset of the crystallization of noriteanorthosite. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


We acknowledge reviews by Wolfgang 

Maier and an anonymous reviewer, 

and are particularly grateful to the former 

for his constructive comments. We 

pay tribute to Hugh Eales for his mentorship 

early on in our careers, and for 

his ongoing interest in our research. 

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best 1:1,000 odds of success and 

arguably worse than 1:10,000. With 

that in mind, it is hard to imagine that 

we are in a zero sum game; instead, it is 

critical that we embrace collaboration 

and cooperation at all levels and across 

many disciplines and organizations. I 

would like to see the Society become the 

global resource and network for economic 

geologists by building on our 

existing student and professional programs 

to enhance opportunities to 

teach each other, to hold debates and 

discussions, and to share information. 

This can now be done much more easily 

than in the past as a result of the 

incredible advances in internet technology 

and web-based formats. 

VOTE NOW FOR 2010 SEG OFFICERS AT 

Instructions for Voting: Please vote on each candidate listed. If you oppose the election of any candidate, please mark the corresponding 

box. Unmarked ballot indicates approval of all candidates. Votes must be received by September 15, 2009. If you are 

unable to vote on-line, you may copy and return this form to the Society of Economic Geologists by fax, +1.720.981.7874, or mail, 

7811 Shaffer Parkway, Littleton, Colorado 80127-3732. 

Last Name: _________________________________________ Member No: ______________________ 

(please print) (see mailing label) 

OFFICIAL BALLOT FOR OFFICERS: FOR AGAINST 

All Candidates � � 

President-Elect (2010) M. Stephen Enders � � 

Councilors (2010-2012) 

Miguel Cardozo � � 

Jens Gutzmer � � 

Alexander S. Yakubchuk � � 

The slate of candidates was prepared by the Nominating Committee: 

Neil Williams (Chair), M.W. Hitzman, J.M. Franklin, A.D. Goode, V. Lickfold, R.D. Presnell, F. I. de Azevedo, 

in accordance with the relevant sections of the SEG Bylaws at .


MIGUEL CARDOZO 

(SEG 2003 F) 

Miguel Cardozo is an 

exploration geologist 

with 36 years experience 

in the business. He graduated 

from the 

Universidad Nacional de 

Ingeniería in Lima and obtained his 

Ph.D. degree from the University of 

Heidelberg in Germany. Miguel has 

lectured in mineralogy, ore microscopy, 

and metallogeny at the Universidad 

de Ingeniería and worked as research 

geologist and lecturer in ore microscopy 

at the Mineralogish-Petrographisches 

Institüt of the University of Heidelberg. 

He has been a mine geologist for Cia. 

Minera Pativilca (Hochschild Group), 

a mineralogist for Minero Peru and the 

Peruvian Geological Survey (INGEM- 

MET), and a consultant exploration 

geologist with Buenaventura Ingenieros 

S.A. 

Miguel has held a number of management 

positions, including exploration 

manager–Peru, for Newmont 

Mining Corporation, regional exploration 

manager for the Americas of 

North Limited of Australia, and director 

of business development, Latin America, 

for Teck Corp of Canada, and he has 

been a consultant for various Peruvian 

and international mining companies, 

including Aurion Gold and Placer Dome. 

In addition, Miguel is chairman of 

Alturas Minerals Corp, a junior exploration 

company listed in Toronto and 

Lima, of which he was a founder and its 

first president and CEO. He is also a 

director of two other public mining 

exploration companies, Rio Cristal Zinc 

and Minera Andina de Exploraciones. 

Other positions he has held include 

director of earth sciences for the Peruvian 

Council of Science and Technology 

(CONCYTEC), technical advisor of the 

Ministry of Energy and Mines of Peru, 

and director of the Peruvian Geological 

Survey (INGEMMET) and the Peruvian 

Antarctic Institute. As a consultant, 

Miguel is the founder and the current 

executive director of ExploAndes, a 

prestigious consulting company in the 

field of geology and exploration services, 

and of ExploSupport, a company 

that provides logistic field support to 

exploration and mining projects. 

Currently, he serves as president of 

the Association of Explorers of Peru and 

of the Mining and Exploration Com - 

mittee of the Canada-Peru Commerce 

Chamber. He is also an active member 

of various geological and miningrelated 

institutions: Geological Society 

of Peru (vice-president in 2004), Society 

of Economic Geologists (SEG VP 

Regional Lecturer Program in 2001), 

Institute of Mining Engineers of Peru 

(president of ProExplo 2001), Society for 

Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits, 

Society for Mineral Exploration-British 

Columbia, and the Prospectors and 

Developers Association of Canada. 


SEG’s challenge in the upcoming years 

will be to further expand its geographic 

area of influence while it continues 

advancing towards higher standards in 

the use of the geosciences for the study 

and sustainable development of mineral 

resources. Incorporating new members 

with high professional qualifications 

from developing countries, 

members with strong desire to actively 

support SEG’s objectives, will be a key 

factor in future institutional endeavors. 

JENS GUTZMER 

(SEG 1995 F) 

Born in the state of 

Lower Saxony in 

Germany, Jens Gutzmer 

was educated at the 

Technical University of 

Clausthal-Zellerfeld, 

where he received an M.Sc. degree in 

mineralogy and economic geology in 

1993. He then moved on to South 

Africa, where he completed a Ph.D. in 

geology at the Rand Afrikaans Uni - 

versity in Johannesburg in 1996. He 

spent a total of 16 years in South Africa, 

where he co-founded, together with Nic 

Beukes, the Paleoproterozoic Mineral - 

ization Research Group at the Rand 

Afrikaans University in 1998. In July 

2008, he was appointed as professor of 

economic geology and petrology at the 

TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany; 

he also holds a guest professorship at 

the University of Johannesburg. Jens is 

a previous recipient of the Lindgren 

Award of SEG (2002), the President 

Award of the National Research 

Foundation of South Africa (1999) and 

the TWAS Award of the Academy of 

Sciences of South Africa (2007). He has 

been member and chair of the SEG 

Student Committee (2002–2004) and is 

one of its active mentors. He was a 

member of the editorial board of 

Economic Geology from 2002 to 2007. 


Despite the recent financial downturn, 

the biggest threat faced by the global 

exploration and mining industry 

remains the lack of young professionals 

entering their career equipped with relevant 

knowledge and training. This is 

the consequence of a long-lasting trend 

of relevant education programs being 

shelved and academic positions being 

made redundant. The SEG has very successfully 

addressed the need of graduate 

and postgraduate geoscience students to 

get exposure to the field of economic 

geology. Building on this success, SEG 

should consider the possibility to also 

act as a suitable catalyst to re-establish 

or re-invigorate economic geology education 

programs at selected universities. 

This will require a sincere collaborative 

effort from industry, government agencies, 

and academia, an effort that may 

well be facilitated by the SEG. I am 

looking forward to assisting SEG in all 

of its efforts to assure that future generations 

of economic geologists will receive 

appropriate education and training. 

ALEXANDER 

YAKUBCHUK 

(SEG 1999 F) 

Alexander Yakubchuk 

was born in Irkutsk, 

Siberia, in the former 

Soviet Union. He 

received his Russian 

equivalent of M.Sc. degree in 1986 from 

the geology department, Lomonosov 

Moscow State University, and his Ph.D. 

degree in 1989, also from the 

Lomonosov Moscow State University in 

Russia. He then became an assistant 

and associate professor at the same university, 

teaching structural and regional 

geology with a main focus on geological 

mapping surveys in Kazakhstan, 

adjacent central Asia, and Ukraine. In 

1993–1994, he spent 5 months with 

Prof. Sengor at the Istanbul Technical 

University, participating in the crossregional 

tectonic compilation across 

central Asia. 

In 1994, Alexander made a change 

in his career plans and became 

involved in mineral exploration with 

various major and junior companies 

such as BHP, Norilsk Nickel, Rio Tinto, 

and Anglo Gold, working in various former 

Soviet Union countries, 

Mongolia, and 

to page 

China. In 2001, 

22 ... 

SEG NEWS

SEG NEWS 


... from 21 

Alexander received third place for the 

best exploration proposal on the Gold - 

corp Inc. Red Lake mine in Canada. 

Most recently, he was the exploration 

manager-Europe with Gold Fields Ltd. 

In 2008, he joined Orsu Metals 

Corporation as an exploration director. 

During his exploration career, 

Alexander has explored for copper-gold 

porphyry, nickel sulfide, orogenic, and 

epithermal gold in various countries 

and continents such as Europe, 

Australia, and North America, which 

helped to broaden his understanding of 

global and regional tectonics and metallogeny, 

as well as allowing him to 

establish numerous academic and 


Candidates for SEG Officers: Profiles and Vision Statements (Continued) 

exploration contacts in various parts of 

the world, and, recently, giving him the 

opportunity to serve the Society of 

Economic Geologists in the capacity of 

regional vice-president, Northern 

Eurasia, for the term 2005–2008. 


The Society of Economic Geologists is 

progressively becoming a more and 

more international organization. Still, 

its main focus and membership base 

remains in North America, Europe, and 

Australia, followed by South America 

and Africa. The former Soviet Union 

countries and Asia are relatively recent 

entrants to the globalized society. They 

now are an integral part of the world, 

economically and culturally. Yet, relatively 

little is known about them and 

they have a lot to offer. The geology of 

this area is complex and fascinating. Its 

mineral deposits are often unique in 

style, size, and geological age. I see my 

role as enhancing this knowledge and 

promoting it across the political borders 

to students, scientists, and explorationists. 

I believe that this will enrich 

our knowledge and help to find the 

missing links in our understanding of 

Mother Nature, thus benefiting all SEG 

members. 1 

At the AME BC Roundup09, held in Van - 

couver on January 26–29, 2009, Ralph Gon - 

zalez (SEG 1981 F), standing, and Richard 

Nielsen (SEG 1973 SF) provided knowledgeable 

and enthusiastic support for those 

seeking publications, information, and 

membership forms at the SEG exhibit booth. 

PAID ADVERTISEMENT


SEG Distinguished Lecturer 2008 Report 

It was a surprise and an honor to be 

awarded the SEG’s Distinguished Lec - 

turer for 2008. My SEG lecture “tour” 

consisted of three parts: the first two 

were opportunities to piggyback on 

previously planned visits to conferences 

in Europe and North America, and the 

third was a short tour to various institutes 

within Australia. In each case I 

presented variations of a lecture entitled 

“The Kermadec-Tonga intraoceanic arc: 

An 8-year odyssey of discovery.” 

Our group here at GNS Science, 

Lower Hutt, New Zealand, in collaboration 

largely with our American colleagues 

at NOAA in Seattle and 

Newport, but also other groups from 

Australia (ANU), Canada (University 

of Ottawa), Germany (Kiel University 

and GEOMAR), Italy (IAMC and INGV), 

Japan (JAMSTEC and the University of 

Kyushu), and New Zealand (NIWA), 

has been investigating submarine 

hydro thermal systems associated 

mainly with intraoceanic arcs. Our 

group has largely focused on the 

Kermadec-Tonga arc, where most of 

the volcanic centers along this ~2,500km-long 

arc have been surveyed for 

their hydrothermal plumes. The initial 

plume survey cruise, known as 

NZAPLUME I, was conducted in 

1999 along the southern part of the 

Kermadec arc, to be followed by 

NZAPLUME’s II and III along the middle 

and northern parts of the Kermadec 

arc, respectively. Additional plume 

mapping cruises were also done along 

the Tonga arc. Twelve major volcanoes 

have been investigated and their 

hydrothermal systems sampled by the 

manned submersibles Shinkai 6500 and 

Pisces V, with the Canadian remotely 

operated vehicle ROPOS and the 

American autonomous underwater 

vehicle ABE also having been deployed 

at some of these volcanoes. We have 

also done similar surveys, with our various 

colleagues, along the submarine 

portions of the Tabar-Lihir-Tanga-Feni 

island arc offshore Papua New Guinea, 

the Ghizo Ridge fore-arc offshore the 

Solomon Islands, and the Aeolian arc 

offshore Italy. Our American colleagues 

have led similar cruises along the 

Mariana intraoceanic arc. 

Cornel E.J. de Ronde (SEG 1993 F) 

The SEG Lectureship 

afforded me the opportunity 

to showcase 

some of the results from 

these spectacular hydro - 

thermal systems. Dis - 

coveries have included 

high temperature (up to 

300°C) black smokers 

vents with 5–7 m tall 

sulfide chimneys, very 

acid vent fluids (with 

pH

SEG NEWS 


... from 23 

SEG Distinguished Lecturer 2008 Report (Continued) 

although I was unprepared for the sudden 

snow storm and several inches of 

snow on the ground while I visited! This 

shocking temperature change continued 

in Ottawa, where I met my long-time 

friend and colleague from University of 

Toronto days, Mark Hannington. There, 

it was about –10°C and I was noticeably 

underdressed! I gave the SEG talk at 

Carleton University, with my host being 

Brian Cousens. The talk was again well 

attended and there was good discussion 

afterwards. Later, I enjoyed a lunch 

with Brian and colleagues, Mark, Jim 

Franklin, Dan Layton-Matthews, and 

good friend Jan Peter, also ex-U of T. 

Jan showed me around the facilities at 

the Geological Survey of Canada, and 

then I spent an enjoyable dinner reminiscing 

with him, Mark, Dan and others 

at a local restaurant. This was once 

again a two-week visit that utilized 

about 14 flights. I was getting used to 

that! 

The final part of my SEG lecture tour 

was a short visit to various Australian 

institutes in early October 2008. I visited 

one institute in a different city every 

day over five days, including the Uni - 

versity of New South Wales in Sydney, 

with host Ian Graham; Geoscience 

Australia, Canberra (Andrew Barni - 

coat); Monash University, Melbourne 

(Reid Keays); University of Tasmania, 

Hobart (Jocelyn McPhie), and the 

Geological Survey of Western Australia 

(Franco Pirajno), although the talk was 

given at the Australian Resources Re - 

search Centre of the CSIRO (Shannon 

Johns). The interest in the subject presented 

was tremendous and the hospitality 

shown me by my hosts very gen- 

erous. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. This 

tour was sandwiched by keynote talks 

on a similar subject at the AusIMM conference 

in Wellington, New Zealand, 

and the PACRIM conference in the Gold 

Coast, Australia. 

In summary, during 2008 I presented 

the SEG Distinguished lecture at 12 

institutions, over 8 countries and 3 continents 

and a lot of flights! When combined 

with lectures of a similar nature 

presented at 5 conferences that same 

year, it meant I was able to share the 

latest research on submarine arc volcano 

hydrothermal systems done by my 

colleagues and myself with a wide audience 

over a relatively short period of 

time. I had a great deal of fun doing 

that, meeting new people, and catching 

up with old friends, and I am grateful to 

SEG for that opportunity. 1 

GUYANA GEOLOGY 

AND MINES 

COMMISSION 

8th NATIONAL MINING & QUARRYING 

CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 

August 24–28, 2009 

Pegasus Hotel, Guyana, 

High Street, Kingston, Georgetown 

This conference will focus on Mining Management, 

Exploration, Exploitation, Safety, Tailings and Waste Control 

in Guianas, the Caribbean and other areas. Conference will 

include technical presentations, discussion forums, workshops, 

and exhibits. 

SEG members to give workshops: 

Dr. Lawrie Minter, Consultant Geologist (SEG 1988 F) – 

Roraima Core Workshop 

Dr. John Youngson, Youngson & Associates Ltd. 

(SEG 2008) – Gold Workshop, The Geology and 

Geochemistry of Placer Deposits 

For program details and registration form, please go to 

on the SEG website. 

All registration forms must be submitted before August 15, 2009. 

E-mail: ggmc2009@gmail.com 

Website: www.ggmc.gov.gy


Society of Economic Geologists 

U2009 Field Course – 

Uranium Deposits of the Colorado Plateau 

May 6–10, 2009 

In conjunction with the U2009 conference 

in Keystone, Colorado, the Society 

of Economic Geologists organized a 

four-day field course dealing with sandstone-hosted 

uranium deposits of the 

southwestern Colorado Plateau region. 

Seventeen participants represented uranium 

mining and exploration companies, 

and many of them brought experiences 

from various uranium districts 

around the world. 

The course began in the Laguna- 

Jackpile mine area west of Albuquerque, 

New Mexico, where an initial review of 

Mesozoic stratigraphy described uranium 

occurrences in the Jurassic age 

Jackpile Sandstone, which make up the 

stratigraphically highest uranium 

deposits of importance in this part of 

the Colorado Plateau. This was followed 

the next day by a review of deposits in 

the prolific Ambrosia Lake area, where 

Joe Lister of Rio Grande Resources provided 

historical, geologic, and production 

background information of the 

high-grade but currently inactive 

Mount Taylor mine; outcrops of the 

major Jurassic age host rocks were also 

examined, with emphasis on the 

Morrison Formation and its members in 

the Grants region. Geologist Josh Crook 

William X. Chávez, Jr. (SEG 1990 F), and Erich U. Petersen (SEG 1986 F) 

Uranium field trip participants pose for a group photo. 

of Neutron Energy Inc. provided details 

on the historical production in 

Ambrosia Lake. 

Traveling to the famous Big Indian- 

Lisbon Valley area of southeastern 

Utah, our group was treated to an 

underground visit—and lunch—at 

Denison Mines Pandora mine near La 

Sal. Jim Fisher of Denison Mines organized 

this part of our course, and made 

sure that our visit to the La Sal area was 

productive and enjoyable. The visit 

allowed participants to observe the 

nature of stream channel systems and 

the significance of organic matter as a 

reductant in these sandstone-hosted 

deposits. Besides getting a first-hand 

look at exposures of the Salt Wash 

Member of the Morrison Formation, we 

also discussed the geochemistry of uranium 

and vanadium, and the variability 

of V/U ratios in these ore deposits of 

the Colorado Plateau. A follow-up visit 

to the historic Big Buck mine along 

Steen Road—named after Charles Steen, 

an unlikely pioneer in uranium exploration 

and discovery in the Moab 

area—gave participants the chance to 

observe the stark contrasts between oxidized 

and reduced zones within the 

Triassic age Chinle Formation. 

Anthony (Tony) Adkins, of Nucla, 

Colorado, provided an excellent series 

of mine and former mine stops the following 

day, as we visited the Lisbon 

mine of Constellation Copper Corpora - 

tion, followed by stops at key outcrops 

and former mine sites in the Utah- 

Colorado border region east and southeast 

of Lisbon Valley, ending at the 

Burro mine near Slickrock, Colorado. 

The mine visits offered the chance to 

not only see the various styles of copper 

and uranium mineralization in sandstones 

of Cretaceous (Lisbon mine) and 

Jurassic ages, but the opportunity to 

discuss the complex geochemistry of 

uranium and vanadium in terms of 

transport, precipitation, and redox 

considerations. 

Our final day was spent traveling 

from eastern Utah to Keystone, with 

stops at outcrops and overlooks characterizing 

the Jurassic stratigraphic section 

of western Colorado; David Levy of Tetra 

Tech provided an animated discussion 

of the Uravan uranium reclamation site 

and the issues associated with former 

uranium mining and milling sites. 

We acknowledge the essential support 

of the various mines visited and the 

mine staff that accommodated our re - 

quests for mine visits. Darline Daley of 

Quality Business Services was in charge 

of course registration; her support was 

critical in getting this field course up 

and running. Darline, we are grateful 

to you for making our task as course 

organizers so much easier! Finally, the 

course leaders are grateful for the discussions 

provided by the attendees and 

for their active participation in this 

course, whether at outcrops or at dinner-table 

sessions—their experience and 

enthusiasm for uranium exploration 

made for a memorable field course. 

Because of the demand for this 

U2009 offering, a reprise will be offered 

in October of this year as a part of the 

annual Geological Society of America 

meeting; the course will start and end in 

Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1 

SEG NEWS

SEG NEWS 


SEG Co-Sponsored Short Course 

Ore Deposit Models and Exploration 

Kunming, Yunnan, China November 1–5, 2008 

Zhaoshan Chang (SEG 2004), Steven D. Scott (SEG 1974 F), and Jiajun Liu 

A well-attended and enthusiastically 

received short course on ore deposit models 

and exploration strategies was held 

November 1–5, 2008, in Kunming, Yunnan 

Province, China. The organizing committee 

was directed by Steve Scott, an honorary 

professor of the China University of 

Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB). 

The purpose of the course, which is be - 

coming an annual event, was to introduce 

Chinese practicing exploration geologists 

and students to modern concepts in mineral 

exploration, based on tested ore deposits 

models. There is a voracious appetite for 

this knowledge among the tens of thousands 

of present and future explorationists 

in China. The instructors of the Kunming 

course, all SEG members or fellows, included 

Zhaoshan Chang and David Cooke from 

CODES, University of Tasmania, Australia; 

Richard Goldfarb and David Leach from 

the USGS in Denver, USA; Chusi Li from 

Indiana University, USA; Xuanxue Mo 

from CUGB; Steve Scott from the University 

of Toronto, Canada; and Noel White and 

Kaihui Yang from Asia Now Resources, 

Toronto, Canada. Joan Scott organized the 

laboratory sessions and dealt with logistics. 

The short course covered a wide range 

of topics, including VMS deposits (Steve 

Scott and Kaihui Yang), sedex and MVT 

deposits (David Leach, Dave Cooke), iron 

ores (Noel White), porphyry and epithermal 

deposits (Dave Cooke), skarn 

deposits (Zhaoshan Chang), orogenic gold 

and Carlin-like gold deposits (Rich Gold - 

farb), magmatic Ni-Cu deposits (Chusi Li), 

ore deposits of western China (Xuanxue 

Mo), the importance and application of 

ore deposit models to exploration (Noel 

White), and implications of the course for 

exploration in China (Kaihui Yang). The 

short course featured a lab component 

with about 500 representative samples as 

well as maps-sections from typical deposits 

worldwide, displayed for the course participants 

to inspect. A draft of a manual, 

“Ore Deposit Models in Mineral Explora - 

tion,” originally prepared by Noel White 

for industry in 1998 and updated by the 

instructors of this short course, was distributed 

to all attendees. The final version 

of the manual is expected to be published 

this year. The book will have English and 

Chinese on facing pages and can be 

translated into other languages as the 

need arises. It will fill a pressing need for 

a modern ore deposits textbook written in 

Chinese and represents an important 

deliverable by CUGB’s Project 111. 

The Kunming short course attracted 

more than 300 participants from 16 China 

provinces and from overseas, including 

professors and students from Chinese and 

Australian universities, professionals from 

domestic and international exploration 

companies and government surveys, and 

researchers from various institutes. The 

organizers were planning for ~150 participants 

and thus extensive advertising outside 

southwestern China was limited. 

Nevertheless, the course accommodated 

the more than 300 attendees that showed 

up, which demonstrates the strong interest 

in China for such a presentation. The 

enthusiastic participants were attentive to 

the lectures, and the three display rooms 

were always filled with people during lab 

sessions. Participants often surrounded 

the instructors, who answered questions 

and discussed exploration or research 

issues. The lectures were mostly delivered 

in English, with Chinese summaries-translations, 

and to the surprise of the instructors, 

many questions asked during the 

final panel discussions were also in English. 

About 50 students and professionals 

signed up for SEG membership during the 

Instructors, hosts, and participants gather for a group photo in Kunming, Yunnan, China. 

Questions about registration for the short 

course, “Ore Deposit Models and Explora - 

tion Workshop,” to be held in Beijing on 

November 4–8, 2009, should be directed in 

Chinese or in English to Dr. Dong Guochen 

of CUGB: e-mail, guochdong@263.net. 

course. A survey at the end of the course 

showed that the majority of the participants 

were excited about learning modern 

ideas, meeting world experts, and seeing 

samples from world-class ore deposits; 

a few complained that the course went 

too fast, although it lasted five exhausting 

days, and the venue was not particularly 

comfortable, as tables had to be removed 

from the lecture hall to accommodate all 

the participants. 

This short course began in 2005 as a 

three-day effort organized by Steve Scott 

and Kaihui Yang to precede the SGA biennial 

meeting in Beijing. It was subsequently 

organized in Beijing at CUGB in 

2007 and expanded to cover more topics, 

attracting about 300 participants. The 

Kunming course in 2008 was expanded 

again from three to five days, adding 

modules on skarns, epithermal deposits, 

and iron ores. Its popularity continues to 

grow; so far three more universities outside 

of Beijing have expressed a strong 

interest to host the course in future years. 

Co-sponsors for this latest short course 

included the SEG, Yunnan Geological Sur - 

vey, CUGB, China Ministry of Education 

Project 111, SGA, Yunnan Bureau of 

Geology and Mineral Resources, Yunnan 

Bureau of Nonferrous Geology, Mineral 

Resources Institute of the China Metallur - 

gical Geology Bureau, Asia Now Resources 

Corporation, and the Kunming University 

of Science and Technology. 

The course will be offered in Beijing at 

CUGB on November 4–8, 2009, as a cosponsored 

effort by SEG, SGA, CUGB, 

Project 111, and Asia Now Resources. More 

than 300 registrants are again expected. 1


6 th ProExplo Conference: 

Discovering Human, Mineral, and Water Resources 

Lima, Peru May 20–22, 2009 

The theme of the 6 th ProExplo conference 

held in Lima, Peru, was Dis - 

covering Human, Mineral, and Water 

Resources. Cesar Vidal, the president of 

this ProExplo, invited SEG to collaborate 

with a presentation plus a short 

course, the latter on environmental 

geochemistry, presented by Bill Chávez 

and Bob Seal. Guido del Castillo was 

presented with the Silver Pick by the 

IIMP for recent discoveries, immediately 

followed by the announcement 

that he will be the president of 

ProExplo 2011. 

