Technical

I trained in the earth sciences, and divided the first half of my career between mineral exploration in the wilder parts of the world and research/administration in the London HQ of a large mining company. Below is the CV I used to send out when consulting in these fields.

Education and Professional

B.Sc. (Honors) in Geology: University of Exeter, UK

Teaching Certificate: St. Peter's, UK
Chartered Engineer
Past Fellow, Geological Society of London
Past Fellow, Institution of Mining and Metallurgy

Mining: Key Qualifications

· Mineral exploration techniques in many terrains.

· Exploration strategy, planning and evaluation.

· Financial and technical evaluation of mines and prospects.

· Technical evaluation for large company acquisition.

· Computer modeling for property acquisition and long-term company strategy.

· Professional editing of technical and non-technical publications.

· Multicultural liaison at senior management and government levels.

Experience Record

1988-2021 FREELANCE EDITOR & DATABASE PROGRAMMER : UK and Chile

· SRK - Technical editor for mining consultancy.

· Ecommerce Digest - Technical editor for online business publication.

· Publishing Explained - Researcher and Technical Editor for publishing site.

· Hanover Financial Group - Web design and promotion for UK finance house.

· Sporting Bet - Database programmer for world's largest online gaming site.

· Real World Travel - Web and database design for UK travel company.

· Horizon Online - VB, Perl and database programming for web-build company.

· International Numismatics - Specializing in Ancients, Islamic and Chinese issues.

· Astrological Journal - Editing and typesetting for leading UK publication.

· Litlangs Publishing Services - Freelance editing and typesetting.

· Abstat - Proprietor of Desktop-Publishing magazine.

1986-88 MINING ADMINISTRATOR, RTZ plc : London UK.

Responsible for long-term company strategy: reported to RTZ Main Board. Involved detailed liaison with all RTZ divisions and subsidiaries, plus technical and sometimes financial evaluation of major mining companies for purposes of competitor analysis and possible acquisition. Main duties and achievements:

· RTZ Technical Audits - Provided RTZ Main Board with a monthly analysis of subsidiary performance, monitoring performance against business plans and providing an impartial report on shortfalls, their reasons and possible solutions.

· Acquisition Targets - Worked with RTZ Business Evaluation, being responsible for all technical, and sometimes financial aspects, of proposed major company acquisitions: technical audits on operations, valuation of assets, long term prospects, synergy with RTZ companies, takeover strategies.

· Capital Expenditure Approvals - Advised Main Board on viability or otherwise of investments exceeding US$50 million by RTZ subsidiaries.

· Property Evaluations - Undertook technical and financial evaluations of properties offered to RTZ through London Office.

· A History of RTZ - Wrote a history of RTZ for a Main Board Director: focused on technical aspects, viewing RTZ against mining and business trends worldwide.

· Mass Computer System - Developed proactive database of major acquisition targets for RTZ.

· Liaison - Advised DTI on Antarctica, met with various Ministers of Mines on their visits to London, and kept abreast of relevant research in UK universities.

1983-86 TECHNICAL CONSULTANT, RTZ plc : London UK.

Worked as a consultant (though actually second-in-command in RTZ's Mining Department) on a wide range of briefs but generally focusing on immediate mineral opportunities for RTZ plc. Main duties and achievements:

· Acquisition target analysis - Analyzed many hundreds of base metal mines with Pass computer system, making acquisition recommendations to RTZ Main Board.

· Computerization - Implemented computerization in Mining Department.

· Library organization - Integrated Departmental libraries in Head Office, making them more relevant and readily accessible.

· Exploration strategy - Planned or advised on exploration programs in Germany, Spain, Morocco, Brazil and Egypt, setting targets and economic cutoffs.

· Extraction technologies - Liaised with RTZ Oil and Gas and RTZ Consultants to explore solution mining and other extraction technologies.

· Pass Improvements - Added fuzzy-logic and neural network modeling to Pass computer system.

· Property Evaluations - Undertook many technical evaluations of properties offered to RTZ, including:

· Reef gold: Ghana

· Lode gold: west Africa and Australia

· Open-pit gold: Eire

· Alluvial gold: Ecuador

· Iron Ore: Afghanistan

· Coal: USA and Antarctica

· Nickel: Canada

· Strata-bound lead-zinc: Burma and Ireland

· Strata-bound copper: Poland, Saudi Arabia and Morocco

· Platinum: South Africa

· Porphyry copper: Pakistan, Panama and Argentina

· Uranium: USA and Somalia

· Gemstones: Brazil and Ecuador

1977-80 PROJECT RESEARCH GROUP MANAGER, RTZ plc : London UK.

Led group making objective studies of exploration strategies and costs, introducing risk analysis and financial strategy into what was previously poorly quantified. Main duties and achievements:

· Metallogenic provinces - Grouped all copper-lead-zinc mines in noncommunist world into metallogenic provinces, detailing the geological setting, and the statistical measures of grades and tonnages applying.

· Exploration strategies - Compared exploration approaches relative to cost, risk and reward to arrive at optimal targets for worldwide exploration