Jeffrey Hedenquist, president-elect of 

SEG, spoke to many of the 1200 attendees 

during a plenary session about 

“Opportunities in the Face of Adversity: 

Exploration and Geologists.” He stressed 

the present potential for companies to 

establish a strategic position for the 

coming upturn of the mineral cycle 

and, also, the continual need for professional 

development. This downturn has 

provided opportunities for acquisition of 

good properties and experienced geologists. 

Companies now have the ability 

to build their field teams and to be 

more rigorous in assessing properties, in 

order to develop targets to test when 

budgets allow; in the meantime, the 

upside of the present downturn is “time 

to think.” 

Jeffrey W. Hedenquist (SEG 1986 F) 

The SEG booth was organized 

by Chico Azevedo, the SEG Re - 

gional Vice President for Latin 

America, and attended for the 

three days by Maria del Pilar 

Sayan, with assistance from a 

large group of SEG members, 

including Edgar Alayo, Regina 

Baumgartner, Adrian Blesa, 

Zhaoshan Chang, Noel Diaz, 

Andreas Dietrich, Alina Gabor, 

Santiago Gigola, Juan LaRiva, 

Bob Seal, Jaime Suarez, and 

Jose Viquerra. Forty new 

members signed on with SEG, 

Jeff Hedenquist (first row, 4th from left) presented a short course to students 

from Universidad de San Agustine, Arequipa, other SEG student 

members, and Aruntani geologists at the Museo Andres del Castillo, a 

spectacular new museum exhibiting Peruvian minerals and pottery. 

Francisco (Chico) de Azevedo (SEG 1996 F), VP 

Latin America, and Jeff Hedenquist (SEG 1986 F) 

present Maria del Pilar with flowers in thanks for 

her efforts at the SEG booth. 

maintaining Peru as the country 

with the 4 th largest membership. 

Jeff also used the opportunity to 

speak to students at the 

Universidad Nacional de 

Ingenieria, in Lima, where there is 

an SEG Student Chapter. In addition, 

student groups from 

Universidad de San Agustine, 

Arequipa, and Universidad 

Nacional de Cajamarca joined 

day-long short courses organized 

by Aruntani SAC and Minera 

Yanacocha, in Lima and 

Cajamarca, respectively. 1 

Daniel Marinov (SEG 2001 F), left, with two of his 

geologists—both new SEG members—flank Jeff 

Hedenquist, who stands in front of the SEG banner. 

A standing-room-only group of students at the Universidad 

Nacional de Ingenieria listens attentively to Jeff’s presentation. 

Sitting in the first row, behind the projector, Valery Garcia (SEG 

2007 SM) serves as translator. 

SEG NEWS

STUDENT NEWS 


SEG Student Chapter Field Trip 2009 

Fiona C. Best (SEG 2009 SM) 

The CODES, University of Tasmania, 

SEG student chapter completed a highly 

successful field excursion to Indonesia 

from January 25 to February 4. The trip 

was primarily organized by CODES student 

chapter members Bronto Sutopo 

and Fiona Best. Field guidance was provided 

by Igan Sutawijaya, of the 

Group members pose at the entrance to Grasberg 

mine, Papua. 

With today’s substantially high gold 

price, what better time could there be to 

visit a gold mine? The University of 

Nevada, Reno SEG student chapter did 

just that during its spring break field 

trip. They not only visited gold mines in 

southern California and Mexico, but 

also porphyry copper deposits in Mexico 

and southeast Arizona. The trip ran 

from March 14 to 22, was led by Dr. 

Tommy Thompson, professor and director 

of the Center for Research in 

Economic Geology, and was attended 

by students Wes Sherlock, Heidi Drexler, 

Brad Cantor, and Crystal Robinson. 

In preparation for the trip, the students 

produced a guidebook that summarized 

information regarding the 

regional geology and each deposit we 

would be visiting. At each mine we were 

given a presentation on the local geology, 

major structures, and information 

concerning the mineralization events, 

followed by a mine tour. Having a mine 

tour immediately after the presentation 

was quite beneficial, as it allowed us to 

see first hand the information we 

learned during the presentations. 

SEG STUDENT CHAPTER NEWS 

� CODES, UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA � 

Volcanology Survey of Indonesia, 

and Dr. Mega Fatimah Rosana, of 

Padjad jaran University, Indonesia. 

Six industry representatives and 

eight students from CODES attended 

the trip, with participants originating 

from Australia, Britain, Canada, 

Columbia, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, 

Peru, Russia and Thailand. 

The field trip was entitled, “The 

Mineralisation and Volcanism of 

Indonesia,” and focused on 

providing participants with 

the opportunity to observe economic 

epithermal and porphyry 

deposits, to study the lavas of 

active volcanoes, and to gain an 

overall understanding of the geodynamical 

evolution of Indonesia. 

The field trip visited five Indone - 

sian islands, three mine sites and 

two active volcanoes in 11 days. 

The CODES SEG student chapter 

would like to thank Anglogold 

Ashanti, Barrick, CODES, Gold 

� MACKAY SCOOL OF MINES, UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO � 

Our first stop was Western Goldfields’ 

Mesquite mine in Imperial County, 

California. We then traveled to La 

Herradura mine in Sonora, Mexico, 

which is a joint venture between 

Newmont and Industrias Peñoles SA de 

CV and is currently the largest gold producer 

in Mexico. From La Herradura we 

ventured off to Yamana’s Mercedes project, 

where we spent a day and two 

nights. Then it was off to Grupo 

Mexico’s La Caridad mine. Finally, we 

arrived in Bisbee, Arizona, to tour 

Freeport McMoRan’s historic Bisbee 

mine. Though Bisbee is not currently in 

The group at the base of Mount Batur mine, Bali. 

Fields, Newcrest, Newmont, SEG, St. 

Barbara, and Teck for their generous 

and invaluable financial support; Igan 

Sutawijaya, Dr. Mega Fatimah Rosana, 

and Prof. Adjat Sudradjat for sharing 

their knowledge with the group and 

being extraordinary field guides; and PT 

Aneka Tam bang (Pongkor), PT Freeport 

Indonesia (Grasberg), and PT Newmont 

Tenggara Timur (Batur Hijau) for permitting 

the group to visit their mines, 

and for their hospitality. 1 

operation, reclamation activities are 

ongoing. There we met up with Ralph 

Stegen and Ernest Wright. Both are 

quite knowledgeable about the history 

of the mine, so we received some historical 

background to supplement the presentation 

and mine tour. 

We would like to thank our tour 

guides at each mine site and our sponsors, 

the Nevada Division of Minerals 

(Alan Coyner, Director) and ALS Chemex 

(Steve Armstrong, Manager, Mexico 

Operations) for making this trip possible. 

–Crystal Robinson 1 

Mackay SEG student chapter at Mina La Herradura (left to right): Dr. Tommy Thompson, 

chapter advisor, Penmont staff geologist, chapter members Wes Sherlock, Heidi Drexler, 

Brad Cantor, Ing. Enrique Garcia, and Crystal Robinson.


The fifth SEG Foundation Student- 

Dedicated Field Course was held May 

12–21, 2009, and dealt with review of 

and visits to gold deposits of northern 

Nevada. In a competitive process, 17 

students representing 17 different universities 

from nine countries were 

selected to participate in the course. 

The field course began in the Battle 

Mountain district, where Regional 

Geologist Fred Breit and Lisa Davenport 

of Newmont Mining Corporation led 

visits to the key structural zones within 

the district and 

discussed the significance 

of mineralization 

in the 

Phoenix Cu-Au 

project area; participants 

reviewed 

the local tectonostratigraphy 

and 

were introduced 

to the importance 

of understanding 

the stratigraphic 

and structural controls 

of precious 

and base metals 

in the district. 

Newmont also 

hosted a two-day 

visit to the Carlin 

district, during 

which Rachel 

Burgess and 

Amanda Izatt 

spent a day reviewing important drill 

core intervals with the students, emphasizing 

the stratigraphy of the northern 

part of the Carlin Trend. The second 

day included an underground tour of 

the of the Chukar mine, led by Alan P. 

Sweide and Jennifer Hansom, followed 

by visits conducted by Rachel Burgess 

and Amanda Izatt to former open pit 

mines that display local stratigraphic 

relationships in the northern Carlin 

Trend. The significance of the Roberts 

Mountain Thrust and its tectonostratigraphic 

importance in the Trend was 

emphasized. 

In the Cortez district, the Pipeline, Gold 

Acres, and ADA52 open pits were visited. 

Senior geologist Nancy Richter of 

Barrick discussed the stratigraphy, the 

changing stratigraphic unit names, and 

� SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGISTS FOUNDATION � 

STUDENT-DEDICATED FIELD COURSE – GOLD SYSTEMS OF NORTHERN NEVADA 

May 12–21, 2009 

William X. Chávez, Jr. (SEG 1990 F), and Erich U. Petersen (SEG 1986 F) 

general settings of mineralized sedimentary 

rock units within the various 

mineralized areas of this venerable 

old—and new—district. Senior geologist 

Mark Bradley discussed various occurrences 

of the Roberts Mountain Thrust 

in the Gold Acres mine area, and 

pointed out a substantial stratigraphic 

interval—comprising most of a highwall 

in the Gold Acres pit—that represents 

the Thrust. 

At the impressive Midas district, 

senior geologist Michael Robinson, 

along with Gabe Graf and J. P. Spring, 

all of Newmont, provided reviews of 

surface exposures in historic mine areas 

and select core intervals, coupled with 

an excellent series of visits to underground 

exposures of the low-sulfidation 

banded quartz veins that host bonanzagrade 

Ag-(Au). The evening before visiting 

Midas, Gabe Graf and Leann Giese 

hosted an evening barbecue, during 

which the group was given essential 

safety and geologic presentations prior 

to visiting the mine. 

Continuing westward to the Getchell 

Trend, the next stop was Newmont’s 

very large Twin Creeks mine, where Pat 

Donovan, Sue Abbott, and Anita Brown 

reviewed the general geology and discovery 

history of the Rabbit Creek and 

Chimney Creek deposits. The field visits 

included discussions on the importance 

of faults and bedding deformation 

structures, with were exceptionally well 

exposed in the immense highwalls of 

two open pits. Following the Twin 

Creeks visit, Sue Abbott and Keith 

Aitken graciously hosted a beer ‘n barbeque 

for the group. 

At the historic Getchell district, 

Barrick senior project Geologist Keith 

Wood, along with Dawn Martin and 

Merilie Reynolds, discussed the evolving 

stratigraphic relationships and ore controls 

of the 

Getchell and 

Turquoise 

Ridge ore 

deposits and 

an overlook of 

the classic 

range-front 

fault system as 

exposed in 

numerous pits 

hugging the 

eastern margin 


Osgood 

Range. Don 

MacKerrow, 

along with 

Greg Dering, 

provided backgroundgeol- 

ogy, core 

review, and 

field visits to 

the Preble area, where participants discussed 

skarn development and structurally 

controlled gold occurrences in 

this area south of Getchell. 

The final stop on the course was at 

the Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation 

mine in the Rochester district, where 

senior exploration geologist Henry 

Follman discussed the historic background 

and geology of this large silver 

deposit, hosted by a series of rhyolitic 

volcanic units and associated clastic 

sediments. Structural control of the distribution 

of silver sulfosalts, including 

the development of breccias hosting 

high-grade Ag (low Au) mineralization, 

was emphasized. The current standby 

status of this property was also dis- 

Arriving at the airport, course participants assemble for a group photo before beginning their 

visit to gold systems of northern Nevada. 

cussed, as were the ongoing 

reclamation 

to page 30 ... 

STUDENT NEWS

STUDENT NEWS 


efforts, and the economic and permitting 

requirements for mine start-up. 

The final evening was spent, as is 

traditional for these courses, at a group 

dinner. As we have noted to students in 

each course, it is very likely that they, at 

some point in the future, will encounter 

their fellow field course participants; so 

this dinner was not so much a 

“farewell” as a “see you again” fete. 

The course leaders are grateful to 

exploration veteran Jacob “Jake” 

Margolis, Exploration Manager for 

Redstar Gold Corporation, for his active 

and animated participation in this field 

course. Jake acted as the “third professor” 

and was very involved with 

prompting students to participate in 

discussions of the exploration criteria, 

economics, and geochemical characteristics 

of the ore deposits that make up 

this course. Jake, our many thanks to 

you for making the course much more 

interesting to both students and to the 

course leaders! 

As in the previous Student-Dedicated 

Field Course offerings, our hardhats are 

off once again to John Thoms of the 

SEG Foundation and Vicky Sternicki of 

SEG at the SEG headquarters office in 

Littleton, Colorado, for their efforts in 

assuring that preparations for this SEG 

Foundation field course went off without 

a hitch. As field course leaders, we 

appreciate their polished and professional 

behind-the-scenes work. Finally, 

we gratefully acknowledge the continued 

support of donors to the SEGF 

Student Field Trip Fund—this support 

and encouragement is indispensable for 

these field courses. In each of these 

courses, we have endeavored to keep 

� SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGISTS FOUNDATION (continued) � 

students excited about mining geology 

and minerals exploration by providing 

opportunities to keep them “looking at 

the rocks.” 

The next SEGF Student-Dedicated 

Field Course is being planned for 

October 2010, as a part of the SEG 

biennial conference in Keystone, 

Colorado; details will be announced 

when available! 1 

Participants gather in front of a type-locality outcrop for the Golconda thrust fault, 

Phoenix mine site. 

Back (L–R) Edward Lynch (National Univ of Ireland, Galway), Jennifer Leigh Manion 

(Washington State Univ), Angela Marshall (Univ of Wollongong), Taryn Gray (Saint Mary’s 

Univ), Nicolas Rodolfo Jovic (Univ Nacional de la Plata), Laura Malone (Univ of New 

Brunswick), Luis A. Parra (Southern Illinois Univ, Venezuela), Martin Griessmann (Univ of 

Adelaide, Austria), Fred Breit (Newmont), Gabriel Sweet (Lakehead Univ), Helen Cocker 

(Univ of Auckland), Erich U. Petersen (Univ of Utah) 

Front: Lisa Davenport (Newmont), Friederike Minz (Tech Univ Freiberg, Clausthal), Vivian 

Ruiz Mendoza (Univ de Sonora, Hermosillo), Cristian F. Puentes Alfonso (Univ Nacional de 

Colombia), William X. Chávez (New Mexico Tech), Jesus M.Velador (New Mexico Inst 

Tech, Mexico), Guillaume Lesage (Univ of Alberta), Abhidheya Wright-Holfeld (INR-SETE), 

Not pictured L. Page Anderson (Univ of Utah) 

PAID ADVERTISEMENT PAID ADVERTISEMENT


Stewart R. Wallace 

(SEG 1961, SF1991), 

a highly regarded, 

world-renowned 

authority on molyb - 

denum deposits, discoverer 


Ceresco Ridge orebody 

at Climax and 

the Henderson mine 

in Colorado, and the 

Anonymous Donor 

who provided 100 percent of the funding 

for the SEG Headquarters Building in 

Littleton, Colorado, died on March 12, 

2009, at the age of 89, just a few weeks 

short of his 90 th birthday. 

Stewart was born March 31, 1919, in 

Freeport, New York, obtained a BA degree 

from Dartmouth College in 1941 and, 

after serving 4.5 years as a commissioned 

officer in the U.S. Army during World War 

II, received MSc and PhD degrees in 1948 

and 1953, respectively, from the Univer - 

sity of Michigan. From 1948 to 1955 (part 

time 1950–1952, while pursuing graduate 

study at Michigan), he worked as a geologist 

in the Minerals Deposit Branch of the 

U.S. Geological Survey and participated 

in several western U.S. 

mining district mapping 

projects including the 

following: thorium and 

rare earth deposits in 

the Powderhorn district 

near Gunnison, 

Colorado; mineral zoning in the Front 

Range, Colorado; uranium deposits in the 

Powder River Basin, Wyoming, and the 

alkaline complex of the Judith Moun - 

tains, Montana. The last was the subject 

of his PhD thesis. His work with the USGS 

resulted in seven publications. 

In 1955, he left the Survey to join 

Climax Molybdenum Company at the 

recommendation of John W. Vanderwilt 

(SEG 1930, then Climax consulting geologist 

and president of Colorado School of 

Mines). From 1955 to 1957, he was 

“Resident Geologist” and embarked on a 

detailed study of the complex geology of 

the Climax ore deposit and, in the pro - 

cess, greatly clarified ore deposition controls. 

This work resulted in his first publication 

on “Climax-type” ore deposits. 1 In 

1958, he was promoted to Chief Geologist 

and then Chief of Geology and Explora - 

tion, until 1969. During this period, he 

and his team of geologists continued the 

1 Wallace, S.R., Jonson, D.C., Navias, 

R.A., and Skapinsky, S.A., 1957, Ring fracture 

intrusion and mineralization at Cli - 

max, Colorado: a preliminary report: Geol. 

Soc. America Bull., v. 68, p. 1809–1810. 

Reprint from the SEG Newsletter, April 2009, Number 77, page 5. 

STEWART R. WALLACE — 1919 – 2009 

SEG’S Anonymous Donor 

“. . . there absolutely should be 

some ‘center’ from which the 

Society functions—preferably 

in one place and permanent.” 

—Stewart R. Wallace, July 1994 

detailed study of Climax geology that re - 

sulted in the discovery of large tonnages of 

new ore, including the spectacular discovery 

of the Ceresco orebody and its deep offset 

portion at more than 10,000 feet below 

surface across a major fault. This detailed 

geologic work led to the development of a 

multiple-intrusion model to describe the 

complex magmatic and hydro thermal 

events that produced the Climax orebody, 

and was key to the prediction and discovery 

of the world-class Henderson orebody 

at Red Mountain, near Empire, Colorado. 

Stewart was also renowned for his ability 

to work closely with mine engineers 

and mine management and was particularly 

successful in the application of geol- 

ogy to mining and exploration. 

Detailed geologic 

mine mapping and related 

studies carried out under 

his leadership greatly facilitated 

engineering operations 

at the Climax and 

Henderson mines. 

In 1969, he left Climax to form Mine 

Finders, Inc., an exploration consulting 

firm based in Lakewood, Colorado, for 

which he served as President and Director 

of Exploration. Under an agreement with 

Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Mine 

Finders conducted minerals exploration in 

western North America and elsewhere. 

Follow ing conclusion of that agreement 

and dissolution of Mine Finders in 1976, 

he continued working as an exploration 

consultant whose recognized expertise on 

porphyry molybdenum deposits was 

highly sought after by major international 

mining corporations. 

Stewart was a Distinguished Member 

of the Society of Mining Engineers (SME), 

a Fellow of the Geological Society of 

America, and a member of a number of 

other professional-scientific associations. 

In 1974, SME honored him with one of its 

highest awards, the prestigious Daniel C. 

Jackling Award, primarily in recognition 

of the discovery of the Henderson orebody. 

In 2001, he was inducted into the 

National Mining Hall of Fame in Lead - 

ville, Colorado, together with six 

legendary North American mining 

industry figures. 

Within the Society of Economic 

Geologists, Stewart will be remembered 

for his enthusiastic service, interest in all 

aspects of SEG, concern for its welfare, 

and his legacy of the SEG Headquarters 

Building. He served on various SEG committees, 

including the Nominating Com - 

mittee, which he chaired, and was a 

member of the Council, 1973–1975, Vice 

President in 1978, and President in 1992. 

For the SEG Foundation, he served five 

years as a Trustee. His vision for SEG as 

stated in July 1994 was that, “. . . there 

absolutely should be some ‘center’ from 

which the Society functions—preferably in 

one place and permanent.” 

On February 2, 1996, Stewart made the 

first of several contributions to the Society 

to establish a “permanent” headquarters 

in the Denver area. All together, those 

contributions totaled in excess of $5 million 

and funded the purchase of a building 

site, design, construction, and furnishing 

(including then “state of the art” computer 

equipment) of the headquarters 

building, and an endowment of over $1.5 

million to cover the operating and maintenance 

costs of the building—a complete 

package. He was directly involved in the 

site selection for the building and its 

design. Completed in early 2000, the 

building serves as the international 

headquarters for both the Society and 

the Foundation, and houses the publishing 

activities of the former Economic 

Geology Publishing Company. All this 

was undertaken with strict instructions 

from Stewart that his contributions would 

be “absolutely undisclosed” until his 

death. Stewart’s farsighted action is 

greatly benefiting the Society and its 

members, as it also will future generations 

of economic geologists. 

Stewart was a life-long avid sailor and 

sailed on numerous bodies of water on 

three continents. He was preceded in 

death by his brother, Henry, of Cortez, 

Florida, and is survived by son, William, 

of Lakewood, Colorado, and daughter, 

Margaret, of Oley, Pennsylvania. 1


June — 1967 

Chief of Geology 

and Exploration, 

Climax, Colorado 

— 1956 

STEWART R. WALLACE 

Dartmouth 

College — 

1941 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — 1943 

Mine Finders, Inc. office, Lakewood, Colorado – 1973 

Climax Exploration Camp, Greenland — 1958


In his office, Lakewood, Colorado – December 1999 

1919 – 2009 

On the dock with son, Will, Chatfield Reservoir, Colorado — 1987 

With Mine Finders, Inc. 

geologists at the core 

shack, Majuba Hill, 

Nevada – 1973 

Sailing on Long Island Sound — 1978 

Induction, National Mining Hall of Fame, 

Leadville, Colorado – September 2001


From Concept 

To Reality 

The Legacy of Stewart R. Wallace 

SEG HEADQUARTERS BUILDING 

South Elevation 

North Elevation


AFRICA 

Regional Vice President Africa 

Paul Nex (SEG 2005) 

Umbono Financial Services 

pnex@umbono.co.za 

and 

Judith Kinnaird (SEG 2002 F) 

School of Geosciences 

University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa 

Email: Judith.kinnaird@wits.ac.za 

It is difficult to cover all 53 African 

countries on a regular basis and in the 

last SEG Newsletter a number of countries 

not normally featured were given a 

brief mention. In this issue, other countries 

not normally included because of 

their small mineral sector have a brief 

summary. The current financial and 

economic crisis has adversely impacted 

on the economic growth of African 

economies, which averaged >5% pa 

over the past five years but is expected 

to decline to ~2.8% in 2009. The effects 

have been felt in many countries, with 

closures of mines resulting in huge job 

losses. There are some suggestions that 

the recession in mining may have 

turned the corner, and diamond sales 

are reportedly up. Some mines in 

Botswana have cautiously resumed 

operations and in Sierra Leone diamond 

operations are rehiring workers 

as the market improves. 

ANGOLA 

Oil accounts for ~90% of exports. Gov - 

ernment is seeking to develop mining 

and suggested it might buy diamonds 

to help industry through the current difficulties. 

Official production is 7 mcts 

but a plethora of illegal artisanal diggers 

are also active. Government is keen to 

contribute to the upgrading of SEAMIC 

(Southern and Eastern Africa Mineral 

Investigation Center) into an institution 

for Africa’s development. Angola joined 

SEAMIC in 1985; other members are 

Commoros, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozam - 

bique, Tanzania, and Uganda. 

BOTSWANA 

Tawana Resources will look for JV 

partners to participate in its Orapa 

diamond project. 

BURKINA FASO 

The cotton-dependent west African economy 

aims to become a regional mining 


Notice: Views expressed in the Exploration Reviews do not necessarily reflect those of the Society of Economic 

Geologists, Inc., and columnists are solely responsible for ascertaining that information in this section is correct. 

center and the continent’s no. 4 gold 

producer in the next three years. Cluff 

Gold expects that its Kalsaka mine will 

be fully commissioned by midyear. 

BURUNDI 

Burundi has considerable mineral 

potential, especially for lateritic-nickel 

deposits. Other mineral prospects 

include phosphate at Matongo and 

vanadium at Mukanda, and there is 

also potential for gold and tin deposits. 

CAMEROON 

Natural resources are limited, with production 

of petroleum products, artisanal 

gold, diamonds, salt, and building 

materials. Alucam is the largest 

company, smelting and exporting aluminium 

from bauxite imported from 

Guinea. The government has given the 

go-ahead for the development of a new 

US$ 160M export terminal to serve an 

emerging iron ore province that extends 

into Congo and Gabon. 

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 

The country produces ~500,000 ct/y of 

alluvial diamonds, almost entirely from 

~80,000 artisanal workers but Pangea 

Diamond Fields operates the small 

Dimbi mine. 

CHAD 

The mining sector is poorly developed 

with some small-scale alluvial gold production 

and occasional artisanal diamonds, 

especially from Baibokoum 

and Guera. 

CONGO (REPUBLIC OF) 

Although petroleum production is 

declining, oil remains dominant, representing 

about 50% of GDP and 66% of 

government revenue. Other mineral 

resources of base metals, gold, iron, and 

phosphate have been poorly explored. 

The country’s main mining project is 

the Mag Industries integrated 580,000 

t/y potash plant and 72,000 t/y magnesium 

smelter at Pointe Noire. 

CÔTE D’IVOIRE 

The county has important Archean and 

early Proterozoic occurrences of gold, diamonds, 

iron ore, nickel, cobalt, copper, 

manganese, and bauxite. Since a new 

mining investment code in 1995, gold 

has been the most popular exploration 

target. Cluff Gold expects to produce 

from its Angovia mine in 2009. 

DJIBOUTI 

Djibouti has few natural resources and 

little industry. 

DRC 

Mineral output and revenue has 

dropped. Mining contracts are under 

review and government has sought to 

apply its new mining code to all existing 

licenses and to redress illegal agreements 

inherited from the 1997–2001 

civil war. Plans involve taking 15% 

interest in all future mining discoveries 

(including extensions to existing 

reserves) and listing state-owned companies 

such as Gécamines and Okomo. 

Reports also suggest that government is 

seeking to increase its stake in the massive 

Tenke Fungurume copper-gold 

project. Government might also introduce 

a “use it or lose it” principle for 

future mining contracts as part of an 

effort to unlock the country’s mineral 

resources. Katanga Mining has 

reported a net loss of $52 million for the 

first quarter of this year and investors 

are wary because of the uncertainty 

around the mining contract review. 

EGYPT 

Mineral resources include asbestos, 

gold, iron ore, lead, manganese, phosphates, 

uranium, zinc, oil, and gas 

although oil production has fallen. 

Centamin has been exploring for gold 

at the Sukari Hill gold project near 

Marsa Alam on the Red Sea coast. 

Production is expected in the second 

quarter of 2009 at an initial rate of 

200,000 oz a year. 

EQUATORIAL GUINEA 

The country has experienced rapid economic 

growth due to the discovery of 

large offshore oil reserves. 

ERITREA 

Eritrea’s incipient mining sector is based 

on the potential for significant potential 

of greenstone shear-hosted gold and 

volcanic-hosted massive zinc and copper 

sulfide deposits in late Proterozoic 

volcanic arc terranes, especially around 

Asmara and in the western district. In 

2008, government 

to page 

awarded a mining 

36 ... 

EXPLORATION REVIEWS



... from 35 

Exploration Reviews (Continued) 

license to Nevsun Resources’s Bisha 

project, with a state-owned company 

taking a 40% stake. The $240M project 

is expected to produce an average of 

431,000 oz/y of gold and 702,000 oz/y 

of silver in the first two years of production 

beginning in 2010. More foreign 

companies are exploring. 

ETHIOPIA 

Gold is the most important resource, 

with the bulk of the production (over 

120,000 oz/y) from Lega Dembi mine 

in the south. In 2008, BHP Billiton 

announced that it was in talks with the 

government to develop a US$100M 

potash project in Afar. The government 

has signed an agreement with Petronas 

for development of gas fields in the 

Ogaden region. 

GABON 

Gabon produces minor artisanal gold 

and diamonds but oil contributes over 

50% of GDP although resources are 

diminishing. An iron ore mining venture 

backed by Gabon’s president is 

threatening to destroy the huge Kongou 

Falls by damming the Ivindo River to 

power a mine and railway. With 

increased output from the Moanda 

mine, Gabon is now the world’s second 

largest manganese dioxide producer. 

KENYA 

The mining sector is very minor 

although there is continuing exploration 

for gold in the southwest and the 

GoldPlats Kilimapesa project has just 

commenced gold production. Tiomin 

Resources is developing the extensive 

Kwale mineral sands deposits. 

LIBERIA 

ArcelorMittal has delayed the launch 

of a planned $1.5 billion iron ore mine 

as a result of 15-20% cut in demand 

this year. 

LIBYA 

The non-oil sector is expanding, and 

Rusal plans to develop a 600,000 t/y 

aluminium smelter and a 1,500 MW 

natural gas power station. 

MADAGASCAR 

Sherritt International is on the verge 

of closing a financing agreement with 

its partners on the $4.5 billion Ambatovy 

nickel project. The orebody consists of 

two large, thick, weathered ultramafic 

deposits (Ambatovy and Analamay) 

within a larger gabbro-syenite complex 

on a block-faulted horst (the Antam - 

pombato Massif). It is anticipated that 

Ambatovy could produce 60,000 t/pa of 

nickel beginning at the end of 2010. 

MALAWI 

With the development of the Kyalakera 

uranium mine, the government drafted 

a new Mines and Minerals Act in April 

2008, and introduced a modern mining 

tax regime to include generous capital 

allowances and a new Resource Rent 

Tax. 

MOZAMBIQUE 

Mining investment in Mozambique 

increased between 2004 and 2008, from 

$101 to $804M and the value rose from 

$35.2 to $275M. Kenmare Resources’ 

$460M titanium mine at Moma, in the 

north of the country, is employing 

1,582 people during construction and 

will create 450 permanent jobs. The 

government has already collected 

$380,000 in taxes from this project. A 

mining concession has been granted to 

the $800M Benga coal project in the 

north-east to produce thermal coal and 

hard coking coal, it is 65%-owned by 

Riversdale and 35% by Tata Steel. The 

company plans to initially produce 5.3 

Mt of coal a year, rising to 20 Mt/pa 

yearly, once the necessary transport 

infrastructure is established. Noventa, a 

tantalum producer, has suspended mining 

operations and will not re-open 

without the required $60M to fund a 

crushing and processing plant at its 

Marropino mine and to develop 

another mine 20 km away. BHP has 

stopped the Chibuto Sands project at 

the feasibility stage and Mozambique is 

seeking a new investor to produce titanium 

slag and iron, as well as rutile 

and zircon. African Queen has confirmed 

exploration is underway at four 

targets: Aliyele, Ashwa, Tambika, and 

Tsimbi, in its Fingoe gold project in 

Tete Province, an area that has produced 

gold by artisanal miners. Pitting, 

trenching, detailed mapping and rock 

sampling followed by drilling is 

planned for 2009. 

NAMIBIA 

Government is planning to establish a 

mining charter to enable black Nami - 

bians to take up stakes in mining and 

exploration companies. Also, government 

has formed a company, Epangelo 

Mining, to explore for minerals as part 

of its plans to take part in the mining 

industry. The slow down in the country’s 

diamond mining at Namdeb also 

took a toll on the diamond-cutting 

industry although the uranium industry 

is still sound. Kalahari Minerals continues 

to increase total resources at 

Rossing South to >200 million pounds 

of uranium oxide and Bannerman 

Resources has raised A$30 M to ad - 

vance the Etango uranium project. 

RWANDA 

The mineral sector of the country is currently 

minimal but Gatumba Mining 

Concessions has begun drilling in a 

$2.5 M exploration for tin and tantalum. 

SENEGAL 

Australian company Mineral Deposits 

is prospecting for further gold after 

pouring the country’s first gold bars in 

March. The firm expects to produce 

160,000 oz of gold at its Sabodala mine 

this year. 

SIERRA LEONE 

Petra Diamonds and JV partner Stellar 

Diamonds have put the Kono kimberlite 

fissure project on temporary careand-maintenance. 

Taxes on diamond 

exports helped finance the country’s 

post-war reconstruction so the closure 

will impact severely on the economy. 

Aim-listed African Minerals has 

increased the mineral resource for its 

Tonkolili iron ore project to 5.1 billion 

tons at an average grade of 30% iron. 

SOMALIA AND SOMALILAND 

Proterozoic basement is exposed in two 

areas, one the small Bur complex inlier 

west of Mogadishu in southern Somalia, 

the other extending east-west across 

Somaliland into Puntland. These areas 

have significant potential for artisanal 

production of gemstones and smallscale 

production of coltan. There is 

potential for oil in extensive Mesozoic 

to Recent sedimentary rocks. Coastal 

heavy mineral sands have been investigated 

but no development has occurred 

yet, also potential exists for large 

cement production. 

SOUTH AFRICA 

South Africa’s economy is in recession 

for the first time since 1992. The deeperthan-expected 

first quarter fall of 6.4% 

in gross domestic product was broadbased 

but mining was down by ~33% 

and is likely to fall further in 2009. The 

Chamber of Mines reports that gold 

production declined by 10% to 49,713.6 

kg in the first quarter, compared with 

the 55,242 kg produced in the fourth


quarter of 2008. Although some of the 

decline in production in 2008 can be 

attributed to the energy crisis, goldmining 

companies are challenged to 

contain costs while increasing production 

in the face of lagging output and 

a cutback in credit. However, the gold 

sector remains bullish and may be on 

the rise again. 

Pretoria High Court has extended the 

date for the provisional liquidation of 

Pamodzi Gold’s Orkney, Free State, and 

East Rand operations until September 1. 

The company is still in negotiations 

with potential investors to find a longterm 

solution for the group. 

First Uranium has started production 

from the uranium plant at its Ezulwini 

underground gold and uranium mine. 

For the full-year ending March 2009, 

First Uranium processed 6.9 Mt of 

reclaimed tailings at its Mine Waste 

Solutions tailings recovery project and 

milled 232,715 t of ore. Pan African Re - 

sources has bought Phoenix Platinum 

from Metorex, Aquarius Platinum has 

received approval from South Africa’s 

Competition Tribunal to buy Ridge 

Mining Plc. Platinum Australia will 

acquire



... from 37 


Pebble project. Pacific North West 

Capital Corp. announced that it had 

exercised the option to acquire the 

Nixon Fork gold-copper mine from St. 

Andrew Goldfields Ltd. Linux Gold 

Corp. announced completion of a summary 

report on its Dime Creek 

prospect. 

EASTERN INTERIOR 

Kinross Gold announced year-end 2008 

and first quarter 2009 production results 

from its Fort Knox mine. Teryl Re - 

sources and JV partner Kinross Gold 

announced year-end 2008 exploration 

results and 2009 plans at their Gil gold 

project. Freegold Ventures announced 

preliminary results from bulk sampling 

completed in 2008 at it Golden Summit 

project. Teck Resources and JV partner 

Sumitomo Metal Mining announced 4 th 

quarter and year-end 2008 results from 

the Pogo mine, and Teck Resources also 

announced plans to sell its 40% interest 

in the Pogo mine to 60% owner, Sumi - 

tomo. International Tower Hill Mines 

Ltd. announced drilling results from its 

winter 2009 program at its Livengood 

gold project. Alaska newcomer Fire 

River Gold announced plans for its 

Draken gold property. 

ALASKA RANGE 

Pure Nickel Inc. and ITOCHU Corpora - 

tion have approved an expanded $4.4M 

exploration budget for the MAN project. 

NORTHERN ALASKA 

Andover Ventures Inc. announced that 

it plans to complete a new resource calculation 

on the SUN polymetallic deposit. 

SOUTHEAST ALASKA 

Hecla Mining announced year-end 

2008 and first quarter 2009 production 

from the Greens Creek mine. Ucore 

Uranium announced mineralogical 

studies of uranium and rare earth element 

mineralization at its Bokan 

Mountain project. CBR Gold Corp. 

announced a 457,000-t expansion to 

resources at its Niblack massive sulfide 

deposit. 

ASIA 

Regional Correspondent: 

Paul L. Zweng (SEG 2003F) 

Managing Member, 

Resource Venture Advisors 

P.O. Box 235901 

Honolulu, HI 96823-3517 

Tel. 808-536-3646 

E-mail: pzweng@gmail.com 

Contribution from 

Andrew E. Nevin (SEG 1979) – India 

The SEG Asia Exploration Index, the 

equal-weighted index created to gauge 

the activity, excitement, and value creation 

being generated by non-government 

controlled companies working in 

Asia as measured by the financial markets, 

surged since it was first introduced 

in the last SEG Newsletter. The first quarter 

delivered a whopping 49% return, 

thrashing the major stock indices (e.g., 

–11.67% SP 500, –11.46% FSTE 100, 

–8.47% Nikkei 225, and –5.64% Hang 

Seng). By the end May the index had 

nearly doubled off the lows set in late 

2008. So after this meteoric rise is anyone 

following the ol’ adage, “Sell in 

May and Go Away”? 

CAMBODIA 

Surface sampling by Oz Minerals at 

their Okvau project in NE Cambodia 

delivered up to 14.7 g/t Au from an area 

located 10 km SW of the main prospect. 

Geologists found visible gold in panned 

concentrates collected in 17 of 20 

drainages that appear to be related to 

zones of quartz-arsenopyrite veins. 

CHINA 

Continental Minerals announced 

653.7 Mt @ 0.31% Cu and 0.12 g/t Au 

(indicated & inferred; 0.2% Cu cutoff) of 

mineral resources for the Newtongmen 

deposit, the second discovery on its 

100%-owned Xietongmen property 

(Tibet autonomous region). 

Eldorado Gold started a rotary airblast 

program consisting of 41 holes to 

test the area covered by alluvium 

between the QLT and JLG deposits at its 

Tanjianshan (Qinghai) oxide gold 

operation. 

SEG Asia Exploration Index 

The updated resource estimate for 

Minco Gold’s 51%-owned Changkeng 

project (Guangdong) highlighted just 

over 1 Moz Au contained in 7.962 Mt @ 

3.95 g/t Au and 10.3 g/t Ag (indicated 

& inferred; 1.2 g/t Au equiv cutoff). A 

second, silver-rich deposit in the district 

holds 38.2 Moz Ag (and by-product Au, 

Pb, and Zn) contained in 6.685 Mt @ 

178 g/t Ag (indicated & inferred; 35 g/t 

Ag cutoff). Minco Silver achieved an 

important milestone upon receiving 

approval of the mining area permit for 

its Fuwan Ag deposit (Guangdong). 

The average grade of samples collected 

by New Pacific Metals over 27.6 

m of drift along the V9 vein (Guang - 

dong) yielded 294.8 g/t Au (yes—true 

high grade!), 123.8 g/t Ag, 1.33% Pb, 

and 1.93% Zn. The average width of the 

structure here is 0.37 m. These grades 

are dramatically higher than those 

reported from the 3 drill holes that cut 

the V9 vein—stay tuned to see which 

tells the real story. 

Four holes by OZ Minerals at the 

Xiaosongshan project (Inner Mongolia) 

cut narrow intervals of low-grade Ni 

and Cu sulfides at the targeted ultramafic 

intrusion basal contact. 

Sino Gold announced committing to 

the US$65M development of what will 

be its third gold operation, the Eastern 

Dragon gold mine (Heilongjiang 

Province). Commercial gold production 

is scheduled for early 2011, averaging 

90,000 oz/yr during the first 5 years at a 

cash cost of US$125/oz. 

INDIA 

Rio Tinto announced an indicated re - 

source of 37 Mt @ 0.7 carats/t at its 17hectare 

Atri lamproite pipe at Bunder, 

Madhya Pradesh. Diamond value was 

estimated from 410 cts, but not reported. 

Seven smaller pipes are known within 

the same prospecting license area. The 

find is in the same Proterozoic Vindhyan 

formation scarp as National Mineral 

Development’s Panna (Majhgawan) 

mine (0.1 carat/t) and its Hinota diamond 

prospect. Panna is now reopening 

after two years of litigation over its 

location within a tiger reserve. 

India Resources has farmed out a 

staged 51% interest in its Rajasthan 

Periods are month end Jun-08 Dec-08 Jan-09 Feb-09 Mar-09 Apr-09 May-09 

Index Value 388.95 120.00 132.25 151.53 178.75 201.72 234.66 

% Change (Mo-Mo) xxx xxx 10.2% 14.6% 18.0% 17.9% 11.4% 

% Change (YTD) xxx –69.1% 10.2% 26.3% 49.0% 75.6% 95.6%


reconnaissance permit and prospecting 

license applications to RBG Mineral 

Industries, a company majority owned 

by Binani Zinc, with Rajasthan and 

Gujarat government-owned companies 

holding minority interests. The prospects 

surround Vedanta’s Rajpura Dariba 

and Sindesar Khurd zinc-lead mines. 

Historic resource estimates on the India- 

RBG prospects are 95 to 135 Mt @ 2.2 to 

4.5% Zn and 0.7 to 1.8% Pb. 

Environmental clearance for production: 

Geomysore has applied for a 

400,000 tpy mine and concentrator 

mine on its Jonnagiri gold prospect in 

Andhra Pradesh, and Ramgad, a subsidiary 

of iron ore miner MSPL, for a 

300,000 tpy mine and mill on its Sangli 

gold deposit in Karnataka. Neither company 

has released resource estimates. 

Pebble Creek obtained environmental 

clearance for production at its Askot 

VMS deposit in Uttarakhand. 

In order to have the best of both 

worlds, here is our ongoing catalog of 

Western services firms that have offices 

in India or business associations with 

Indian firms. These include exploration, 

drilling, geochemical analysis and 

assaying, engineering, metallurgy, feasibility 

studies and mine and mill construction: 

Alcock McPhar, AMC, Atlas 

Copco, Ausenco/Sandwell, CRU, Elliott 

Geophysics, Environmental Quality 

Management Systems (EQMS), Golder, 

Hatch, Met-Chem, Mitchell Drilling, 

Moonlake, Pinnacle Drilling, Salva, 

SGS, Shiva Analyticals, SRK, Tech know, 

Transnational Drilling and Mining 

Associates (TDMA), Wardrop and 

Versadril. Please send any omissions or 

corrections to us at nevin@pebcreek.com. 

The Geological Survey of India’s 

mandate has been far broader of late 

than most geological surveys and it has 

been overtaken by changing times. The 

Ministry of Mines’ “High Powered 

Committee” (yes, that’s its name!) 

released its comprehensive report on the 

GSI, noting its glorious 158-year history, 

continuing with some current dysfunctions, 

and concluding with astute recommendations. 

See http://mines.nic.in, 

Geological Survey of India tab, then the 

tab GSI Portal. 

By now the new Congress Party-led 

government is old news. We hope it 

exercises its strong mandate for reform 

as initiated and promoted by Prime 

Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh throughout 

his long career in public service. 

LAOS 

Amanta Resources granted Japan Oil, 

Gas, and Metals National Corp (“JOG- 

MEC”) an option to earn a 51% interest 

in the Luang Namtha Cu project in 

northern Laos by investing US$3M prior 

to end Mar 2012. 

Exploration drilling by Oz Minerals 

at Thengkham South (Sepon Copper) 

cut new copper skarn to the north of 

previously identified mineralization. 

Better results include 30 m at 1.3% Cu 

and 0.4 g/t Au (155 m downhole) and 

20 m at 2.7% Cu and 0.3 g/t Au (38 m 

downhole). A small drilling program at 

Sepon Gold was completed at Nalou 

South, returning only low-grade values 

(up to 6 m at 0.7 g/t Au). 

China Minmetals Non-Ferrous 

Metals Co., Ltd. (“Minmetals”) offered 

US$1,206M to financially troubled 

miner OZ Minerals for its miningexploration 

assets, including Sepon 

Copper and Sepon Gold—see above. 

Excluded from the sale are the 

Prominent Hill Cu-Au mine (S 

Australia), the Martabe Au project 

(Indonesia) (to be sold to another 

Chinese group), certain exploration 

assets in Cambodia and Thailand, and 

equity holdings in listed companies. 

PanAust announced an updated 

reserve/resource for its flagship Phu 

Kham Cu-Au operation. Proven and 

probable resources sum to 146 Mt @ 

0.66% Cu, 0.26 g/t Au, and 2.1 g/t Ag 

whereas measured, indicated, and 

inferred resources amount to 194 Mt @ 

0.65% Cu, 0.25 g/t Au, and 2.0 g/t Ag 

(0.3% Cu cutoff). Taken together, Phu 

Kham contains 4.89 B lbs Cu, 2.76 Moz 

Au, and 22.2 Moz Ag. 

The appetite for resource companies 

by the Chinese wasn’t sated by OZ 

Minerals and Rio Tinto—wholly stateowned 

Guangdong Rising Assets 

Management will invest A$180M 

(~US$141M) to acquire a 19.9% interest 

in PanAust. Guangdong operates a 

number of Pb-Zn-Ag, Fe ore, W, V-Ti, 

and REE mines in Guangdong and 

Guangxi provinces, S China. 

MONGOLIA 

Unionized employees of Centerra 

Gold’s Boroo mine initiated a work 

stoppage over wage demands. As a 

result, mining and milling at Boroo 

have been temporarily suspended. 

Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto continue 

to await the approval for the Oyu 

Tolgoi Cu-Au investment agreement. 

Some analysts believe that the May 25 th 

election victory of President Ts. 

Elbegdorj, a member of the opposition 

Democratic party, may complicate matters 

for the miners because of his populist, 

antiforeign inclinations. 

Khan Resources released the feasibility 

study results for its Dornod U 

project showing an IRR (after tax) of 

29.1% and NPV (10% discount) of 

US$276M. Study employed a long-term 

U price of US$65/lb U3O8 and throughput 

of 3,500 mtpd over a 15-yr mine 

life, generating 3.0 M lb U3O8/yr at a 

cash cost of US$23.22/lb U3O8. 

Peabody Energy completed the ac - 

quisition of a 50% interest in Peabody- 

Polo Resources B.V., a joint venture 

that holds Polo Resources’ Mongolian 

coal interests. Peabody has committed 

to an investment of US$23M. 

The prefeasibility study for Red Hill 

Energy’s 100%-owned Ulaan Ovoo 

thermal coal project calculated an aftertax 

NPV (10% discount) of US$250M 

and a DCF-IRR of 19% based on an 

assumed coal price of US$76/Mt (fob, 

Port of Nadhodka). Initial capex costs 

are estimated to be US$337M to build a 

5.9 Mtpa saleable coal operation. 

SouthGobi Resources retracted the 

resource estimate announced last July 

for the West Field portion of its Ovoot 

Tolgoi coalfield after learning of errors 

made by The Americas Group 

(Lakewood, CO) which led to an overestimation 

of the resource. The current 

mining plan and operations will not be 

impacted as they are based on an earlier 

resource estimate. 

Western Prospector Group and 

CNNC International Ltd (“CNNC 

Intl”) announced a definitive agreement 

whereby CNNC Intl will offer to 

acquire all of the common shares of 

Western for C$0.56 per share in cash, 

valuing Western’s equity at ~C$31 M. 

As luck would have it, soon after the 

Mineral Resources Authority of 

Mongolia suspended Western’s exploration 

licenses for its Gurvanbulag U 

deposit, citing violations. Later CNNC 

Intl extended the offer beyond the initial 

closing date to June 29 th. 

PHILIPPINES 

Indophil Resources signed a MOU with 

Anvil Mining to assume Anvil’s position 

in an exploration and development 

agreement with Itogon Suyoc Resources 

regarding the Itogon Au project in the 

Baguio district in northern Luzon. 

Intex reported a substantial 64% 

increase in size of its Lower Kisluyan 

portion of the Mindoro Ni laterite 

deposit. The new measured & indicated 

laterite resources contain 92,359,000 

DMT (dry metric tonnes) grading 0.92% 

Ni (0.7% Ni cutoff) in addition to 

3,834,000 DMT of inferred resources. 

Two of the first three holes drilled by 

Medusa Mining at 

the Lingig Copper 

to page 

Discovery yielded 

40 ... 

EXPLORATION REVIEWS



... from 39 


thick intercepts of Cu-Au, including 224 

m of 0.77% Cu and 0.11 g/t Au (LIN-03) 

and 224 m of 0.62% Cu and 0.06 g/t Au 

(LIN-02). The intercepts were contained 

in a thrust fault located 1.2 km to the N 

of silica and clay altered quartz dacite 

intrusive complex. Ten drill holes (5,423 

m) over the large Kamarangan 

prospect yielded mostly 0.1 to 0.2% Cu 

and


intersections including hole MDQ0119 

(58 m @ 2.25% Mo, 29 g/t Rh and 

0.09% Cu from 408 m, including 20 m 

@ 6.26% Mo, 82 g/t Rh and 0.14% Cu) 

in which a 5.4m interval consisting of 

massive molybdenite enclosing sediment 

clasts assayed 19.3% Mo and 253 

g/t Rh! The deposit is hosted in a 

sheared-fault breccia developed in black 

shale and siltstone adjoining a granite, 

and forms part of the cluster of the 

Swan-Mt Elliott Cu-Au deposits which 

Ivanhoe claims to be “the largest 

announced IOCG system discovered in 

Australia since Olympic Dam.” 

Conceptually, the Merlin project is contemplated 

as a high-grade operation 

which would be mined via decline 

access. The high value ore would be 

processed via gravity concentration and 

flotation to produce a molybdenum 

concentrate containing rhenium. 

Drilling by Ivanhoe at the nearby 

Lanham’s Shaft prospect has confirmed 

the discovery of a second Merlintype 

system. Assays received for nine 

recent holes showed good molybdenum 

grades with encouraging copper, gold, 

rhenium and uranium, with a best 

intersection of 34 m @ 0.74% Mo, 3 g/t 

Re, 0.43 % Cu, 0.37 g/t Au and 232 

ppm U from 143 m. 

Icon Resources is has purchased the 

mothballed Mt. Carbine tungsten mine 

inland from Cairns, and has an option 

to acquire the processing plant from the 

nearby MetalsX Collingwood tin project 

to use at Mt Carbine. The company 

has brought in the Polymetals Group 

to develop and operate the Mt Carbine 

tailings re-treatment project, allowing 

Icon to concentrate on the redevelopment 

of the Mt Carbine hardrock mining 

operation. 

Wide-spaced soil sampling and geologic 

mapping by D’Aguilar Gold has 

located zones anomalous in chrome, 

nickel, and platinum over a strike 

length of about 4 km, near the Mimosa 

chromite prospect, about 35 km south 

of Mundubbera. The mineralization can 

be recognised as zones of massive 

chromite rubble within the soil, typically 

400 m long and 10 m wide. The 

prospect includes some historical diggings 

within Devonian basaltic volcanics 

and limestones, and tectonically 

emplaced serpentinite and ultramafics. 

Diatreme Resources has completed 

a 3-D induced polarization survey at 

the Rosevale Corridor, located 15 km 

SW of Clermont. The survey identified 

eight high priority drill targets that may 

represent porphyry-style copper-molybdenum 

systems. A deep diamond 

drilling program has commenced. 

Exploration drilling at Cracow (New - 

crest Mining, 70% and Lion Selection, 

30%) continued to focus on a new gold 

ore shoot 100 m south of the Kilkenny 

resource. Seven holes were recently completed 

defining mineralization over a 

200 × 150 m area with best intersections 

of 12.8 m (6 m true width) @ 14.2 g/t Au 

and 5.5 m (2.9 m true width) @ 3.7 g/t 

Au. 

NEW SOUTH WALES 

Cortona Resources has enjoyed continued 

success at its Majors Creek gold 

project located east of Canberra. The 

latest assays from recent drilling include 

positive results from Plums Lode and 

Hangingwall Lode, and the discovery 

of high-grade gold mineralization 

southwest of Dargues Reef, each of 

which highlights the potential for significant 

expansion to the Dargues Reef 

resource, which currently stands at 1.44 

Mt @ 6.2 g/t Au for 286 koz Au. The latest 

results include a broad, high grade 

intercept of 20 m @ 6 g/t Au from 158 

m in the Plum Lode. The last hole of the 

drill program swung appreciably at 

depth and failed to reach its planned 

target. But all was not lost as it did 

intersect a lode of previously unrecognized 

high-grade gold mineralization (4 

m @ 28.0 g/t Au), from 78 m downhole ! 

The Drake polymetallic mineral field 

in the New England orogen hosts Rex 

Minerals’ Mt Carrington gold-silver 

project, where recent drilling programs 

have been conducted at the Strauss, 

Guy Bell and Lady Hampden gold 

deposits. Best intersections were 20 m @ 

2.1 g/t Au and 16 m @ 4.3 g/t Au 

(Strauss), and 4 m @ 10.8 g/t Au (Guy 

Bell). In addition, high-grade copper-silver 

mineralization has been discovered 

near the Kylo gold resource, with best 

intersections of 18.7 m @ 5.9% Cu, 10.1 

m @ 6.3% Cu, and 9 m @ 290 g/t Ag. 

Goldminco has announced an 

update to the mineral resources at their 

Discovery Ridge gold project, where 

recent drilling has discovered a western 

lens. The Discovery Ridge resource has 

increased by 41% in contained ounces 

to 508Koz Au at a 0.5g/t Au cut-off 

grade, while a maiden resource was 

announced for Bald Hill of 37 Mt @ 0.5 

g/t Au for 596 koz Au at a 0.3 g/t Au 

cutoff grade. 

VICTORIA 

Northgate Minerals has continued 

aggressive near-mine exploration at the 

operating Fosterville and Stawell gold 

mines, respectively in central and western 

Victoria. At Stawell, two new mineralized 

zones were discovered close to 

current underground workings, with 

grades between 6.9 g/t Au and 18.1g/t 

Au over true thickness of approximately 

5 m for each zone. Resource definition 

drilling of these zones is currently 

underway. 

Goldsearch has continued explora - 

tion at the Mount Wellington project 

in eastern Victoria. For the Hill 800 

prospect, the company announced the 

inferred resource of 1.1Mt @ 1.5g/t Au, 

based on drilling completed in late 

1990s. At the Rhyolite Creek prospect, 

a follow-up drilling program was completed 

to test the lateral extent of a previously 

discovered mineralized shear 

zone (5.6 m @ 2 g/t Au, 34 g/t Ag and 

4.7% Zn from 220 m). One hole, partially 

funded by the Rediscover Victoria 

initiative of the Victorian government, 

intersected the mineralized zone 300 m 

from the nearest intercept, with the best 

result of 2.6 m @ 2 g/t Au and 13 g/t Ag 

from 178m. 

Synergy Metals has announced an 

inferred resource of 0.3 Mt @ 7 g/t Au 

and 11 g/t Ag at the Glen Wills project 

in eastern Victoria. This resource is in 

addition to the inferred resource of 0.1 

Mt @ 2.6 g/t Au in tailings at Glen 

Wills and the previously announced 

inferred resource of 80 kt @ 7g/t Au at 

the Sunnyside prospect, 5 km away. 

TASMANIA 

Bass Metals has announced high-grade 

intersections below the northern end of 

the P-Q pit at the Que River mine in 

the Mt Read Volcanics. Better results 

include 6.6 m @ 4.0 g/t Au, 465 g/t Ag, 

24.2% Zn, 11.6% Pb and 0.7% Cu, and 

7.9 m @ 5.1 g/t Au, 250 g/t Ag, 18.8% 

Zn, 10.3% Pb, and 0.5% Cu. The company 

also expects to complete a feasibility 

study into mining the Hellyer 

remnants and Fossey zone in mid-2009. 

A five-year mine life with a throughput 

of 250 to 400 kt per annum is under 

consideration for the project. 

Metals X has reported several high 

grade tin intersections into the Federal 

zone at their carbonate replacement 

Renison Bell mine, including 10.9 m @ 

4.45% Sn, 4.05m @ 9.43% Sn and 5.7 m 

@ 5.04% Sn. 

Proto Resources has announced further 

intersections of lateritic nickel-cobalt 

mineralization, including 9m @ 1.7% 

Ni and 0.07% Co, and iron mineralization, 

including 16 m of 43.1% Fe at their 

Barnes Hill project north of Launceston. 

The company has also announced that 

it expects the final phase of the Barnes 

Hill feasibility study to be completed 

by the second 

to page 

quarter of 2010. 

42 ... 

EXPLORATION REVIEWS



... from 41 


SOUTH AUSTRALIA 

Oz Minerals’ Prominent Hill IOCG 

mine commenced production in Febru - 

ary, with first copper-gold concentrates 

being railed out to Darwin for export. 

Resources continue to expand at the 

deposit, with the most recent drilling 

campaign increasing the “Western 

Copper” deposit by 32% to 245 kt of 

contained copper. Inferred Resources at 

the Western Copper deposit now stand 

at 14.5Mt @ 1.7% Cu, 0.28g/t Au and 

3.7 g/t Ag. Total resources at Prominent 

Hill stand at 283.2 Mt @ 0.9% Cu, 0.8 

g/t Au and 2.5 g/t Ag (2.5 Mt Cu, 7.4 

Moz Au, and 22.6 Moz Ag). Oz Minerals 

plans to produce 85 to 100 kt of copper 

and 60 to 70 koz of gold in concentrates 

in 2009. The deposit remains open to 

the east, west, and at depth. 

An interesting aside to the success of 

Prominent Hill (discovered by Minotaur 

Resources in 2001) is the fact that it was 

perceived to be “the jewel in the crown” 

in the Oz Minerals stable (which 

included the Rosebery, Century, and 

Golden Grove base metal mines in 

Australia and the Martabe gold project 

in Indonesia) during the recent takeover 

negotiations with the China Minmetals 

Group. The Foreign Investment Review 

Board of thefederal government 

approved the takeover but ruled that 

the Prominent Hill mine should be 

excluded from the takeover on national 

security grounds as it was located 

within the vast Woomera rocket rang; 

hence, Prominent Hill remains with Oz 

Minerals, while most of the other assets 

are now owned by Minmetals. 

BHP Billiton is seeking the approval 

of the Australian, South Australian, 

and Northern Territory governments for 

a significant expansion of its existing 

mining and processing operation at 

Olympic Dam in northern South 

Australia. The Olympic Dam mine 

produces copper, uranium, gold, and 

silver from a massive IOCG deposit. 

It is the world’s fourth largest copper 

and gold deposit, and the largest uranium 

deposit. It also contains significant 

quantities of silver. The proposed 

expansion would be a progressive 

development, requiring construction 

activity over a period of 11 years. 

The company plans for the new open 

pit mine to operate simultaneously with 

the existing underground operations— 

and remember that the deposit is buried 

under 300 m of younger cover rocks! 

Once the new expansion is completed, 

mining rates will increase to 72 Mtpa, 

compared to the current mining rate of 

12 Mtpa from the underground operations. 

This will produce 2.4 Mt of copper 

concentrate each year and 750 kt of 

refined copper, along with 19 kt of uranium 

oxide, 800 koz of gold bullion and 

2.9 Moz of silver bullion. 

WESTERN AUSTRALIA 

In recent years, companies have 

explored beneath the oxide gold 

deposits in the WA deserts for primary 

gold deposits, and at its DeGrussa 

prospect in the Meekatharra district, 

Sandfire Resources has hit the jackpot. 

A program of 30 reverse circulation drill 

holes was completed to teat for depth 

extensions to a 220-m-long zone of previously 

discovered oxide gold mineralization. 

The holes intersected an extensive 

zone of Cu-Au-Ag mineralization 

(with Zn and Pd credits), with better 

intersections including 47m @ 5.3% 

Cu, 26 m @ 3.2% Cu, 75 m @ 2.4% Cu, 

and 22 m @ 4.9% Cu. Resource definition 

drilling is underway, as are airborne, 

ground, and downhole EM surveys 

as the mineralization is strongly 

conductive. 

In order to attract exploration to the 

more remote regions of Australia, the 

state and federal agencies are systematically 

collecting regional geologic, geochemical, 

and geophysical datasets, 

and releasing these to explorers at minimal 

cost. One winner from this wise 

investment has been Meteoric 

Resources. The company has secured 

priority right of application to a regional 

10 ´ 8 km gold-in-soil anomaly which 

was identified by a helicopter-supported 

regional geochemical sampling program 

carried out by Geological Survey of WA 

following field work by Geoscience 

Australia which highlighted the coppergold 

and gold potential of the Mt Webb 

area in the western part of the Arunta 

Complex. The Arunta Complex extends 

across the WA/NT border and comprises 

an extensive sequence of Proterozoic 

metamorphic rocks intruded by granites. 

The main anomaly is based on 

regolith samples taken on a grid cell of 

5 × 2.5 km equating to one sample per 

12.5 km2 . This wide-spaced sampling 

has defined a coherent gold anomaly 

with gold-in-soil values ranging from 

10 to 20 times background (1 ppb Au) 

and one lag sample (surficial rock 

float) containing 0.4g/t Au. The gold 

anomaly is supported by anomalies in 

a range of other elements. 

Integra Mining has reported further 

high-grade intersections from diamond 

drilling at its Salt Creek gold deposit, 

forming part of its Randalls gold project 

located 60 km east of Kalgoorlie, 

adjoining the Trans Australian Railway. 

Recent intersections have included 40.5 

m @ 6.48 g/t Au and 15.5 m @ 4.51 g/t 

Au. The feasibility study for the Randalls 

project is expected to be completed 

midyear, based on a resource of 1.8 M 

oz Au at a grade of 2.8 g/t Au. 

A step-out drill hole at Mincor 

Resources’ Mariners nickel mine 

assayed 35 m @ 7.0% Ni (true width 6.4 

m) located 180 m beyond the currently 

known limits of mineralization and 

suggesting the potential for new ore 

shoots. 

NORTHERN TERRITORY 

Emmerson Resources’ exploration 

efforts in the Tennant Creek goldfield 

have been boosted by the entry of 

Ivanhoe Australia as a shareholder in 

the company and also as a joint-venture 

partner in all of Emmerson’s tenements 

in the district. Tennant Creek is one of 

the richest and largest Proterozoic goldfields 

in Australia with historical production 

of more than 5.5 Moz of highgrade 

gold and approximately 488 kt of 

copper. 

NEW ZEALAND 

Perth-based Western Media Holdings 

launched www.nzresources.com, which 

features news about mineral and 

energy resources in New Zealand. They 

also published The Mineral Resources of 

New Zealand 2009, a CD-ROM containing 

information on mines, prospects 

and companies. It is available from 

them, or in the New Zealand Minerals 

Information Pack offered by Crown 

Minerals, see www.crownminerals.govt. 

nz/cms/minerals/publications/publica 

tions#NZinfopack. 

In the Hauraki goldfield, Newmont 

has continued drilling near-mine epithermal 

gold prospects adjoining their 

Waihi gold mine and have also initiated 

reconnaissance diamond drilling 

on Glass Earth Gold permits approximately 

15 km to the north of Waihi. 

Encouraged by the recent high gold 

price, Newmont is investigating both an 

eastern extension to the Martha open 

pit and underground mining of the 

Gladstone zone from a drive extension 

from the Favona underground mine. 

At Oceana Gold’s Macraes orogenic 

gold mine in Otago, 34 drill holes were 

completed to test the northeastern 

extension of the Coronation deposit,


~5 km north of the current mining area. 

Significant intercepts (with grades >1 

g/t Au over 1–5 m) exist within both 

the hanging-wall shear zone itself and 

a semi-concordant lode that occurs 

about 10 m below. Both appear to be 

shallow, north-plunging ore shoots. At 

the Macreas mine, exploration drilling 

from underground is in progress to further 

define the Panel 2 Deeps mineralised 

zone, with mineralized intercepts 

ranging from 2 to 27 m in thickness. 

Average grades across these intervals 

range up to 7.2 g/t Au using a 10 g/t 

Au top cut. Development work has 

started on an exploration drive above 

the main mineralization at the fringes 

of Panel 2 to provide an area from 

which underground exploration and 

resource definition drilling can be efficiently 

completed. 

CANADA 

Contributing Correspondent: Ryan Weston 

P.Geo., Consulting Geologist 

weston.rj@gmail.com 

Canadian Correspondent: 

Ross Sherlock, Gold Fields Canada 

QUEBEC 

For the second year in a row, Quebec 

has once again topped the ranks as the 

world’s number one jurisdiction for 

mining and mineral exploration investment, 

according to the Fraser Institute’s 

2008-2009 survey of mining companies. 

This is, no doubt, due largely to the 

favorable tax incentives mining and 

exploration companies enjoy while ex - 

ploring in Quebec, including significant 

tax credits for eligible exploration ex - 

penses (up to 50% government rebates), 

and the ability to raise money via superflow 

through share issuance (whereby 

both provincial and federal tax credits 

apply). Substantial capital raisings by 

some of Quebec’s most active junior 

players (e.g., Osisko Mining $403 M in 

February 2009; Aurizon Mines $50M in 

April 2009) during the height of the current 

credit crisis supports this view. 

World-class geologic potential, highquality 

government survey reporting, 

up-to-date tenure information available 

over the internet and the recent switch 

(2000) to paper-based map staking have 

all contributed to Quebec’s thriving 

exploration industry. 

Exploration expenditures in 2008 

topped out at $450M (down from $476M 

in 2007), the bulk of which was spent 

by junior mining companies. In 2007– 

2008, exploration largely focused on 

gold (47.4% of exploration expenditures) 

and to a lesser extent base metals 

(24.8%), uranium (14.9%), ferrous metals 

(6.1%), and diamonds (5.6%). Active 

exploration claims presently cover 

120,000 km 2 , or roughly 7.8% of the 

province, a record high. 

In the gold sector, several exploration 

companies have been busy defining 

high-grade resources, and in the 

case of a lucky few, bringing into production 

quality gold mines in time to 

enjoy the riches of $900+/oz gold. 

Within the Val d’Or camp of the 

famous Abitibi greenstone belt, notable 

projects moving forward include Osisko’s 

Canadian Malarctic deposit with 

proven and probable mineral reserves 

of 6.3 Moz at 1.1 g/t Au. A positive feasibility 

study released in Nov/08 estimates 

annual production of 0.6 Moz 

gold over a 10-year mine life with cash 

costs of $319/oz. Capital expenditures 

are expected to total $789M. The deposit 

is interpreted to be an Archean-age gold 

porphyry, and as such represents a new 

target in the Abitibi subprovince, where 

most gold deposits occur as structurally 

controlled mesothermal veins. Aurizon 

Mines’ Casa Berardi gold mine, located 

130 km northwest of Val d’Or, restarted 

in 2006 and has produced 375,000 oz 

Au since. With reserves of 0.96 Moz @ 

7.8 g/t Au, the mine is projected to produce 

150,000 oz Au in 2009 at cash 

costs of $390/oz. Another junior breaking 

through to producer, Alexis Minerals 

began producing at its Lac Herbin mine 

in Sept/08. The mine, with a global 

resource of 280,000oz at 6 to 8 g/t Au is 

targeting 40,000 oz production in 2009 

at cash costs of $545/oz. Alexis is also 

developing its Lac Pelletier deposit 

(216,405 oz at 5.4g/t Au) and continues 

exploration at its West Ansil polymetallic 

VMS discovery in the Noranda camp. 

In Aug/08 Agnico Eagle’s Goldex mine 

began commercial production with 

36,000 oz Au produced in 2008 at cash 

costs of $318/oz. With proven and probable 

reserves of 1.6 Moz at 2.1 g/t Au, 

the mine is slated to produce 160 koz 

Au/year to 2017. At its LaRonde Aurich 

VMS mine, Agnico Eagle is busy 

constructing access to the LaRonde 

Extension, which will add 19.9 Mt at 6 

g/t Au for a further 3.8 Moz, extending 

the mine life to 2021. IAMGOLD completed 

a positive preliminary economic 

assessment of its Westwood deposit 

located 40km east of Noranda. The 

deposit hosts 3.2 Moz at 8.6 g/t Au. The 

study forecasts 200 koz Au production 

annually for the first 13 years at cash 

costs of $290/oz. The company is aiming 

for production to begin by 2013. 

A new and exciting gold district is 

emerging in the James Bay area of western 

Quebec as a result of the discovery 

of the Eleanore deposit in 2004 by 

Virginia Gold Mines (now Virginia 

Mines). In 2005 Goldcorp purchased 

Eleanore for $420M and by Dec/08 the 

Roberto zone of the project contained a 

measured, indicated, and inferred 

resource of 5.3 Moz at 11.4 g/t Au. The 

project is currently undergoing in-house 

feasibility studies. The project straddles 

the contact between the Opinaca 

metasedimentary subprovince and the 

Archean La Grande volcanoplutonic 

subprovince. Supracrustal rocks of the 

region are intruded by synvolcanic, syntectonic, 

and post to late-tectonic 

tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite 

suites (TTG). Eastmain Resources’ Eau 

Claire deposit, located 40 km southeast 

of Eleanore and within the same geologic 

belt, contains an indicated and 

inferred resource of approximately 1 

Moz within high-grade (7–10 g/t Au) 

quartz-tourmaline veins. 

In Quebec’s Grenville province, 

Laurentian Goldfields has staked 

1,200 km2 in pursuit of a Tropicanastyle 

gold target. Until recently, the 

Grenville province has experienced limited 

past exploration; however, the geologic 

setting and age of the Grenville 

province and adjacent Archean Superior 

province is a close analogy to Western 

Australia’s Albany-Fraser Proterozoic 

belt which hosts AngloGold Ashanti’s 

Tropicana deposit (reported to host 

more than 5 Moz Au), adjacent to the 

Archean Yilgarn craton. Laurentian’s 

target model is being supported by a 

recently announced $5.8M investment 

over three years from major AngloGold 

Ashanti. 

Despite depressed metal prices, base 

metal exploration continues in Quebec’s 

greenstone belts. In July 2008, Xstrata 

Zinc inaugurated its Perseverance polymetallic 

VMS mine located in the historic 

Matagami camp. The deposit contains 

5 Mt of 13.6% Zn, 1% Cu, 0.3g/t 

Au and 30g/t Ag and has an expected 

mine life of 5.5 years. First Metals 

began production at its Fabie Bay copper 

VMS mine near Rouyn-Noranda in 

Mar 2008. The mine has reserves of 0.6 

Mt @ 2.8% Cu. Virginia Mines and 

Breakwater Resources recently released 

a resource on their jointly owned Coulon 

VMS project in north-central Quebec of 

13.7 Mt at 1.3% Cu, 3.8% Zn, 35 g/t Ag 

and 0.2 g/t Au. In nickel exploration, 

Goldbrook Ventures and partner Jilin 

Jien Nickel Industry 

have discovered a 

to page 

new deposit at their 

44 ... 

EXPLORATION REVIEWS



... from 43 


Mystery project in the Cape Smith 

nickel belt in the far north. Highlights 

from 8,162 m drilled in 2008 include up 

to 131 m at 0.8% Ni, 0.9% Cu and 3 g/t 

PGE, and 76.3 m of 0.9% Ni, 1.1% Cu 

and 2.9 g/t PGE. 

In diamond exploration, Stornoway 

Diamonds and joint-venture partner 

SOQUEM have received a positive economic 

assessment for the Renard diamond 

project on the Foxtrot property 

north of the Otish mountains area in 

central Quebec. Indicated and inferred 

resources now stand at 11.5M carats at 

61.1 carats/100t. 

EUROPE 


Paul W. Kuhn (SEG 1983) 

Metallica Mining AS 

Oslo, Norway 

E-mail (temporary): paulk@wegamining.com 

Contributing Correspondents: 

Evgeny Pluschev – Bulgaria 

Ozcan Yigit (SEG 2002 F) – Turkey 

Christina Lundmark (SEG 2006) – Sweden 

Pasi Eilu (SEG 2002) – Finland 

Peter Kodera (SEG 2002) – Slovakia 

Mac Canby (SEG 2003) 

Despite the continued economic downturn 

and the advent of worldwide recession, 

quality exploration and development 

projects continue to quietly move 

forward around Europe. Most of the 

positive news includes funding of good 

advanced targets, funding of mine 

development and construction, significant 

resource upgrades, positive permitting 

progress, and consolidation of 

smaller, perhaps cash-strapped companies, 

into larger, more economically 

viable entities. Funds for grassroots 

exploration are clearly limited, but 

money for more advanced stage exploration 

projects can be and has been 

found in the market. 

Economic downturn is also seemingly 

providing an unanticipated “silver” 

lining for mining companies in 

that the worldwide resource nationalism 

during the recent times of extremely 

high metals prices has begun to be 

superceded by resource pragmatism. 

Governments and mining companies 

are beginning to work together to find 

common ground in all facets of the 

mining business, allowing for projects 

to continue in a safe and environmentally 

and socially positive manner. New 

mining laws, fair to all stakeholders and 

properly enforced, are showing up in 

many places of exploration and mining 

interest. For those with future vision 

(plus good projects and access to financing!), 

investment now, in tough times, 

should reap great benefits in the more 

positive times ahead. 

Following is an extensive country by 

country review of the exploration business 

in Europe during the March-April- 

May time period. Not all news comes 

from the field… 

ALBANIA 

Tirex Resources announced the closing 

of two financings totaling ~C$ 2.4 million, 

to fund the ongoing exploration 

program on their Mirdita property. The 

underexplored Mirdita district includes 

a number of known VMS deposits and 

exciting potential for discovery of further, 

significant deposits. 

ARMENIA 

The most significant news from 

Armenia is the first independent 

resource announcement concerning the 

Amulsar high sulfidation epithermal 

gold deposit discovered by the Lydian 

International-Newmont Overseas 

Exploration joint venture. Lydian 

announced a mineral resource of 1 Moz 

of oxide zone gold at the Tigranes- 

Artavasdes prospect in the Amulsar 

project area. Exploration is ongoing at 

several more targets on the property. 

The project has the looks of becoming a 

new gold district. Lydian also announced 

that the government of Armenia had 

awarded the company a 25-year mining 

license for the Amulsar project, this 

being one of the first mining licenses 

granted under the new Armenian mining 

law. Lydian also raised approximately 

C$1.4M from the International 

Finance Corporation for continued ex - 

ploration at Amulsar by completing a 

previously announced private placement. 

The re-opening of the Shahumyan 

polymetallic mine at Kapan was 

announced by Dundee Precious Metals, 

Inc. Finalization of the agreement with 

the Armenian government on the extension 

of the mining license and a miningconcentrating 

optimization program 

clearly contributed to the restart plans. 

AUSTRIA 

Sandvik AB, the Swedish equipment 

manufacturer, is purchasing the 

Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten GmbH 

tungsten mine and processing plant in 

St. Martin and Mittersill, Austria. 

Sandvik is the mine’s largest customer 

for its tungsten carbide powder product. 

BULGARIA 

Dundee Precious Metals, Inc. completed 

a positive update to the Chelopech 

Cu-Au mine expansion plans feasibility, 

including a new reserve and resource 

estimate. The project is now moving forward 

after completion of an agreement 

between Dundee and the Bulgarian 

government on the joint construction of 

the copper-gold processing plant. 

FINLAND 

Activity related to gold exploration, 

development, and production remains 

positive in Finland, while relatively low 

base and ferrous metal, uranium, and 

PGE prices have curtailed or halted 

activity in those commodities. 

At the Kittila mine, Agnico Eagle 

has increased reserves to 3.2 Moz of 

gold, with planned annual production 

of 150,000 oz per year until at least 

2023. Development of the mine continues, 

with commissioning of the autoclave 

ongoing and underground development 

continuing according to plan. 

Commercial production is expected by 

midyear. The company is currently 

working on an expansion study which 

should be completed by the end of 

2009. Exploration at Kittila continues 

with 11 rigs working on the property, 

with focus on resource conversion below 

the Suuri and Roura deposits, and 

along strike. 

Dragon Mining continues to mine 

gold at Orivesi, while continuing to 

explore and expand the deposit. Pit 

optimization studies at the Jokisivu 

open cut mine have been completed, 

and Dragon is ready to open the mine. 

Exploration along the Hanhimaa shear 

zone, 10 km west of the Kittila mine in 

the Central Lapland greenstone belt, 

has resulted in the discovery of three 

gold-silver-base metal occurrences. 

Work is ongoing. 

Nordic Mines reports an upgraded 

resource of just over 1 Moz gold at the 

Laiva deposit in west central Finland. 

Endomines has announced an increase 

of 90% in resources to 200,000 oz for 

four of the gold deposits held by the 

company in the Ilomantisi greenstone 

belt in easternmost Finland. However, it 

is probable that both companies still 

need significant funding in order to 

become miners. 

GREECE 

Eldorado Gold Corporation is in the 

process of completing a pre-environmental 

impact assessment for its


Perama Hill low-sulfidation oxide gold 

project in northern Greece. Approval of 

the document by the Greek government 

would lead to the submission of a full 

impact assessment in 2010 and possible 

final approval of the EIA in 2011. Under 

this schedule, mine construction could 

commence in 2011. 

Production continues at the Stratoni 

Pb-Zn-Ag mine in northern Greece, 

operated by European Goldfields Ltd. 

(EGO). The company is continuing with 

an ongoing development program at 

the mine and believes that the mine 

exploration program will replenish 

reserves mined each year. At the 

Skouries porphyry Au-Cu development 

project, located 35 km from Stratoni, 

European Goldfields has now received 

the basic engineering package for development 

of the mine. Procurement of 

long lead time processing equipment is 

underway and various engineering and 

architectural studies are moving 

towards completion. Finally, at EGO’s 

third project in Greece, the Olympias 

massive sulfide deposit, located 8 km 

from Stratoni, the company continues 

to sell gold from stockpiled pyrite concentrates. 

The company is working 

closely with the Greek Ministry of 

Environment to produce an acceptable 

EIA to treat the historical tailings from 

the old mine to extract the remaining 

gold and to clean up the Olympias 

Valley. EGO is also working with the 

authorities to produce a plan to mine 

the rest of the Olympias deposit. 

European Goldfields is actively 

exploring in northern Greece and has 

identified four new zones of potential 

massive sulfide mineralization near 

Stratoni, Olympias, and the Piavista 

massive sulfide deposit. EGO has identified 

two large targets in a 17 × 8 km belt 

of porphyry intrusive rocks. Porphyrystyle 

mineralization has been identified 

in the field, and the company plans to 

drill at these targets in conjunction with 

exploration work at Piavista. 

IRELAND 

Minco plc and JV partner Xstrata continue 

to drill on the Pallas Green project, 

located at the southern boundary 

of the Irish Midland orefield in County 

Limerick. Four drills are presently operating 

in the Northeast Extension area 

and in the southern extension of the 

Tobermalug zinc-lead massive sulfide 

deposit. Tobermalug is one of a cluster 

of sulfide lenses situated in a 25-kmlong 

and 2-km-wide west-northwest– 

trending alteration zone. 

The Galmoy mine, located in County 

Kilkenny and operated by Lundin 

Min ing Company, will cease mining 

operations during 2Q, 2009. Lundin 

reported that low zinc prices were the 

main reason for closure and that operations 

will wind down in an orderly fashion. 

Following closure, remaining rehabilitation 

of the mine site will be 

completed. 

Belmore Resources holds 11 exploration 

licenses in County Clare in SE 

Ireland. Lundin Mining recently signed 

an earn-in agreement with Belmore to 

operate the County Clare JV. Presently 

there are three rigs active on the 

Kilbricken discovery, and Belmore has 

already announced a 21+ m intercept of 

15.8% zinc + lead and 94.4 g/t silver. 

KOSOVO 

Lydian International announced that 

they had completed a private placement 

with the European Bank of Reconstruc - 

tion and Development for approximately 

C$1.6M. The funds will help 

with the exploration of the Drazhnje 

Zn-Pb-Ag massive sulfide prospect. 

NORWAY 

London-based Avocet Mining has 

nearly completed a takeover bid for 

Oslo-based gold explorer and mine 

developer, Wega Mining ASA. Wega is 

constructing the Inata gold mine in 

Burkina Faso, while Avocet operates 

Penjom gold mine in Malaysia and the 

North Lanut gold mine in Indonesia. 

POLAND 

Adelaide-based Strzelecki Metals (formerly 

Primary Resources) provided an 

inferred resource for the Myszkow porphyry 

Mo-Cu-W deposit in southern 

Poland. The deposit contains 726 Mt of 

0.12% Mo equivalent inferred resource, 

located within a larger envelope of 

1,327 Mt of 0.096% Mo-equivalent mineralization. 

The deposit appears to be 

one of the largest known porphyry Mo 

deposits. The Polish Government originally 

outlined the deposit in the 1970s 

and 1980s. 

PORTUGAL 

Lundin Mining continues to replace 

and add reserves to the Neves-Corvo 

copper-zinc mine in the pyrite belt of 

southern Portugal. Copper reserves were 

largely replaced by infill drilling during 

2008. Zinc reserve tonnage increased by 

67%, largely from the Lombador South 

and Neves South deposits within the 

mine area. Zinc measured and indicated 

resources increased by 30%, with 

the majority of the mineralization coming 

from the recently discovered 

Lombador East deposit, which remains 

open both up- and downdip. The mine 

has been in operation since 1989. 

ROMANIA 

Gabriel Resources will raise approximately 

C$100M in a public offering and 

a concurrent private placement. The 

funds will be used for social and development 

work at Rosia Montana. The 

company reports that local and 

regional politicians are voicing strong 

support for the project to the new coalition 

government. Unemployment in the 

Rosia Montana area is over 80%. Is 

there a message here? 

European Goldfields announced 

completion of a definitive feasibility 

study for the Certej Au-Ag project, 

acceptance of the study by the government, 

the update of mining permits, 

and an extension of the potential mine 

life to 16 years. Permitting is in the final 

stages, and the company appears to be 

working well with all stakeholders. 

SLOVAKIA 

As reported in the last issue of SEG 

Newsletter, EMED Mining announced a 

1.1 Moz resource at the Biely Vrch 

deposit in the Detva gold district. What 

is equally interesting is the potential for 

more gold and gold-copper deposits in 

the porphyry district. The Detva district 

has been explored and mined intermittently 

for past 1,000 years, but only 

now is being explored in a systematic 

manner. EMED has advanced at least 

four other prospects to drilling stage, or 

close to drilling stage. 

SPAIN 

Inmet Mining resumed mining operations 

and copper production at the Las 

Cruces VMS copper deposit, located near 

Seville at the eastern end of the Iberian 

pyrite belt. Mining had been suspended 

due to regulatory concerns over use of 

water in the mine. The Water Authority 

of Andalucia is now in the process of 

amending the water permit for the mine. 

Iberian Minerals completed an 

underwritten financing of C$40M. The 

funds will be used to complete construction 

of the Aguas Tenidas copper-zinc 

mine. The VMS deposit is located in the 

central part, northernmost limb of the 

Spanish portion of the Iberian PYRITE 

belt. The mine achieved start-up in both 

copper and zinc circuits, but had to curtail 

activity until acquisition of funding. 

The mining plan for the near future is 

to extract higher grade massive and 

stockwork copper ore, and explore and 

delineate easily accessible 

copper-bearing stock- 

to page 

work material. 

46 ... 

EXPLORATION REVIEWS



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The most entertaining news in the 

Spanish exploration-mining scene is the 

fight for Kinbauri Gold and its El Valle 

copper-gold skarn deposit located in the 

Rio Narcea gold belt of northern Spain. 

On one side is a proposed JV between 

Kinbauri and Glen Eagle Resources to 

(re)construct the El Valle mine, which 

previously had been operated by Rio 

Narcea Gold Mines. And on the other 

side is a proposed takeover for the 

whole of Kinbauri by Orvana Minerals 

Corp., which operates the Don Mario 

polymetallic mine in Bolivia. At time of 

writing, we were waiting for the opening 

bell of round 3, which includes a 

court action brought on by Jaguar 

Financial Corporation against 

Kinbauri to restrain the potential Glen 

Eagle transaction. Wow! Stay tuned. 

Permitting at the Rio Tinto mine is 

progressing, according to EMED Mining. 

The company recently submitted “ex - 

panded and refined project documents” 

to the Spanish regulatory authorities. 

SWEDEN 

Gold-Ore Resources Ltd. now considers 

the development of the Bjorkdal mine, 

located in the eastern part of the 

Skellefteå district, to be substantially 

complete and in commercial production. 

The company has implemented an 

expansion in both the open pit and 

underground workings, and is targeting 

annualized production of 50,000 oz of 

gold per year in 2009. Bjorkdal is 

described by the company as an intrusion-related 

gold system. 

Avalon Minerals Ltd. announced an 

A$1M underwritten rights issue to fund 

a new drilling campaign at the Viscaria 

copper deposit in the Norbotten area 

close to the Kiruna iron mine. Viscaria 

is a copper-iron greenstone-hosted 

deposit, interpreted to be a VMS deposit. 

IGE Nordic AB announced a NI 43- 

101 compliant mineral resource estimate 

for the Rönnbäcken nickel project in 

northern Sweden. Total indicated and 

inferred resources at the project are 247.8 

Mt at 0.114% Ni in sulfides. The company 

is now targeting a resource of 320 

to 375 Mt of 0.10 to 0.15% Ni in sulfides. 

TURKEY 

Eldorado Gold Corp. announced that 

an internal review of the Kı lada gold 

mine operations in U ak province identified 

opportunities to increase production 

by 30 to 40% and lower unit costs 

by up to 15%. The mine’s gold inventory 

presently stands at 5.5 Moz of reserves 

and 10.4 Moz of resources. Additionally, 

construction at the Efemçukuru low 

tointermediate sulfidation epithermal 

deposit, near Izmir, is continuing. Startup 

of production is forecast for mid-2010. 

Anatolia Minerals Development 

Ltd. has raised approximately C$120M 

this spring in a public offering and project 

debt financing. The majority of the 

funds will be used to complete construction 

of the Çöpler Au-Ag mine in central 

Turkey, near Erzıncan. A significant 

portion of the money will be used to better 

define the extent and amount of gold 

mineralization in the sulfide zone of the 

porphyry deposit. Anatolia plans to drill 

upward of 12,000 m in the program. 

Ariana Resources began trial mining 

at the Sındırgı low sulfidation epithermal 

vein deposit. The company 

continues to explore the numerous 

veins in the district. 

Aldridge Minerals Inc. is proceeding 

with metallurgical testing of its 

Yenipazar VMS deposit, located near 

Yozgat in west-central Turkey. 

Koza Altın continues to mine gold at 

three small, low-sulfidation epithermal 

deposits: Ovacık and Küçükdere in the 

Izmir-Balıkesir area of western Turkey, 

and Mastra, near Gümü hane in northeastern 

Turkey. 

LATIN AMERICA 


Mark I. Pfau (SEG 2001) 

Tellurian Exploration, Inc. 

Missoula, Montana 

E-mail: markpfau@fastmail.fm 

Country Correspondents: 

Angelo Peri (SEG 1992) – Argentina and Chile 

Erme Enriquez (SEG 1985) – Mexico 

Minera Canasil, S.A. de C.V. 

E-mail: eenriquez@canasil.com.mx 

Regina Baumgartner (SEG 2001) – Peru 

ECUADOR and COLOMBIA 

Firms with exploration and development 

projects in Ecuador suffered a setback 

last April 2008 when the 

Constituent Assembly issued a mandate 

halting all mining activity until the 

new law was enacted. The law has 

since been approved, in January of this 

year, and resumption of exploration 

activities is still pending, after being 

delayed by the national elections. 

Correa won again, no surprise there. 

Nonetheless, undersecretary of mines, 

Jose Serrano, offered to promptly issue 

permits to resume operations while 

speaking to participants of the 2009 

Prospectors and Developers Association 

of Canada (PDAC), held in Toronto last 

March. Permits are expected to be inhand 

by mid-June. 

Several companies are anxiously 

awaiting resumption of exploration and 

development activity in Ecuador, 

including Cornerstone (Macará strategic 

alliance with Newmont), Corriente 

(Mirador), Kinross (Fruta Del Norte), 

Dynasty Metals and Mining (approval 

granted for Zaruma in April), 

IAMGOLD (Quimsacocha) and Nortec 

Ventures, who are waiting on TSX 

approval of their offer to purchase the 

assets of Ascendant Copper Corp. 

Details will follow in the next SEG 

Newsletter. 

Colombia is once again moving 

ahead with serious mineral exploration, 

particularly in precious metals. This 

comes as a result of the environmental 

ministry’s resolution of the year-old forest 

reserves moratorium in early May. 

The immediate beneficiary is 

Anglogold Ashanti’s 12 Moz La Colosa 

gold project, which triggered the showdown. 

Attempts to contact Greystar 

(Angostura) and Colombia Goldfields 

(Marmato Mountain) about the status 

of these projects proved difficult as of 

this writing, due to so many of the 

senior staff of these companies being 

currently in Colombia. However, 

Greystar just awarded the feasibility 

study of Angostura (11.55 Moz) to GRD 

Minproc. 

ARGENTINA 

In the Andean Cordillera of northern 

Argentina, near the border with Bolivia, 

Soltera Mining Corp. carried out geochemical 

sampling in its El Torno gold 

property. The property hosts a series of 

large, Au-bearing veins extending intermittently 

for 14 km within metamorphosed 

Ordovician rocks. The central 

parts of the vein system have been 

worked since the Inca Period and there 

are more than 1,000 m of underground 

galleries. A 2,100-m drilling program in 

1997 showed that a 2-m-thick zone on 

the west side of the vein carries up to 37 

g/t gold, and suggested that there is 

potential for several million ounces 

along the full length of the vein. 

Samples of the host rock have also 

shown up to 112 g/t gold. 

Soltera carried out a stream sediment 

sampling that covered about 100 

km 2 , outlining a series of anomalies 

along the vein system together with


several anomalies in the country rocks 

up to 2 km away from the main vein. A 

second survey focused on the identified 

anomalies covering an area of about 15 

km 2 confirmed the presence of a major 

gold anomalous zone about 5 km 

north-south and up to almost 2 km 

wide centered on the vein system and 

extending beyond the vein into the 

country rocks on either side. Soltera 

believes that these structural controlled 

anomalies suggest that gold is dispersed 

throughout the host rocks forming 

important exploration targets for possible 

open-pit mineralization. 

In Argentina`s Catamarca province, 

Yamana Gold is in the final stages of 

getting environmental approval for its 

Agua Rica copper-gold project. 

Yamana acquired Agua Rica when it 

took over Northern Orion Resources in 

2007. The property contains 21.8 billion 

pounds of copper and 13.3 Moz of gold. 

Agua Rica sits close to Xstrata Plc’s Bajo 

la Alumbrera mine, in which Yamana 

owns a minority stake. 

In the southernmost Argentina Santa 

Cruz province, Minera Andes’ San José 

mine raised its output in the first quarter 

to 1.30 Moz silver and 16,560 oz 

gold, from 968,00 0oz silver and 12,140 

oz gold. The mine’s cash costs in the 

recent period has dropped 28% and 

21%respectively to US$4.99/oz silver 

and US$357/oz gold. Minera Andes also 

started drilling at its Celestina and 

Martes 13 gold exploration projects. 

The company said it will explore 10 epithermal 

veins at Celestina and carry 

out a 1,500 to 2,000-m drilling program 

at Martes 13 focusing on recently identified 

targets. 

Pan American Silver has officially 

inaugurated its Manantial Espejo goldsilver 

mine. The company expects 

Manantial Espejo to churn out 4.3 Moz 

of silver and 60,000 oz of gold in 2009 

with an estimated mine life of 10 years. 

The mine poured its first gold-silver doré 

in December, and has produced 

415,000 oz silver and 7,000 oz gold 

through February 2009. 

CHILE 

After more than a year of negotiations, 

the governments of Chile and 

Argentina reached an agreement on 

tax regime and key permits for Barrick 

Gold`s Pascua Lama project, which sits 

in the border of the two countries. 

Crushing will take place in Chile, and 

processing in Argentina. Water for the 

operation will come primarily from 

Argentina. Pascua Lama has reserves of 

18 Moz Au and 718 Moz Ag for its estimated 

25-year mine life. Start up capex 

now stands at US$2.8 to 3 billion. 

In the Maricunga gold belt of northern 

Chile, Exeter Resources has 

updated the resources at its Caspiche 

project to 450 Mt grading 0.65% g/t Au 

in the inferred category, and also contains 

376 Mt at 0.25% Cu sulfide and 

2.4 Mt grading 1.3% Cu oxide. Barrick 

Gold agreed to transfer exploration 

rights in the Maricunga belt to Andina 

Minerals in exchange for 2.5% of 

Andina’s common shares and US$1.5M 

in additional shares in a year. Barrick 

also will be entitled to a 1.5% net 

smelter return royalty on any metal 

produced at the concessions granted to 

Andina. The properties in question surround 

Andina’s Volcán gold project 

and increase the company’s concessions 

from 9,800 ha to 24,840 ha. The estimated 

resources of t Volcán project are 

242 Mt grading 0.85 g/t gold in inferred 

category, using a 0.5 g/t cutoff. 

Chile’s state copper producer, 

Codelco, is planning to carry out two 

drilling programs for a total of 16,000 

m in its Inca de Oro project, located in 

Region III, northern Chile. Inca de Oro 

is considered by some locals as the natural 

replacement for the nearby 

Salvador mine, which is scheduled for 

closure once sulfides are mined out by 

the end of 2011. The state miner had 

aimed to auction off Inca del Oro but 

postponed the plan due to poor market 

conditions caused by the global financial 

slowdown. Codelco also announced 

the discovery of a new Cu deposit, El 

Americano, near its Andina mine, 

located in Region V, central Chile. The 

world’s largest copper producer, Codelco 

produced 390,000 t in the first quarter. 

Freeport-McMoRan Exploration 

Corporation completed a 7-hole, 1,300m 

reverse circulation drill program at 

Coro Mining Corp‘s Llancahue 

prospect, located 38 km southwest of 

Talca in central Chile. Llancahue is part 

of their Talca belt exploration agreement. 

One of the holes was designed to 

test exposed copper mineralization at 

the edge of a cover area, and intersected 

100 m at 1.375% Cu, 0.015% Mo, and 

3.8 g/t Ag from 10 to 110 m. The other 

holes were drilled over outcrop alteration 

with associated geochemistry 

anomalies, and intersected propylitic al - 

teration without copper mineralization. 

MEXICO 

Esperanza Silver Corp has begun a 

preliminary economic assessment study 

of its wholly owned Cerro Jumil gold 

project located in the Morelos state. 

Measured and indicated resources are of 

the order of 22.227 million tonnes (Mt) 

@ 0.85 g/t Au and 0.6 g/t Ag or 642,000 

oz of gold equivalent. The project will 

be an open pit, heap-leach operation 

for recovery of gold and silver. Good 

luck to Esperanza Silver on this new 

phase of this property! Farallon 

Resources Ltd. announced that it has 

reached commercial production, starting 

on the first day of April, at its G-9 

mine located within the Campo 

Morado mining district in the Guerrero 

state. The mine is now operating at full 

design capacity of 1,500 TPD. G-9 mine 

measured and indicated resources at a 

cutoff of 5% Zn are of the order of 2.180 

Mt @ 3.00 g/t Au, 209.1 g/t Ag, 1.48% 

Cu, 1.32% Pb and 11.0% Zn. The focus 

going forward is on improving operational 

efficiencies in both the mine and 

mill, with particular emphasis on 

improving mill recoveries. 

Goldcorp Inc. has announced that 

the Peñasquito property construction of 

mine and mill remain on schedule. The 

first phase of the sulfide process plant 

remains on track for commencement of 

construction in mid-2009, with production 

of first metals concentrates anticipated 

in late 2009. Mining activity at 

the site has been very successful, with 

mining rates now averaging over 

500,000 TPD and over 3 Mt of sulfide 

ore added to stockpiles. Exploration 

activity at Peñasquito is focused on a 

number of compelling regional targets, 

including delineation drilling at Noche 

Buena and initial drill tests at El 

Quemado and Gallos Blancos. 

MAG Silver Corp. announced the 

Resource Estimate for the Valdecañas 

vein, located in the Zacatecas state. The 

Indicated Resources are on the order of 

2.95 Mt @ 879 g/t Ag, 2.22 g/t Au, 

2.39% Pb and 4.15% Zn. The inferred 

resource for Valdecañas FW and HW 

veins and the stockwork zone has been 

estimated to 7.21 Mt @ 458 g/t Ag, 1.54 

g/t Au, 1.89% Pb and 3.14% Zn. The 

total contained metals in the indicated 

resource are 83 Moz of silver, 210,000 

oz of gold, 155 million pounds of lead, 

and 269 million pounds of zinc. The 

inferred resources contain an additional 

106 Moz of silver, 356,000 ounces of 

gold, 301 million pounds of lead and 

498 million pounds of zinc. Minera 

Juanicipio S.A. de C.V., a 56/44 joint 

venture between Fresnillo plc and 

MAG, reported excellent preliminary 

metallurgical results of combined recoveries 

in the lead and zinc concentrates 

of 96% silver, 88% gold, 90% lead and 

82% zinc from selective flotation tests. 

Minefinders Corporation Ltd. 

announced that it has 

to page 

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EXPLORATION REVIEWS



... from 47 


the mining operations at its Dolores 

gold and silver mine in Chihuahua 

state in mid-February. The Dolores mine 

is expected to produce around 1.7 Moz 

gold and 64 Moz silver over a more 

than 15-year mine life. Proven and 

probable reserves for the Dolores mines 

are on the order of 99.3 Mt containing 

2.44 Moz gold and 126.64 Moz silver. 

Congratulations to Minefinders for the 

tremendous effort of more than 14 years 

of exploration and development at 

Dolores, now crystallized in a longterm, 

low-cost production Ag-Au mine. 

Pan American Silver Corp. and 

Orko Silver Corp. announced that they 

have reached an agreement for the 

joint development of Orko’s La 

Preciosa silver project in the state of 

Durango. Pan American will contribute 

with the 100% of the funds necessary to 

develop and construct an operating 

mine, in consideration for a 55% interest 

in the joint venture; while Orko will 

contribute its exploration expertise and 

the La Preciosa project and related concessions 

to retain a 45% interest. Pan 

American will spend US$16M over 36 

months at La Preciosa to conduct 

resource definition drilling, acquire necessary 

surface rights, obtain permits, 

and ultimately prepare and deliver a 

feasibility study to maintain its interest 

in the JV. 

PERU 

Apoquindo Minerals Inc., through its 

wholly owned Peruvian subsidiary, 

Minera KoriTambo SAC, has 

announced an option/joint venture 

agreement with Teck Peru S.A., 

whereby KoriTambo has been granted 

an option to acquire an initial 51% 

interest in the Zafranal Cu-Au porphyry 

project in southern Peru, subject 

to a back-in right and royalty reserved 

to Teck Peru. Exploration efforts to date 

at Zafranal include 11,805 m of drilling 

in 36 holes, as well as detailed mapping, 

rock sampling, AMT and EM geophysical 

surveys. Results include 110 m 

@ 1.22% Cu and 77 m @ 1.80% Cu & 

0.21 g/t Au. 

Chariot Resources has completed a 

feasibility study for the Mina Justa copper 

project, located at the Company’s 

70% owned Marcona copper property 

in Peru. A total of 227,843 m in 938 

holes has been drilled on the Mina Justa 

deposit, with 28,607 m in 137 holes 

drilled on the Magnetite Manto 

deposit. During the planned 11.5 year 

operating life, vat leaching will produce 

approximately 1.06 billion pounds of 

Cu in cathodes (481,596 t) and the concentrator 

will produce approximately 

1.64 Mt of concentrates containing 1.32 

billion pounds of payable Cu (598,801 

t), 16.0 Moz of payable Ag, plus a 

minor amount of payable Au. 

Bear Creek Mining announces a 

positive scoping study and updated 

resource estimate at the Santa Ana Ag 

deposit, southern Peru. The resource 

estimate is based on 55,575 m of 

drilling in 306 diamond drill holes and 

totals 66.8 Mt (measured + indicated) @ 

44.6 g/t Ag, 0.32% Pb, and 0.55% Zn 

with a 20 g/t cut-off. Silver will be recovered 

using a heap leaching process; Pb 

and Zn will not be recovered. The scoping 

study determined that the project 

has positive economics, excellent exposure 

to up-side silver prices, well-defined 

resources open to expansion, straightforward 

construction and development, 

and favorable infrastructure. The project 

will produce an average of 4.6 Moz 

of Ag annually over an 11.8-year mine 

life. 

Recent drilling results at Minera IRL 

Limited‘s Ollachea project confirm a 

substantial Au zone. Since October 

2008, 26 diamond drill holes have been 

completed totaling 8,706 m. The Au 

deposit is comprised of sheeted quartzsulfide 

veins and veinlets in a sheared 

slate host rock. Intersections from recent 

drilling include 160 m @ 4.39 g/t Au, 80 

m @ 2.22 g/t Au and 8 m @ 23.02 g/t 

Au. These results add a down dip 

dimension to the central gold zone 

which extends 400 m along strike and 

200 m downdip. The zone is located 

within a broader Au bearing sequence 

of rocks extending over 1,400 m. 

Trevali and Glencore signed a memorandum 

of understanding to develop 

the Santander Ag-Pb-Zn project in 

Peru. Trevali will have the option to 

acquire 100% ownership in the new 

mill and processing complex. Glencore 

will provide its operational experience, 

enabling Santander to reach optimum 

concentrate production levels in an efficient 

manner. Trevali has secured a 

long-term concentrate off-take agreement 

whereby Glencore will buy 100% 

of the Santander project production at 

benchmark terms. 

NORTHERN 

EURASIA 


Alexander Yakubchuk (SEG 1999 F) 

Orsu Metals Corp, London UK 

E-mail: ayakubchuk@orsumetals.com 

Detailed information can be found at 

http://gold.prime-tass.ru 

RUSSIA 

The Ministry of Natural Resources of the 

Russian Federation has published a list 

of strategic deposits. The list has 986 

onshore deposits, including 823 deposits 

of solid commercial minerals. The following 

gold deposits have been 

included into this list, among others: 

Ametistovoye (Renova) in Kamchatka, 

Natalka (Polyus Zoloto) in Magadan, 

Kupol (Kinross Gold Corp) in 

Chukotka, Maiskoye (Highland Gold 

Mining) in Chukotka, 

Mnogovershinnoye (Highland Gold 

Mining) in Khabarovsk, Bystrinskoye 

(copper, gold–Norilsk Nickel), 

Darasunskoye (Yuzhuralzoloto) in the 

Zabaikalsky Krai, Blagodatnoye 

(Polyus Zoloto), Olympiada (Polyus 

Zoloto), Eldorado (Sovrudnik) in 

Krasnoyarsk, Miheevskoye (copper, 

gold–Russian Copper Company) in 

Chelyabinsk, Sukhoi Log (government 

fund) in Irkutsk. Foreign companies will 

be reimbursed for the discovery of new 

strategic deposits in Russia and will 

receive a bonus from the state budget if 

the license for deposit development is 

not granted. Bonus rates for the discovery 

of a strategic deposit will be on sliding 

scale of 25 to 50% for various minerals, 

with 30% for copper and gold. 

Russia will compensate documented 

costs for exploration and evaluation of 

the discovered deposit, including interest 

on financing. Also, investors with a 

combined license will have the initial 

subscription payment refunded. The initial 

payment calculation will be based 

on the date of the decision to decline a 

subsoil license, with the calculation 

finalized within the following 90 days. 

On the corporate front, a supermerger, 

proposed between Noril’sk 

Nickel, Rusal, and Metalloinvest in 

early 2009, has not been approved, 

mostly due to corporate reasons. 

Several companies reported their 

intention to reduce previously 

announced exploration spending. For 

example, Polymetal and AngloGold 

Ashanti have declared discontinuation


of investments into the JV Zoloto Taigi. 

The companies intend to sell JV gold 

licenses in Siberia for US$100M. The 

main asset of JV is the 3-Moz Veduga 

gold deposit in Krasnoyarsk. 

Meanwhile, Metalloinvest still did not 

fully pay the government its subscription 

bonus for the 2008 Udokan tender. 

Buryatzoloto (controlled by Severstal) 

has waived its right to the exploration 

and mining license on the Chaiskoyoe 

sulfide Cu-Ni deposit in the republic of 

Buryatiya. In February 2008, 

Buryatzoloto won the Chaiskoye tender 

with the winning bid of US$10.6m. The 

company wrote off the initial subscription 

bonus and has declined to pay the 

final subscription. The resources of the 

Chaiskoye deposit include 626 kt Ni 

and 142 kt Cu. 

SIBERIA, RUSSIA 

After a three-month break, the Chinese 

company LLC Lunsin intends to continue 

work on the Kyzyl-Tashtyg polymetallic 

deposit in the republic of Tuva. 

The main deposit components are zinc, 

lead, copper, barium, sulfur, with associated 

components of gold, silver, cadmium, 

selenium. The B+C1+C2 category 

reserves are 12.920 Mt, including 2 category 

2.078 Mt of copper ore and C1 

category 6.259 Mt of pyrite ore. 

Kola Mining is in the process of 

acquiring the Bogunayevskoye gold 

deposit for US$1.8M. Kola must pay the 

seller approx. US$700,000 and assume 

existing loan responsibilities in the 

amount of US$1.1M, which must be 

repaid by October 2010. Kola is planning 

to process tailings from an old 

mine at a local beneficiation plant. 

According to the Soviet-time data, 

Bogunayevskoye resources are between 

5.8 and 9.4 Mt of ore with average 

grades of 2 to 10 g/t Au. Forecast 

resources (P category) are estimated at 

0.65 to 1.17 Moz Au. 

FAR EAST, RUSSIA 

Polymetal, as part of a consortium of 

Russian investors, has acquired 

Maiskoye deposit in Chukotka from 

Highland Gold Mining for US$105M. 

Highland has reportedly spent 

US$200M. The 2002 feasibility study, 

approved by the State Committee for 

Reserves (GKZ), estimated commercial 

reserves of 1 + 2 category at 22.7 Mt of 

ore with average grade of 10.9 g/t Au 

for 8 Moz Au. 

Silver Bear Resources Inc has identified 

31 Moz Ag at 508 g/t at the 

Mangazeya silver deposit in Yakutiya. 

Reserve calculation was carried out by 

Wardrop Engineering applying a 

long-term Ag price of US$10.5/oz. In 

2009, Silver Bear plans to invest C$12M 

to drill approx. 10,000 m. 

Polyus Zoloto presented a revised 

development plan for the Natalka 

deposit in Magadan. Natalka should 

reach the full annual production capacity 

of 1.286 Moz Au by 2022. In the 

past, this capacity was scheduled for 

completion by 2013. In 2010, Polyus 

Zoloto plans to raise US$1billion for 

mining purposes via equity issue and 

debt. In 2013, the company plans to 

build a plant of smaller capacity 10 Mt, 

to produce between 680 and 1,150 koz 

Au per year. After completion of the 

Ust-Srednekan hydro-power station 

between 2017 and 2021, Polyus Zoloto 

plans to produce 1.2 to 1.4 Moz Au. 

Further increase in capacity is expected 

from 2022 to 2041, when annual production 

would reach 1.5 Moz Au. After 

2013, the company will need to invest 

US$900M, generated from the Natalka 

production cashflow. The new plan for 

Natalka envisages a step-by-step development 

to ease the effect of the financial 

downturn and the lack of energy 

generating capacities in the region. 

Polymetal has received first JORC 

resource evaluation figures for the 

Birkachan and Oroch deposits in 

Magadan. These results were audited 

by SRK Consulting UK Ltd. The indicated 

and inferred resources for the 

Birkachan deposit are 17.51 Mt ore, 

including 1.378 Moz Au and 6.629Moz 

Ag, with 2.4 g/t Au and 11.9 g/t Ag. The 

indicated and inferred resources for the 

Oroch deposit are 1.93 Mt ore, including 

301 koz Au and 10.341 Moz Ag, 

with 3.3 g/t Au and 167 g/t Ag. Also in 

Magadan, Polymetal has bought the 

Quartzevy mine (mining license for the 

Sopka Quartzevaya deposit). As of 

2006, the approved C1+C2 category 

contained 1.988 Mt ore, including 0.65 

Moz Au and 18.4 Moz Ag. This project 

has been acquired for 10 million shares. 

Polymetal is planning to use the 

Kubaka plant to process the ores from 

all these 3 deposits. 

Arlan continues work on the Pavlik 

deposit in Magadan and is planning to 

approve resources of not less than 6.4 

Moz Au with the Russian GKZ. At present, 

C1+C2 category approved in the 

1950s amounts to 1.8 Moz Au, with 2.8 

g/t Au. Last year the company invested 

US$9M in exploration and drilled over 

30,000 m. This year the company 

intends to drill additional 16,000 m. 

Fortress Minerals Corp has commenced 

exploration drilling on the 

Svetloye deposit. In 2009, the company 

plans to focus on the Amy zone with 

NI43-101 resources of 467 koz Au, grading 

2.43 g/t Au. Amy is one of the nine 

zones on the deposit. The expected 

resources of the deposit are 1.428 Moz 

Au @ 2.21 g/t Au. 

KAZAKHSTAN 

Kazakhstan, the world’s third largest 

uranium producer, has opened two new 

uranium mines in April 2009 and plans 

to increase output to 12,00 0t in 2009. 

In May 2009, Kazakh authorities started 

investigation into legality of the deals 

preceding these developments. 

Uranium One’s Kazakh assets were 

acquired in November 2005 from a 

group of Kazakh investors by UrAsia 

Energy Ltd., which became a subsidiary 

of Uranium One in April 2007. 

UrAsia paid US$75M for its 30% interest 

in Kharasan uranium project and 

US$350M for its 70% interest in the 

Betpak Dala joint venture with 

Kazatomprom, which operates the 

Akdala and South Inkai mines. Since 

November 2005, Uranium One has provided 

loans of more than S$119 million 

to its Kazakh joint ventures to assist in 

the development of these assets. 

In parallel, Kazatomprom 

announced the development of the Irkol, 

Semizbay, and Zhalpak deposits in 

compliance with strategic agreements 

concluded with China National Nuclear 

Corporation (CNNC) and China 

Guangdong Nuclear Power Corpora - 

tion (CGNPC) in Kyzylorda oblast. 

Cigma Metals Co has reported 

unaudited 4.88 Moz Au equiv @ 0.7 g/t 

Au eq from the Beskauga deposit in the 

14,000 km 2 Dostyk license in Northern 

Kazakhstan. The exploration results 

revealed 2.38 Moz Au @ 0.34 g/t; 10.34 

Moz Ag @ 1.5 g/t; 368.5 kt Cu @ 0.17% 

and 30.6 kt Mo @ 0.14%, using cutoff 

grade of 0.13 g/t Au. In 2008, Cigma 

Metals drilled 4,700 m. 

Central Asia Resources Ltd has 

reported an increase in resources of the 

Kepken deposit from 8 to 11 Mt @ 1.16 

g/t Au. Total Au in ore has increased 

from 294 to 411.4 koz. 

KYRGYZSTAN 

Kyrgyz government has signed parliament-ratified 

agreement on the Kumtor 

gold mine with Centerra Gold Inc and 

its founder Cameco Corp. In accordance 

with this agreement, the Kyrgyz 

share in Centerra Gold will increase 

from 29.3% to 33%. In addition to this, 

Centerra will make a single payment, 

in the amount of US$22.4M, to 

Kyrgyzstan and will 

pay profit tax of 

to page 

14%, including a 1% 50 ... 

EXPLORATION REVIEWS



... from 49 


contribution into the Social and 

Economic Development Fund for the 

Issyk-Kul Oblast, where Kumtor is situated. 

Kyrgyzstan’s share will increase by 

18,232,615 shares, transferred by 

Centerra and Cameco. 

Kyrgyz government has warned foreign 

investors in Jerooy and Taldy- 

Bulak Levoberezhny gold deposits that 

the failure to commence commercial 

development stipulated by license 

agreements will lead to revocation of 

these licenses. 

TAJIKISTAN 

The Tadjikistan government has commenced 

evaluation of the JV project 

with Kryso Resources Plc to develop 

the Pakrut gold deposit. In January 

2009, Kryso declared Russian-style 

resources for Pakrut to contain over 2 

Moz Au, grading 2.44 g/t Au. The JV 

plans to produce 100 koz Au annually, 

starting in 2010. 

The government has also announced 

an international tender, seeking investments 

into the Bolshoy Koni Mansur 

silver deposit. The government has 

appointed International Finance 

Corporation as the leading consultant 

to oversee the investor selection process. 

The geologic exploration of the deposit, 

carried out during Soviet times, indicated 

that the deposit would require 

investments of around US$2 billion. In 

addition to that, the population of the 

Adrasman village would have to be rehoused. 

Bolshoy Koni Mansur contains 

around 1,000 Mt of ore with 49 g/t Ag, 

0.49% Pb and 0.38% Zn. The total estimated 

resources exceed 1,600 Moz of 

silver. 

PROPERTY EVALUATIONS — PROJECT GENERATION 

GEOCON, INC. 

REGIONAL STUDIES — U.S. AND FOREIGN 


RICHARD L. NIELSEN, CONSULTANT 

Exploration and Mining Geology 

13741 Braun Drive E-mail: RLNGeocon@aol.com 

Golden, CO 80401 Phone/FAX (303) 279-3118 

CONTIGUOUS 

UNITED STATES 


Roger C. Steininger (SEG 1978) 

Consulting Geologist 

3401 San Mateo Ave. 

Reno, NV 89509 

Tel. 775-323-7775 Fax: 775-323-1134 

E-mail: audoctor@aol.com 

Most of us in the exploration business 

have driven around a curve at night 

and encountered a deer, “prize bull,” 

mustang, or armadillo in the headlights. 

You know the look. That same 

look was on the collective geologists’ 

faces this past winter, the basic “deer in 

the headlights” look. Now that the 

“green shoots” (as economists have 

labeled the sparse signs of improvement 

in the economy) are appearing, the 

“look” is fading and money is starting 

to flow into exploration again. The positive 

side of this story is that drill rigs 

are available, experienced geologists 

are looking for work, and it doesn’t take 

months for assay turnaround. Keep in 

mind that “green shoots” can turn 

brown if not watered. 

We may have entered an era of the 

stealth discoveries. The GMI (Geologists 

in Motels Index) measures exploration 

activity in the Great Basin. At 100 all of 

the motel rooms in a town are filled 

with geologists caused by an announcement 

of a nearby gold discovery. As an 

example, when Sleeper and Pipeline 

were announced, the GMI for nearby 

towns went to 100, and all available 

land within miles was staked or 

optioned. Recent discoveries, or rediscoveries, 

have produced a more subdued 

reaction. Announcements of the 

discoveries in the Pequops, at over a 

million combined ounces of gold, produced 

only mild interest and the Wells, 

NV, GMI went to 25. The new resource 

announcement (1.8 Moz of gold) for 

Spring Valley and Barrick becoming 

joint venture partners caused only a 

slight increase in the Lovelock GMI, to 

10. Gryphon Gold announced a total 

resource at Borealis of about 2.5 Moz 

gold and the Hawthorne GMI dropped 

to –15. There is a rumor that Barrick 

has made a significant discovery at Red 

Hills, near the ET Blue gold deposit 

(Eureka County, NV). We are watching 

the Eureka GMI to determine if the 

rumor is true. General Metals 

announced a gold deposit that may 

contain at least one-half million ounces 

of gold in the Battle Mountain mining 

district causing three more motels in 

Battle Mountain to close. 

Other enhanced gold deposits have 

been announced outside of the area 

covered by the GMI. Evolving Gold is 

having success at Rattlesnake Hills, WY, 

and Romarco Minerals’ Haile gold 

deposit is now in the 3+ Moz range, and 

expanding. Atna Resources continues to 

expand the resource at Briggs, which is 

now in production. Rare Element 

announced an interesting resource for 

the Bear Lodge, WY, rare earth deposit. 

In a sign of the times, Firstgold 

announced the first pour of gold from 

Relief Canyon, NV, and shortly thereafter 

went into default on its loans. The 

company is now exploring every 

avenue to save the company or sell the 

assets. 

Duluth Metals seems to have identified 

a higher grade portion of the 

Nokomis deposit in Minnesota. The 

grades in the northwestern part are 

higher in copper, nickel, gold, silver, 

and PGM than in the rest of the 

deposit. 1 

PAID ADVERTISEMENT


Website: http://sga2009.jcu.edu.au Email: sga2009@jcu.edu.au 

SGA PLENARY SESSION MONDAY 17 AUGUST 

Self-Organized Systems and Ore Formation: The Key to Spatially-Predictive Jonathan Hronsky (SEG 2009 Distinguished Lecturer) 

Targeting? 

Low-salinity fluids at the porphyry-to-epithermal transition: Christoph Heinrich, Marcel Guillong, 

from magmatic vapour to aqueous liquid Thomas Pettke, Claudia Pudack, Jung Hun Seo 

Precious paradigms: controversies in PGE ore genesis Jim Mungall 

Global lithospheric domains: a multidimensional framework to enhance mineral Suzanne O'Reilly, William Griffin, Ming Zhang, 

exploration targeting Elena Belousova, Norman Pearson, Graham Begg 

and Jon Hronsky 

Metallogenic Evolution on an Evolving Earth Richard Goldfarb, David Groves, Robert Kerrich, 

David Leach 

Rupturing in the Overpressured Arc of NE Honshu, Japan - Mesozonal Richard Sibson 

Mineralisation in the Making? 

Magma Fertility and Mineralisation David Cooke, Paul Kitto, Anthony Harris, 

Zhaoshan Chang, Jamie Wilkinson, Clara Wilkinson, 

Pete Hollings and James Webster 

SEG PLENARY SESSION TUESDAY 18 AUGUST AM 

Predictive vs Forensic Mineral Deposit Geology: Viewing Giant Deposits at 

Appropriate Scale David Groves 

A perspective on the industry – success over the next five years John Thompson and Douglas Kirwin 

New advances in exploration techniques applied to Uranium and IOCGs Rick Valenta 

Gold solubility, transport and deposition in modern epithermal environments Stuart Simmons, Kevin Brown 

IOCG Deposits: A Cordilleran Perspective Mark Barton 

What we don't know about Olympic Dam style deposits and what we need to find out Paul Heithersay 

Making metal-supercharged ore fluids: the key to hydrothermal base-metal Jamie Wilkinson 

ore formation? 

SEG NEW DISCOVERIES SESSION TUESDAY 18 AUGUST PM 

Geological and Geochemical Prospectivity Analysis of the Gosowong Fault Zone, Dan Olberg, Bruce Gemmell 

Halmahera Island, Indonesia: Discovery of the Kencana Epithermal Au-Ag Deposit 

Geology of the Solwara 1 Deposit and Techniques of Seafloor Massive Sulphide Thomas Sant, Matthew White, Sean Plunkett, 

Exploration Ian Stevenson and Peter Crowhurst. 

Exploration factors in the discovery of the Silver Hill gold-silver-copper deposit - Peter Rea 

Mt Carlton Project 

Geology and Mineralisation of the Rocklands Copper-Cobalt-Gold Deposits, Simon Beams 

Cloncurry District, North West Queensland, Australia 

The Merlin Mo-Re Zone, a New Discovery in the Cloncurry District, Australia Florinio Lazo, Tamal Pal 

Serra Pelada, Brazil. A high grade, hydrothermal gold-platinum-palladium system Vic Wall, Gabriel Berni, Chris Grainger 

Hathor Exploration’s Roughrider Zone: The new high grade uranium discovery in Alistair McCready, Thomas Elash, Dale Wallster, 

the Athabasca Basin Philip Robertshaw, Brian Reilkoff, Zoltan Hajnal 

Geology of the Tropicana Gold Project, Western Australia Mark Doyle, Duncan Gibbs, Jeni Savage, 

Thomas Blenkinsop 

Geology of the Amphibolite-Facies World-Class Roberto Deposit, Eleonore Property, Jean-Francois Ravenelle, Benoit Dubé, Michel Malo, 

James Bay, Canada Vicki McNicoll, Léopold Nadeau 

The Long Canyon Deposit: a New Paradigm for Sediment-Hosted Gold Deposits Moira Smith, Warren Thompson, Kent Samuelson, 

in Nevada Robert Felder, Christopher Lee, Matt Lennox-King 

The SWAN and Mount Elliott deposits Mat Brown, Florinio Lazo, Douglas Kirwin, 

Graeme Corlett 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MEMBERSHIP 


The Society Welcomes 

The Following 

NEW1FELLOWS: 

Bhushan, Shibban K., RMMPL, Baldota 

Enclave, Hospet, India; Bowell, Robert J. 

SRK Consulting, Cardiff, United Kingdom; De 

Wit, Mike C.J., BRC Diamondcore Ltd., 

Irene, South Africa; Eliopoulos, Demetrios 

G. Institute of Geology and Mineral 

Exploration, Acharnia, Greece; Maund, 

Nigel H., Cliff’s Asia Pacific Ltd., Perth, 

Australia; Pandalai, Hari S., Indian Institute 

of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India; 

Singh, Narendra N. Indo Gold Resources 

Pvt. Ltd., Udaipur, India; Steinmann, 

Michael, Pan American Silver Corp., 

Vancouver, Canada. 


The Following 

NEW1MEMBERS: 

Nelly Agyei-Henaku, Gold Fields 

Exploration Ltd., Accra, Ghana; Ahmed H. 

Ahmed, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 

Saudi Arabia; Saeed Alirezaei, University of 

Shahid Beheshti, Tehran, Iran; Santy 

Chaeni Aryani, PT. Aneka Tambang Tbk., 

Jakarta Timur, Indonesia; Esmaeel 

Ashrafpour, University of Shahid Beheshti, 

Tehran, Iran; Jose Luis Azan Sagastegui, 

Minera Barrick, Cajamarca, Peru; Don L. 

Bagshaw, North American Exploration, 

Salem, UT; Syaiful Bahri, Ivanhoe Mines 

Ltd. China, Yogyyakarta, Indonesia; 

Christian J.H. Bantsimba, IAMGOLD, 

Kingston, Canada; Thomas E. Bell, 

Stratamodel Inc., State College, PA; Robert 

SEG MEMBERSHIP NEWS 

CANDIDATES FOR 1 FELLOWSHIP 

To All SEG Fellows: 

Pursuant to the Society’s Bylaws, names of the following candidates, who have been recommended for Fellowship by the Admissions 

Committee, are submitted for your consideration. Each applicant’s name and current position are followed by the names of their 

SEG sponsors. If you have any comments, favorable or unfavorable, on any candidate, you should send them, in writing before 

August 31, 2009. If no objections are received by that date, these candidates will be presented to Council for approval. 

Address Comments To: 

Chair, SEG Admissions Committee 

SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGISTS 7811 Shaffer Parkway Littleton, CO 80127 USA 

Artun, Bayram Teck Cominco Ltd., Ankara, Turkey: Jeffrey W. 

Hedenquist, John F.H Thompson; 

Ceyhan, Nuri Teck Cominco Ltd., Ankara, Turkey: Jeffrey W. 

Hedenquist, John F. H. Thompson; 

Chang, Zhaoshan Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits, Hobart, 

Australia: Noel C. White, Jeffrey W. Hedenquist; 

Cluer, Kelly J. Altan Rio Minerals Ltd., Carson City, NV: Jeffrey W. 

Hedenquist, Brian G. Hoal; 

Crosta, Alvaro P. Institute of Geosciences – UNICAMP: Campinas, 

Brazil: Francisco de Azevedo, Jeffrey W. Hedenquist; 

Hassanzadeh, Jamshid University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran: Jeffrey 

W. Hedenquist, Brian G. Hoal; 

Howard, Avrom E. Homeland Uranium Inc., Grand Junction, CO: 

Jeffrey W. Hedenquist, Brian G. Hoal; 

Blackstone, Cameco Resources, Casper, WY; 

Derek F. Brown, SLAM Exploration Ltd, 

Fredericton, Canada; Jarrod A. Brown, Eagle 

Plains Resources, Nelson, Canada; Malcolm 

G. Bucholtz, Strategic Resources Inc., 

Regina, Canada; Ross F. Burns, Tamerlane 

Ventures Inc., Blaine, WA; James H. Butler, 

Tri-Star Petroleum Company, Houston, TX; 

Jose F. Cabanillas, Minera Yanacocha SRL, 

Cajamara, Peru; Mark E. Cannuli, 

International Minerals Corp., Miraflores, 

Peru; Raul Cardo, SEGEMAR (San Juan), 

Rivadavia, Argentina; Luis C. Cardoso, 

Sinese, Lisboa, Portugal; Alexandre Carnier 

Nunes da Silva, Codelco do Brasil 

Mineracao Ltda., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Peter 

J Cashin, Quest Uranium Corporation, 

Toronto, Canada; Enkh-Amgalan 

Chuluunkhuu, Altan Rio Mongolia LLC, 

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Gerald M. Chuwa, 

Banro Corporation, Dar Es Salaam, 

Tanzania; William J. Cronk, Homeland 

Uranium Inc., Eau Claire, WI; Dan Zouleye 

Dan Goni, Uranium International Ltd.-- 

Niger, Niamey, Niger; Marina Défago, 

Nunaminerals A/S, Geneva, Switzerland; 

Nico J. Denner, Gemecs (Pty) Ltd, 

Rustenburg, South Africa; Javier Diaz, Teck 

Corporation, Santiago, Chile; Dragan M. 

Dragic, Dundee Precious Metals, Belgrade, 

Serbia; Donald F. Earnest, Resource 

Evaluation Inc., Tucson, AZ; Maximino S. 

Estaris, Gold Fields Philippines Holdings 

B.V., Paranaque, Philippines; Fabian 

Figueroa, Teck Corporation, Santiago, Chile; 

Michael Fox, Calgary, Canada; Timo L. 

Garzon Guzman, AngloGold Ashanti 

Colombia, Bogota, Colombia; Anna M. 

Gilmore, Newmont Mining Corporation, 

Battle Mountain, NV; Jason Goulden, Metals 

Economic Group, Halifax, Canada; John 

Grocott, Midland Valley Exploration Ltd., 

Kiziltepe, Ugur Teck Cominco Ltd., Ankara, Turkey: Jeffrey W. 

Hedenquist, John F.H. Thompson; 

Menzies, John C. EurOmax Resources Ltd., Druzhba, Bulgaria: 

Douglas Kirwin, Richard M. Tosdal; 

Miyatake, Shuichi Metal Mining Agency of Japan, Kawasaki, 

Japan: Jeffrey W. Hedenquist, Brian G. Hoal; 

Mondal, Sisir K. Natural History Museum of Denmark, 

Copenhagen, Denmark: Edward M. Ripley, Brian G. Hoal; 

Taylor, Cliff D. U .S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO: Richard 

Goldfarb, Karen Kelley; 

Tuduri, Johann LaSalle Beauvais, Beauvais, France: Jeffrey W. 

Hedenquist, M. Stephen Enders. 

Glasgow, Great Britain; Iain M. Groves, 

Insight Geology Pty. Ltd., Rowville, Australia; 

Benjamin L. Harper, Lindisfarne, Australia; 

Yoseph Herwindo Paskapino, PT. Antam 

TGK-Unit Geomin, Jakarta, Indonesia; Gregg 

A. Jilson, Whitehorse, Canada; Michael D. 

Johnson, Dolly Silver Corporation, 

Coquitlam, Canada; Matthias Jurgeit, 

Consulting Geologist/Mineralogist, 

Lampertheim, Germany; Ade Kadarusman, 

PT INCO TBK, Sorowako, Indonesia; Hashari 

Kamaruddin, PT Aneka Tambang Tbk., 

Jakarta Timur, Indonesia; Placide M. 

Kasoka, First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Ndola, 

Zambia; Grant L. Kensington, Augur 

Resources Ltd., Sydney, Australia; Andrey B. 

Khalturin, Rio Tinto Mining & Exploration 

Ltd., Almaty, Kazakhstan; Marc L’Heureux, 

Everton Resources Inc., Sorel-Tracy, Canada; 

John Langton, MRB & Associates, Val-d’Or, 

Canada; Martin Levesque, Xstrata Nickel- 

Exploration, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada; 

Naomi E.W. Litaay, Oz Minerals/PT Oxindo 

Exploration, Ambon, Indonesia; Widodo 

Margotomo, P.T. Freeport Indonesia, 

Tembagapura, Indonesia; William W.E. 

Mas, Minera Yanacocha SRL, Cajamarca, 

Peru; Michael J. Maxson, Mestena Uranium 

LLC, Corpus Christi, TX; Ronan D. McCool, 

Ballinaikillaloe, Ireland; John F. McGloin, 

Arbuthnot Securities Ltd., Bishops Stortford, 

Great Britain; Robert P. Miller, TECK, 

Anchorage, AK; Carlos E. Munoz, Minera 

Yanacocha SRL, Cajamarca, Peru; Alejandro 

M. Murillo Arias, Continental Gold Ltd., 

Manizales, Colombia; Farliz Nozanda, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Nicholas J. O’Reilly, 

Mining Analyst Consulting Ltd., London, 

Great Britain; Hotto Ortiz, Minera 

Yanacocha SRL, Cajamarca, Peru; Juan D. 

Paredes, Yamana Gold, Rivadavia, 

Argentina; William H. Peck, Colgate


University, Hamilton, NY; Michael G. 

Petterson, University of Leicester, Leicester, 

Great Britain; Marcelo Pinto, MAPEX, 

Manaus, Brazil; Elvis E. A. Portilla, Minera 

Yanacocha SRL, Cajamarca, Peru; Claudio 

G. Porto, Federal University of Rio de 

Janeiro—UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 

Richard N. Presser, Newmont Asia Pacific, 

Perth, Australia; S. Daru Prihatmoko, PT 

AGC Indonesia (Ivanhoe Group), Bogor, 

West Indonesia; Sushil K. Ranjan, 

Hindustan Zinc Ltd., Udaipur, India; 

Guillermo Re Kuhl, Alto Americas S.A., 

Buenos Aires, Argentina; Nelio G. A. M. 

Rezende, Natural Resources Investment, 

Cotonou, Benin; Barnaby W. Rockwell, U.S. 

Geological Survey, Denver, CO; Hector S. 

Sanchez Rioja, Mina Picquitas Inc., Salta, 

Argentina; Ronald G. Scott, VMS Ventures 

Inc., Snow Lake, Canada; Gary S. Sidhu, BC 

Gold Corp, Surrey, Canada; Garry K. Smith, 

Devon Corporation, Woodlawn, Canada; 

Leo A. Sosa, Comval Tribal Resources Corp., 

Davao City, Philippines; Bernard K. Sporli, 

University of Auckland, Auckland, New 

Zealand; Elmer B. Stewart, Boxxer Gold 

Corp., Calgary, Canada; Samuel L. Talbott, 

UR-Energy, Casper, WY; Mervin E. Tapia 

Cabanillas, Minera Yanacocha SRL, 

Cajamarca, Peru; Hernando Terrones, 

Minera Yanacocha SRL, Cajamara, Peru; 

Chris S. Tomich, Terrain Minerals Ltd., 

Willetton, Australia; Lucia Torres, Gold 

Fields La Cima S.A., Lima, Peru; Dean Tuck, 

Talisman Mining Ltd., Subiaco, Australia; 

Misty Urbatsch, Cameco Australia Pty. Ltd., 

Darwin, Australia; Hector Vargas Cuervo, 

Anglogold Ashanti Colombia, Bogota, 

Colombia; Thomas Wagner, ETH Zurich, 

Zurich, Switzerland; Klaus Weidner, Veitsch- 

Radex GmbH & Co., Graz, Austria; Matthew 

T. Williams, Exeter Resource Corp., 

Santiago, Chile; Rimant Zalnieriunas, R. V. 

Zalnieriunas Consulting, Lander Lake, 

Canada; Manuel Mo Zambrano, Minera 

Yanacocha SRL, Cajamarca, Peru. 


The Following 

NEW1STUDENT MEMBERS: 

Maryam Abdi, Ferdowsi University of 

Mashhad, Tehran, Iran; Mayssaa A. 

Abdwon, Dalhousie University, Halifax, 

Canada; Ahmad Afandi, Padjadjaran 

University, Bandung, Indonesia; Yong Hwan 

Ahn, Korea University, Seoul, Korea; Sinan 

Akiska, Ankara Universitesi Muhendislik 

Fakultes, Ankara, Turkey; Farooqi Al 

Ayubie, Padjadjaran University, Bandung, 

Indonesia; Stefenson Alfa, Padjadjaran 

University, Cilegon, Indonesia; Leona P. 

Anderson, University of Utah, Midvale, UT; 

Fitrah L. Arif, Padjadjaran University, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Rio P. Asril, 

Padjadjaran University, Bandung, Indonesia; 

Rami A. Bakhsh, Royal Holloway - 

University of London, Egham, Great Britain; 

Tobias E. Bauer, Lulea University of 

Technology, Lulea, Sweden; Amanuel F. 

Bein, University of New Brunswick, 

Fredericton, Canada; Jean-Francois Boivin, 

Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 

Chicoutimi, Canada; Mathijs A. Booden, 

University of Auckland, Auckland, New 

Zealand; Mauricio Borba, Universidade 

Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Camaqua, 

Brazil; Grant M. Bybee, University of 

Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; 

Anders Carlson, Laurentian University, 

Winnipeg, Canada; Viviana A. Carrasco, 

Universidad de Concepcion, Santa Juana, 

Chile; Scott D. Carruthers, University of 

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; 

Christine E. Cousins, Laurentian University 

/ Mirarco, Sudbury, Canada; Ida Bagus A. 

Dirasthya, Padjadjaran University, 

Bengkulu, Indonesia; Gregory DuFrechou, 

INRS - ETE, Quebec, Canada; Yven Erwan, 

La Salle Beauvais, Beauvais, France; Kautsar 

Fatani, Padjadjaran University, South 

Jakarta, Indonesia; Mega Fatmasari, 


Gian Fernanda, Padjadjaran University, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Daniela Focke, Tu 

Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg, Germany; 

Ben M. Frieman, University of Minnesota, 

Inver Grove Heights, MN; Sebastian S.F. 

Fuchs, Institute of Mineralogy, Leipzig, 

Germany; Dominique Genna, Université du 

Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Canada; 

James D. Girardi, University of Arizona, 

Tucson, AZ; Evan R. Gladney, St. Mary’s 

University, Halifax, Canada; Anabel L.R. 

Gomez, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Lanus 

Este, Argentina; Phillip N. Gopon, 

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, 

WI; Ragil Gusrizal, Padjadjaran University, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Brendan J. Hanger, 

Australian National University, ANU 

Canberra, Australia; Putrisunan Haryanto, 


Robert R. Hendricks, South Dakota School 

of Mines, Rapid City, SD; Silvana G. 

Herrera, Universidad de Concepcion, 

Concepcion, Chile; Tom Hindson, University 

of Southampton, Hull, Great Britain; Patric 

Horne, University of Sydney, Chippendale, 

Australia; Greg S. Howard, Saint Mary’s 

University, Lower Sackville, Canada; 

Samantha Jones, Imperial College, 

Birmingham, Great Britain; Gita A.S. 

Kandini, Padjadjaran University, Bandung, 

Indonesia; Amy E. Kerckhoff, Laurentian 

University, North Vancouver, Canada; 

Melanie G. Kinchington, Imperial College, 

London, Great Britain; Agata Kindangen, 

Padjadjaran University, Jakarta, Indonesia; 

Kathryn E. Kitney, Queen’s University, 

Kingston, Canada; Mathias H. Koester, Freie 

Universitaet Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Indah 

Kusumaningtyas, Padjadjaran University, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Joseph Tettey Laryea, 

University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, 

Ghana; Gernot C. Loidl, University of 

Adelaide, Largs Bay, Australia; Kay 

MacKenzie, St. Mary’s University, Halifax, 

Canada; Laura E. Malone, University of 

New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada; 

Takayuki Manaka, University of Tasmania, 

Hobart, Australia; Anggiat Manalu, 


Jimmy A.M. Manurung, Padjadjaran 

University, Bumedang, Indonesia; Shidiq 

Maulana M., Padjadjaran University, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Jeannette E. McGill, 

Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO; 

Dawn McShinsky, University of Utah, 

Draper, UT; Stephanie E. Mills, University of 

Texas, Austin, TX; Mehrab Moradi 

Noghondar, Ferdowsi University of 

Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran; Rizqi 

Muhammad Mahbub, Padjadjaran 

University, Depok, Indonesia; Patrick 

Nadoll, University of Auckland, Auckland, 

New Zealand; Ali Najafi, Ferdowsi University 

of Mashhad, Tehran, Iran; Stevie Denis Ch. 

Ngantung, Padjadjaran University, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Lovya Niranda, 


Nicky Nurachman, Padjadjaran University, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Evi P. Nurfalah, 


Danny Nursasono, Padjadjaran University, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Seare G. Ocubalidet, 

Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 

Carbondale, IL; Camille Partin, Univeristy 

of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada; Ruri 

Pitaloka, Padjadjaran University, Bandung, 

Indonesia; Arya Pratama Putra, 


Endo Purba, Padjadjaran University, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Karman Purba, 


Perwita Purwaningtias, Padjadjaran 

University, Bandung, Indonesia; Dian P. 

Putra, Padjadjaran University, Bandung, 

Indonesia; Celeste J. Rambaran, University 

of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada; 

Rizki Reynaldi, Padjadjaran University, 

Jakarta, Indonesia; Richard A. Robertson, 

University of New England, Forster, Australia; 

Crystal L. Robinson, University of Nevada- 

Reno, Reno, NV; Erika Romauli, 


Michelle Y. Rucker, University of Oregon, 

Ontario, OR; Beatriz Saez, Universidad de 

Concepcion, Concepcion, Chile; Ehsan 

Salati, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, 

Mashhad, Iran; Carley A. Senkowski, 

University of Ottawa, Whitby, Canada; Ali 

Sholeh, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, 

, Iran; Salomo Siahaan, Padjadjaran 

University, Sumedang, Indonesia; Hitler 

Sijabat, Padjadjaran University, Sumedang, 

Indonesia; Roland Simamora, Padjadjaran 

University, Bandung, Indonesia; Anggi Y. 

Sitompul, Padjadjaran University, 

Sumedang, Indonesia; Amanda D. Smith, 

University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, 

MO; Alfonsina C. Sobarzo, Universidad de 

Concepcion, Concepcion, Chile; Louisa H. 

Stokes, Imperial College, London, Great 

Britain; Syefriyandi, Padjadjaran University, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Thomas D. Tindell, 

Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan; Laura 

E. Torres, Universidad de Concepcion, 

Concepcion, Chile; Ivana A. Urraza, 

Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahia Blanca, 

Argentina; Stuart J. Vinen, University of East 

Anglia, Norwich, Great Britain; Katie 

Michelle Vowles, Imperial College, Luton, 

Great Britain; Baiqiu Wang, The University 

of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Michael 

R. Warren, Saint Mary’s University, 

Timberlea, Canada; David G. Whitehead, 

Lulea University of Technology, Lulea, 

Sweden; Aditya Wicaksono, Padjadjaran 

University, Bandung, Indonesia; Nicole 

Williamson, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, 

Canada; Dodi Wirasatia, Padjadjaran 

University, Bandung, Indonesia; Kotaro 

Yonezu, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan; 

Maria A. Yudiasri, Padjadjaran University, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Ellis T. Yuningsih, The 

Hokkaido University Museum, Sapporo, Japan; 

Giva H. Zahara, Padjadjaran University, 

Bandung, Indonesia; Jian Zhang, China 

University of Petroleum and Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. 1 

MEMBERSHIP

MEMBERSHIP 

54 SEG NEWSLETTER No 78 JULY 2009


MEMBERSHIP

MEMBERSHIP 


Announcements 

SEG & Deadlines 

Last Call for Nominations for Penrose and 

SEG Silver Medals and Marsden Award for 2009 

Nominations for the Society’s Penrose Gold and Silver Medals and 

the Marsden Award are due by September 1, 2009, for review by 

the SEG Council. Members and Fellows of the Society are 

urged to participate in this important process by nominating 

outstanding candidates for these prestigious honors. 

The SEG awards and nomination form may be obtained from the 

SEG website at . If 

you do not have access to our website, you may request a copy of 

the nomination form from SEG Head quarters. Tel: +1.720.981.7882, 

ext. 210, Fax: +1.720.981.7874; e-mail: seg@segweb.org. 

Send all nominations to: 


Attn: Awards Committee, Benoît Dubé, Chair 

7811 Shaffer Parkway, Littleton, CO 80127-3732 U.S.A. 

Tel: +1.720.981.7882, ext. 210, Fax: +1.720.981.7874 

E-mail: seg@segweb.org (preferred method) 

Last Call for Nominations 

Lindgren Award for 2009 

The Society of Economic Geologists is soliciting nominations for the 

2009 Lindgren Award. The Lindgren Award is offered annually to a 

geologist whose published research represents an outstanding contribution 

to economic geology. The contribution shall be measured by 

consideration of one to three papers published by age 35. The recipient 

must be less than 37 years of age on January 1 of the year in 

which the award is presented. The award shall not be restricted as to 

the candidate’s nationality, place of employment, or membership in 

the Society. 

The deadline for submitting nominations is August 31, 2009. 



Attn: Lindgren Award Committee, Richard J. Herrington, Chair 


Tel: +1.720.981.7882, ext. 210, Fax: +1.720.981.7874 


Last Call for Nominations 

SEG Distinguished Lecturer for 2009 

Now is the time to support your Society and reward a colleague by 

nominating him or her for the highly respected and widely recognized 

SEG Distinguished Lecturer Award. The 2009 nominee will be 

selected on the basis of his/her preeminence in economic geology in 

some phase of scientific research or application of the science to minerals 

exploration and/or development. See the list of previous winners 

at . Please 

include the following information with your nomination: name of 

nominee, nominee’s e-mail address, reason for nomination, brief bio 

of nominee, and confirmation that nominee is willing to be proposed. 

The deadline for submitting nominations is August 31, 2009. 



Attn: Distinguished Lecturer Committee, 

T. Campbell McCuaig, Chair 


Tel: +1.720.981.7882, ext. 210, Fax: +1.720.981.7874 


Volunteer SEG Honorary Lecturers Keep Busy 

SEG Honorary Lecturers have been much in demand and, although 

no funding is provided, have worked enthusiastically for the Society. 

Below is an update on the latest presentations several have given 

around the world. 

M. Stephen Enders (SEG 1981 F) 

In April, Steve gave two presentations: 

“The mining industry—are the business models broken?” to a 

group of about 25 industry and university attendees, at the 

University of Reno-Mackay. The question-and-answer segment 

lasted an hour—10 minutes longer than the talk! 

“So, you want to be a geologist—careers in the mining business” 

to a group of about 100 students and faculty at the University of 

Nevada-Las Vegas. This was a keynote speech at UNLV’s 4 th 

annual Geosymposium. 

Mark D. Hannington (SEG 1991 F) 

Mark presented at the following events: 

Ottawa-Carleton SEG Career Day, January 17, 2009. 

Ottawa-Laurentian Joint Modular Course on Hydrothermal Ore 

Deposits, February 14–21, 2009. 

Jeffrey W. Hedenquist (SEG 1986 F) 

Lectures and day-long short courses were presented at three venues 

to a total of 250 students plus 80 professionals at three Peruvian 

venues in May, as well as a talk to 500 professionals at ProExplo: 

Andres del Castillo Museo, Lima: students from San Augustine 

University, Arequipa, and professionals. 

Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, Lima: students and alumni. 

Universidad Nacional de Cajamarca: students and professionals. 

ProExplo VI, Lima: SEG talk on opportunities. 

Andrew M. Killick (SEG 1985 F) 

March 12, 2009, delivered a lecture “Shear zone-hosted gold 

deposits” at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. 

Douglas J. Kirwin (SEG 1997 F) 

Twelve lectures were given at four venues to an aggregate of 

approximately 600 people, mostly students. 

Jakarta - MGEI (Masyarakat Geologi Ekonomi Indonesia) 

University of Pajajaran, Bandung, West Java Indonesia 

Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia 

Hasanuddin University- Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia 

A further comment from Doug: I am very pleased to report there 

was a great deal of interest from the students and approximately 

85 students have applied for SEG student membership, along with 

8 to 10 new applications for SEG membership. 

PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH CENTER PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP SERIES 

Precambrian Research Center 

University of Minnesota Duluth 

Professional Workshop on the 

Field, Petrographic, and 

Mineralization Characteristics of 

Mafic Layered Intrusions 

October 4 - 10, 2009 

University of Minnesota Duluth 

Duluth, Minnesota 

Includes: Topical Lectures on Physical and Chemical Attributes of MLI 

Virtual Field Trips on Classic Mineralized MLI 

Field Excursions and Core Examinations of Duluth Complex MLI 

Workshop Information and Registration Forms available at: 

www.d.umn.edu/prc/workshops 

PAID ADVERTISEMENT


The number below refers to the number assigned by the 

“joint technical program committee” of the Geological Society 

of America. 

Early Registration is September 14, 2009. Abstracts are due 

August 11, 2009, and may be submitted by visiting the website 

at . 

80 Magmas and Volatiles: Linking Granites, Volcanoes, 

Geothermal Systems, and Mineral Deposits 

John Dilles, 541-737-1245, Jacob B. Lowenstern, N/A, 

David A. John, 650-329-5424 

122 Copper and Gold Transport in Crustal Fluids: New Advances 

from Field, Experimental, and Theoretical Studies 

Jamie Wilkinson, 44 20 759 46415, Clara Wilkinson, N/A 

124 Fluid-Driven Geochemical Transformations: 

In Honor of Harold Helgeson 

Everett L. Shock, 480-965-0631, Dennis Bird, 

William Murphy, John Dilles, 541-737-1245 

149 Copper in Central EurAsia and Russia: Linking Mineral 

Resource Assessment, Tectonics, and Metallogeny 

Jane M. Hammarstrom, 703-648-6165, 

Reimar Seltmann, +44 (0)20 7942 5042 

150 Melt and Fluid Inclusion Analysis In Resource Investigations 

Albert H. Hofstra, 303 236-5530, 

Robert J. Bodnar, 540-231-7455 

SEG at GSA 

October 18–21, 2009 — Portland, Oregon 

The Society of Economic Geologists is co-sponsoring five technical sessions, a short course, and 

a field course as part of the joint annual meeting with Geological Society of America. 

The meeting is titled “From Volcanoes to Vineyards: Living with Dynamic Landscapes”. 

Short Course 

SEG-sponsored technical sessions (dates and times to be assigned at a later date). 

ENVIRONMENTAL GEOCHEMISTRY applied to metal mines 

and their remediation”: SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGISTS 

SHORTCOURSE” 

8:30AM-5:00PM, Saturday, October 17, 2009. 

Robert R. Seal rseal@usgs.gov and 

William X. Chávez wxchavez@nmt.edu 

Short course registration through SEG only. 

For information, please contact the SEG at 

email: seg@segweb.org or phone: +1.720.981.7882. 

Field Course 

“Society of Economic Geologists Field Course: Geology and 

Geochemistry of Uranium Deposits of the Southwestern 

Colorado Plateau Region”, October 21–26, 2009. 

Field Course Leaders: William X. Chávez, Jr. wxchavez@nmt.edu 

and Erich U. Petersen erich.petersen@utah.edu 

Course begins and ends in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Field Course registration through SEG only. For information, 

please contact the SEG at email: seg@segweb.org or phone: 

+1.720.981.7882. 

GSA topical session “T149. Copper in Central EurAsia and Russia: 

Linking Mineral Resource Assessment, Tectonics, and Metallogeny” 

Co-sponsors: CERCAMS (Centre for Russian and Central EurAsian Mineral Studies), USGS, SEG, GSA International Division 

Central EurAsia and Russia host significant porphyry copper deposits and sediment-hosted copper deposits. The region is an 

important copper producer, a focus of mineral industry exploration interest, and has a complex tectonic history. This session will 

highlight recent research on the geologic framework for copper deposits (emphasis on porphyry and sediment-hosted deposits) in 

the former Soviet Union and neighboring territories and applications to regional-scale mineral resource assessment and exploration. 

Keynote Speakers: Dr. Donald A. Singer, USGS(emeritus); Dr. Reimar Seltmann, CERCAMS, Natural History Museum London; 

Dr. Vitaly V. Shatov, All Russian Geological Research Institute-VSEGEI, St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Please contact SEG or the local SEG program chair John Dilles at dillesj@geo.oregonstate.edu for further information. 

SEG 2009 Distinguished Lecturer 

Dr. Jonathan M.A. Hronsky (SEG 2000 F) 

Talk Title: “Self-organized systems and ore formation: The key to spatially predictive targeting?” 

Please see final GSA program for date, time, and location. 

Please join us at the annual SEG Awards Dinner to be held on Saturday, October 17, 2009, 

at the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower Hotel. Tickets available through GSA registration. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MEMBERSHIP 


personal notes & news 

AWARDS 

FRANÇOIS ROBERT (SEG 1991 F), Barrick 

Gold Corporation, has been awarded The 

Duncan R. Derry Medal for 2009. This is 

the highest award bestowed by the GAC 

Divisional Awards 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. 

We are deeply saddened to report the passing of long-time 

SEG member Professor Mike Solomon on May 27, 2009. 

Mike played a leading role in the development of economic 

geology, both in Australia and internationally. He 

had numerous achievements during a highly distinguished 

career, which include his pioneering work with volcanicassociated 

deposits, which put the Mount Read volcanic arc 

firmly in the lexicon of geologists around the world. 

Traits that were always abundantly evident throughout 

his working life were his desire and ability to test the limits, 

which often led to new ways of thinking and advances in the 

understanding of the science. For instance, one of his many 

respected and influential publications was on “The formation 

of massive sulfide deposits on the sea floor,” co-authored 

with John Walshe and published in Economic Geology in 

1979. This visionary work correctly predicted the existence of 

“black smokers” on the sea floor long before they were discovered 

in deep sea dives—a view that was met with a great 

deal of scepticism from his peers at the time. 

In 1972, Mike initiated the first papers on the evolution of 

ore deposits in relation to the plate-tectonic evolution of the 

Tasman orogenic zone, and his book The Geology and Origin 

of Australia’s Mineral Deposits (co-authored with David Groves) 

is still considered the premier overview of those deposits and 

their setting more than 15 years after its publication. 

Among Mike’s many accolades were the Heemskirk Medal 

(1979), the Stillwell Award (1987) and the SEG R.A.F. Penrose 

Medal (2007). 

In addition to his many academic achievements, Mike 

will be remembered for his ability to bring geology alive and 

make it fun. As a young lecturer he was particularly popular 

with his students for his willingness to join in at social functions 

and his capacity to introduce intriguing topics to the 

lecture theatre. On one occasion his guest speaker gave a 

talk on “Pyrite, Politics and Promiscuity in Cuba.” 

In the photo above, Mike stands on the far left. 

CAREER-RELATED 

CHANGES 

WILLIAM LINDQVIST (SEG 1993 F) has 

been appointed as an independent director 

on the board of Evolving Gold Corp. 

CRAIG B. SMITH (SEG 2008 M) has been 

named executive manager of the 

Geological Society of South Africa. He 

replaces Leopold Bosch, the first executive 

manager of GSSA, who has retired 

but plans to remain active. 

DEATHS 

MICHAEL M. SOLOMON (SEG 1964 SF) — 1928–2009 

Contributed by Ross Large 

DEATHS 

RICK H. RUSSELL (SEG 

1993 F) died suddenly 

on April 6 of pancreatic 

cancer. Members 

who would like to 

write to his wife, 

Kath leen, are encouraged 

to do so (8674 

South Littlecloud Rd., 

Sandy, UT 84093). 

ALEXANDER C. 

M. MCKINLAY 

(SEG 1968 SF) 

died March 18, 

in Australia, 

after a short 

illness. No further 

details 

are available 

at this time. 

Many of his students have gone on to 

become leading economic geologists in their 

own right, including David Groves, who gave 

the citation at the presentation of Mike’s 

Penrose Medal, John Walshe, Geoff Green, 

Noel White, Chris Heinrich and Ross Large, to 

name just a few. They, like many other geologists, 

over many years, have looked upon Mike as a 

character, a leader, a mentor and, most of all, a friend. 

He will be sorely missed, but his legacy certainly lives on. 

The University of Tasmania SEG student chapter plans to introduce 

the Mike Solomon Memorial Lecture. The lecture will be held annually 

at CODES – ARC Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits. 1


Ernest Ohle struggled with the general 

difficulties that old age brings after his 

90 th birthday a year ago, and a mild 

heart attack and subsequent kidney failure 

in October further sapped his 

strength; Ernie died on April 27, 2009. He 

was surrounded by a loving extended 

family, his partner of the last six years, 

Ann James, and friends from Colorado 

Springs and the SEG. 

Ernie’s life was one that was fully lived 

—in industry, academia, publications, 

and through his family, church, and SEG. 

He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on 

December 17, 1917, grew up there, and 

earned his A.B. and M.S. degrees in geology 

from Washington University in 1938 

and 1940, respectively. Afterward, he 

attended Harvard University, receiving 

an M.A. degree in 1941, and he worked 

through the war years for American Zinc 

Company in Tennessee, Missouri, and 

Arizona, returning to Harvard in 1947 to 

1948 as a teaching fellow under Hugh 

McKinstry. He received a Ph.D. from 

Harvard in 1950. 

A brilliant mining and exploration 

career followed, with St. Joseph Lead in 

the SE Missouri lead belt (1948–1957), 

then as chief geologist for the Copper 

Range Company in White Pine, Michigan 

(1957–1961), and as assistant chief geologist 

with Hanna Mining Company in 

Cleveland (1961–1972). His last 3 years 

with Hanna were as evaluation manager 

(1969–1972), and he remained with 

Hanna as consulting geologist for six 

more (1972–1978). 

Ernie was a general consultant, geoscientist, 

scholar, researcher, and advisor for 

another 20 years. Through most of his 

adult life, he belonged to the professional 

organizations SEG, AIME, AAPG, ASM, 

and AIPG. He was a perseverant and 

imaginative scientist and scholar, a 


DEATHS (continued) 

ERNEST LINWOOD OHLE, JR. (SEG 1950 SF) — 1917–2009 

Contributed by John M. Guilbert 

fountain of novel ideas and information, 

and one of those amazing people whose 

net was spread far and wide to friends, 

students, colleagues of all sorts, his church 

congregation members, his SEG buddies, 

and, most importantly, to his family, his 

beloved wife of 55 years, Martha, and 

their four children and their offspring. 

Salient in Ernie’s career was the major 

genetic-geologic reinterpretation (with 

John S. Brown) of the lead belt that 

extended its life for decades, spurred his 

major deposit discoveries in the belt, and 

vaulted him on the path to renowned 

expertise in the geology of Mississippi 

Valley-type deposits worldwide. His reinterpretation 

of the lead belt essentially 

nullified Lindgren’s telethermal category 

and underpinned the basin-brine model 

for MVT deposits. His expertise was 

acknowledged in 1996 by the dedication 

to him of the SEG Special Publication 

Number 4 on Carbonate-Hosted Lead-Zinc 

Deposits, with a splendid detailing of his 

career by Donald F. Sangster in its frontispiece. 

As noted therein, his impact has 

spread far and wide. Ernie also published 

on iron ore geology and deposit evaluation, 

copper at White Pine, ethics and 

procedures in exploration, and a host of 

topics in more than a score of important 

papers). In his later years, he was asked 

to serve as adjunct or visiting professor in 

geology departments at the universities of 

Utah, Texas-El Paso, and Arizona, where 

he lectured on both geologic-exploration 

topics and professional ethics to many 

graduate students. 

Perhaps Ernie would have partitioned 

his life into three major sectors: his public 

geologic-industrial side, his private family 

and church member side, and his involvement 

with the Society of Economic Geolo - 

gists. In all three, he was powerfully motivated 

by people and personal relationships. 

Ernie joined SEG 

after he graduated 

from Harvard in 1950, 

and there commenced 

a long list of volunteer 

works. He became SEG 

President in 1974, and 

his Presidential Address on “Economic 

Geologists, SEG, and the Future” should 

still be read. He acknowledged the role 

of the SEG Foundation for larger scale 

SEG purposes and funding and strongly 

supported the launching of the SEG 

Newsletter. In 1987, he asked the SEG 

Council to initiate a grants program to 

encourage faculty at smaller colleges to 

attend SEG meetings; it became the Ernest 

L. Ohle Grant Program. Always seeking 

effective involvement, he was elected SEG 

Foundation President in 1980–1983, 

1986–1990, and 1992–1993, for a total of 

eight years. Latterly, he chaired the 

Foundation’s McKinstry Committee and 

the SEG Special Grants Committee, having 

almost single-handedly persuaded 

Elizabeth McKinstry (Hugh’s widow) to 

bequeath their estate to the SEG 

Foundation. He was proud to receive 

SEG’s first Ralph W. Marsden Award, in 

1987, for outstanding service to Society 

through the years. For his 58 years of 

active involvement in SEG, his management 

skills, his common sense, his warm 

and friendly personality, and his devotion 

to his profession and the Society were 

evident. I think that everybody in SEG 

who knew Ernie admired him. 

So we see a long and distinguished 

career as teacher, geoscientist, explorationist 

and exploration manager, SEG 

enthusiast, and friend to the profession 

drawn to a close. SEG members, young 

and old, we lost a real hero on April 27, 

when Ernie Ohle died. 1 

JOSEPH R. ANZMAN 

Exploration Geophysicist 

consulting 

interpretation 

project management 

geophysical surveys 

domestic & foreign 

P.O. Box 370526 303-337-4559 

Denver, Colorado 80237 telephone/fax 

geophjoe@comcast.net 


MEMBERSHIP

� 

� 

� 

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GUIDEBOOK SERIES: 

GB 8: Industrial Mineral Resources of the Delaware Basin, 

Texas, and New Mexico. 1990, 203p. $24.00 $19.20 

GB 28: The Carlin-Type Gold Deposits Field Conference. 

1997, 294p. $36.00 $28.80 

GB 29: Geology and Ore Deposits of the Oquirrh and Wasatch 

Mountains, Utah. 1997 (Revised 1998), 308p. $40.00 $32.00 

GB 30: Gold Deposits of Northern Sonora, Mexico. 1998, 252p. $36.00 $28.80 

GB 31: Epithermal Mineralization of the Western 

Carpathians. 1999, 274p. $36.00 $28.80 

GB 32: CD-ROM ONLY. PART I. Contrasting Styles of Intrusion- 

Associated Hydrothermal Systems. PART II. Geology & 

Gold Deposits of the Getchell Region. 2000, 234p. $36.00 $28.80 

GB 33: CD-ROM ONLY. Svecofennian Ore-Forming Environments: 

Volcanic-Associated Zn-Cu-Au-Ag, Intrusion-Associated 

Cu-Au, Sediment-Hosted Pb-Zn, and Magnetite-Apatite 

Deposits of Northern Sweden. 2004, 175 p. $36.00 $28.80 

GB 34: CD-ROM ONLY. Epithermal Gold Mineralization and 

Modern Analogues, Kyushu, Japan. 2001 188p. $36.00 $28.80 

GB 35: PART I. Proterozoic Iron and Zinc Deposits of the 

Adirondack Mountains of New York and the New Jersey 

Highlands. PART II. Environmental Geochemistry and 

Mining History of Massive Sulfide Deposits in the 

Vermont Copper Belt. 2001, 294p. $36.00 $28.80 

GB 36: CD-ROM ONLY. Cretaceous Porphyry-Epithermal 

Systems of the Srednogorie Zone, Bulgaria. 2003, 132 p. $36.00 $28.80 

GB 37: CD-ROM ONLY. Lisbon Valley Sediment-Hosted Copper 

Deposits and Paradox Basin Fluids Field Trip. 2005, 50p. $25.00 $21.00 

GB 38: CD-ROM ONLY. Porphyry Molybdenum Deposits in 

Colorado: I. Climax Porphyry Molybdenum Deposit. II. 

Henderson Molybdenum Mine. Summary, road log, 9 reprints. $30.00 $24.00 

GB 39: CD-ROM ONLY. Terroir of Colorado’s Western Slope 

Vineyards. 30 p. $30.00 $24.00 

ECONOMIC GEOLOGY MONOGRAPH SERIES: 

EG Mono 9: Mineral Deposits of Alaska. 

1997, 483p., hard cover. $45.00 $36.00 

EG Mono 10: The Giant Kidd Creek Volcanogenic Massive 

Sulfide Deposit, Western Abitibi Subprovince, Canada. 

1999, hard cover. � ADDITIONAL SHIPPING $60.00 $48.00 

EG Mono 11: Massive Sulfide Deposits of the Bathurst 

Mining Camp, New Brunswick, and Northern Maine. 

2003, hard cover. � ADDITIONAL SHIPPING $69.00 $55.20 

ECONOMIC GEOLOGY PUBLICATIONS: 

Tables for the Determination of Common Opaque Minerals. 

P.G. Spry and B.L. Gedlinske. CD-ROM ONLY. $12.50 $10.00 

The Hugo Dummett Memorial Economic Geology Archive: 

1905-2004. Complete, searchable digital files of 

v. 1 through 99 of the journal (DVD only; 5.2 GB). 

NOTE: This is NOT A CD-ROM; DVD drive required $1,500.00 $220.00 

Economic Geology 100 th Anniversary Volume. 2005, 

1136 p. hard cover; � ADDITIONAL SHIPPING $100.00 $80.00 

SEG CONFERENCE SERIES: (Note: CD-ROMs listed are not audio) 

Global Exploration 2002: Integrated Methods for Discovery 

Abstracts of Oral and Poster Presentations. 150p. $10.00 $ 8.00 

SEG 2004: Predictive Mineral Discovery Under Cover: 

Extended Abstracts. SEG and the Centre for Global 

Metallogeny (Australia). CD-ROM ONLY. $20.00 $16.00 

SEG Forum 2005: Controversies on the Origin of World-Class 

Gold Deposits: Carlin and Witwatersrand. CD-ROM ONLY. $20.00 $16.00 

SEG 2006: Wealth Creation in the Minerals Industry: 

Abstracts of Oral and Poster Presentations. 396p. $35.00 $28.00 

Keystone Conference DVD: Wealth Creation in the Minerals Industry (2006) 

PowerPoint presentations-audio/posters/extended abstracts (2Gb); PC Only 

Special Order: http://www.softconference.com/260514 or by calling 

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REVIEWS IN ECONOMIC GEOLOGY SERIES: 

Rev. 1: CD-ROM ONLY. Fluid-Mineral Equilibria in 

Hydrothermal Systems. 1984. 

Rev. 2: CD-ROM ONLY. Geology and Geochemistry of 

$20.00 $16.00 

Epithermal Systems. 1985. 

Rev. 3: CD-ROM ONLY. Exploration Geochemistry: Design 

$20.00 $16.00 

and Interpretation of Soil Surveys. 1986. 

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$20.00 $16.00 

Magmas. 1989. 

Rev. 5: CD-ROM ONLY. Sedimentary and Diagenetic Mineral 

$20.00 $16.00 

Deposits: A Basin Analysis Approach to Exploration 

� Rev. 6: The Environmental Geochemistry of Mineral Deposits: 

PART A: Processes, Techniques, and Health Issues; 

PART B: Case Studies and Research Topics. 

$20.00 $16.00 

1999, Volume set total 583p. � ADDITIONAL SHIPPING 

Rev. 7: Applications of Microanalytical Techniques to 

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Under standing Mineralizing Processes. 1998, 271p. 

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and Examples In Modern And Ancient Settings. 1999, 416p. 

Rev. 9: Ore Genesis and Exploration: The Roles of 

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Organic Matter. 2000, 340 p. 

Rev. 10: Techniques in Hydrothermal Ore Deposits Geology. 

$49.00 $39.20 

1998, 264 p. 

Rev. 11: Metamorphosed and Metamorphogenic Ore Deposits. 

$34.00 $27.20 

2000, 310p. 

Rev. 12: Application of Radiogenic Isotopes to Ore Deposit 

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Research and Exploration. 1999, 208p. $32.00 $25.60 

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Rev. 14: Structural Controls on Ore Genesis. 2001, 190p. 

Rev. 15: Banded Iron Formation-Related High-Grade 

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Rev. 16: Remote Sensing and Spectral Geology. 2009, 266p. $75.00 $60.00 

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SP 1: CD-ROM ONLY. Geology and Metallogeny of Sulfide 

Deposits, Noril’sk Region, USSR. 1988; rev.1992. 

SP 3: Ore Reserve Estimates in the Real World. 

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Third Edition, 2002, 121p. $37.00 $29.60 

� SP 4: Carbonate-Hosted Lead-Zinc Deposits. 

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Central Andes. 1999, 368p. 

SP 8: New Mines and Discoveries in Mexico and 

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Central America. 2001, 362p. 

SP 9: Integrated Methods for Discovery: Global Exploration 

$68.00 $54.40 

in the 21st Century. 2002, 392p. 

SP 10: Volcanic, Geothermal and Ore-Forming Fluids: 

Rulers and Witnesses of Processes within the Earth. 

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SP 11: Andean Metallogeny: New Discoveries, Concepts, 

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and Updates. 2004, 358p. 

SP 12: Wealth Creation in the Minerals Industry: Integrating 

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Science, Business, and Education. 2006, 329p. 

SP 13: Nickel Deposits of the Yilgarn Craton: Geology, Geo- 

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2) Physical Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrogenesis of 

Komatiite Basalt Lava Channels and Channelized Sheet Flows 

in the Cape Smith Belt, New Quebec: C. Michael Lesher, 

Laurentian University, Sept. 1998 $25.00 $20.00 

Vid. 2: 1) Worldwide Exploration: Can We Afford It?, 

2) Exploration Strategic Planning: Michael J. Knuckey, President, 

Noranda Mining Exploration, Ltd., Nov. 1998 $25.00 $20.00 

Vid. 3: 1) The Porphyry to Epithermal Continuum: Evidence from 

Volcanoes and Ore Deposits, 2) Characteristics of and Exploration 

for Epithermal Gold Deposits in the Circum Pacific: Jeffrey W. 

Hedenquist, Consulting Economic Geologist, April 1999 $25.00 $20.00 

Vid. 4: 1) Epithermal Gold Deposits—Characteristics, Classes 

and Causes 2) Convergent Evolution and Ore Deposits: 

Noel C. White, Consulting Economic Geologist, Sept. 1999 $25.00 $20.00 

Vid. 5: 1) Cordilleran Metallogeny of Western Canada 

2) Intrusion-related Mineral Deposits: Tectonics, Magmas and 

Fluids: John Thompson, Teck Corporation, Feb. 2000 $25.00 $20.00 

Vid. 6: 1) Geology and Genesis of the Irish Zn-Pb-Ag Ore Field 

2) The Lisheen Deposits, Ireland: Discovery and Delineation 

of a Blind Zn-Pb-Ag Orebody: Murray W. Hitzman, 

Colorado School of Mines, Sept. 2000 $25.00 $20.00 

Vid. 7: 1) How Orebodies are Found 2) The Arequipa Resources 

Pierina Project: David J. Lowell, Lowell Mineral Exploration, Feb. 2001 $25.00 $20.00 

Vid. 8: 1) Tectonic Setting and Structural Controls in the Giant 

Eocene-Oligocene Porphyry Copper Deposits of Northern 

Chile 2) Late Cenozoic Mineralization and Crustal Evolution 

in a Thickening Arc: The Maricunga and El Indio Mineral 

Belts: Constantino Mpodozis, Chilean Geological Survey, Mar. 2001 $25.00 $20.00 

Vid. 9: 1) Mineral Resources and Mining: Supply, Demand the 

Environment 2) Supergene Oxidation of Copper Deposits: 

The Zoning of Copper Oxide Minerals and Applications to 

Minerals Exploration: William X. Chavez, Jr., New Mexico 

Institute of Mining, Apr. 2001 $25.00 $20.00 

Vid. 10: 1) Reflections on the Bre-X Saga 

2) Pioneering Mining in the Arctic: Graham Farquharson, 

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Vid. 14: 1) Exploration in the Context of Mineral Supply: 

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H Aug. 6–9. International Symposium “Large 

Igneous Provinces of Asia, Mantle Plumes” 

(LIPs of Asia) Novosibirsk, Russia. Website: . 

Aug. 17–20. SGA 2009 Conference — 

Townsville, Nth Queensland, Australia. Hosted 

by EGRU in collaboration with SEG Codes 

UTas CET UWA. Website: . Email: sga2009@jcu. edu.au. See 

p. 51. 

H Aug. 24–28. 8th National Mining & Quarry - 

ing Conference and Exhibition, Guyana, 

High Street, Kingston, Georgetown. SEG is supporting 

a workshop on The Geology and Geo - 

chemistry of Placer Deposits (John Youngson) as 

well as manning an SEG exhibit booth. Website: 

. See p. 24 for details. 

H Sept. 3–7. 2nd European SEG Student 

Chapter Conference, Budapest, Hungary. 

Eötvös Loránd University Student Chapter of 

the Society of Economic Geologists is hosting 

this student conference in Budapest, Hungary. 

For information, please email: eluscseg@hot 

mail.com. See circular at . 

Sept. 7–11. XII Colombian Congress of 

Geology, Paipa-Boyacá, Colombia. Website: 

. See p. 9. 

H Sept. 15–17. SEG-SGS Geometallurgy Course: 

Applications to Exploration and Production, 

Riverstone Lodge, Muldersdrift, South Africa. 

For course and registration details, see

THINK AHEAD 

BHP Billiton is all about smart technology, innovation and great talent. If you want a challenging career and a chance 

to explore resource opportunities as well as your ambitions, we’re the company for you. Think Ahead. Think BHP Billiton. 

MINERALS EXPLORATION – BHP Billiton is a leader in the mining of bauxite, manganese and iron ore. The company is intent on driving its long 

term growth through the implementation of rigorous and targeted exploration programs around the world. The company’s Minerals Exploration 

Group actively pursues global exploration development opportunities and continues to focus on discovering and capturing long-life, high quality 

resources through exploration programs in North and South America, Africa, Australia and Asia. 

WORLD CLASS MINERALS EXPLORATION LEADERS 

GEOSCIENCE MANAGER AND GEOPHYSICS MANAGER 

Global technical leadership positions within our Geoscience Centre of Excellence 

Based in Singapore and an integral part of the Minerals Exploration management team 

We currently seek two highly experienced business leaders with a track record of success in exploration program design, development and 

execution. The successful candidates will each lead small teams of specialist exploration geoscientists in our Minerals Exploration Geosciences 

team, participating in a diverse range of challenging global projects. With the support of a network of regional professionals operating within key 

focus areas, the Geoscience group are directly accountable for exploration program content and technical standards. 

The Geoscience Manager position will lead a team of principal geologists and geochemists. The Geophysics Manager will be the most senior 

geophysical role within the Minerals Exploration group, leading a team of specialist geophysicists. 

Each role will cover project generation, project design, selection of methods, processing, data interpretation and integration. Both are 

“hands-on” roles with work being conducted directly by the incumbent and via the leadership of direct reports and virtual global teams. The job 

content will span the full range of commodities and geophysical methods of interest to the company across the spectrum of minerals discovery to 

detailed project evaluation. We are looking for candidates with superior technical skills from the top tier of the industry - hence the following are 

mandatory for consideration: 

Significant international experience and demonstrated discovery capability - senior and principal minerals geoscience leaders are encouraged to apply; 

Demonstrated specialist skills in the planning, acquisition, interpretation & evaluation of exploration data for both bulk commodity and base 

metal target styles; 

Active participation in a range of international exploration ventures; 

Application of state of the art methods to mine and district scale delineation and evaluation; 

Post graduate geoscience qualifications; and 

Excellent planning, collaboration and communication skills, and significant commercial acumen. 

Successful candidates will be offered an attractaive salary package and international relocation benefits. 

Singapore offers a vibrant business environment, coupled with a stimulating and cosmopolitan lifestyle. First class education, healthcare and 

accommodation options are available plus excellent transport within the island and internationally, providing ready access to South-East Asia and 

other global destinations. 

How to Apply 

To express interest in these positions, please upload a copy of your CV online at http://jobs.bhpbilliton.com Enter Ref No:SEG532100 to easily 

locate the position. Direct confidential enquires to Robert Fisher, HR Operations Specialist on tel: +61 8 6218 2902. 

BHP Billiton has an overriding commitment to safety and environmental responsibility. 

APPLY ONLINE AT JOBS.BHPBILLITON.COM 

50986 

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Contact SEG 

Society of Economic Geologists, Inc. 

Society of Economic Geologists Foundation, Inc. 

7811 Shaffer Parkway · Littleton, CO 80127-3732, USA 

Tel. +720.981.7882 · Fax +720.981.7874 

E-mail: seg@segweb.org · Website: www.segweb.org 

STAFF: 

EXECUTIVE Tel. Extension E-mail Address 

Brian G. Hoal ....................209 ............ director@segweb.org 

Christine Horrigan ...........210............. christinehorrigan@segweb.org 

ACCOUNTING Tel. Extension E-mail Address 

Anna Thoms......................203 ............ accounting@segweb.org 

MEMBERSHIP Tel. Extension E-mail Address 

Sydney Crawford..............212............. sydneycrawford@segweb.org 

PUBLICATIONS Tel. Extension E-mail Address 

Publications Editing: 

Alice Bouley......................202 ............ editing@segweb.org 

Graphic Design: 

Vivian Smallwood.............207............. viviansmallwood@segweb.org 

Newsletter Production: 

Christine Horrigan ...........210............. publications@segweb.org 

Publication Sales: 

Frances Kotzé...................214............. franceskotze@segweb.org 

Journal Subscriptions: 

Shirley King ......................208 ............ subscriptions@segweb.org 

STUDENT PROGRAMS Tel. Extension E-mail Address 

Vicky Sternicki.................204 ............ studentprograms@segweb.org 

SEG 

NEWSLETTER 

7811 SHAFFER PARKWAY 

LITTLETON, CO 80127-3732 USA 

Gold Deposits: 

New Developments and Exploration 

SEG – MGEI Workshop in Semarang, Indonesia, 

11 – 12 October, 2009 

The Society of Economic Geologists is offering the very successful Gold 

Deposit Workshop as a two-day course to be held in Semarang, Central 

Java, Indonesia before the Indonesian Association of Geologists (IAGI) 2009 conference. The course is held in conjunction 

with the Indonesian Society of Economic Geologists (MGEI). The workshop will be presented in English 

and is similar to those previously held in Beijing, Moscow, Antofagasta, Lima, Cairns and Cape Town. Speakers will 

include Richard Goldfarb (United States Geological Survey) – Orogenic gold deposits, Noel White (consultant, 

Brisbane) – Epithermal gold deposits, Craig Hart (Mineral Deposit Research Unit – University of British Columbia) – 

Intrusion-related gold deposits and Steve Garwin (consultant, Perth) – Carlin-type gold deposits and a separate talk 

on Porphyry Cu-Au deposits in SE Asia, with an emphasis on Batu Hijau. 

Materials presented will be rich in geological descriptions of some of the world’s best examples of these deposittypes, 

and include sections on tectonic- and structural-settings, geochemical and geophysical signatures and ex - 

ploration methods. This workshop will be of interest to all geologists, particularly those involved in gold exploration. 

Date & Place: 11 – 12 October, 2009 in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia (pre-IAGI 2009 conference). 

Speakers: Richard Goldfarb, Noel White, Craig Hart and Steve Garwin. 

Enrollment: professionals and students (a minimum of 75 participants required). 

Fees: Early registration (prior to 14 August) – 200 USD for professionals and 20 USD for students; Late registration 

(after 14 August) – 300 USD for professionals and 30 USD for students. 

Corporate Sponsorship: Companies that wish to contribute to this event should contact Noel White 

(noelcwhite@hotmail.com). 

Course Registration: registration requests should be sent to Johan Arif (Johan.Arif@Newmont.com) 

Contacts for more information: Steve Garwin (sgar@iinet.net.au), Adi Maryono (Adi.Maryono@Newmont.com) or 

Noel White (noelcwhite@hotmail.com).

Stewart R. Wallace — 1919–2009 - Society of Economic Geologists

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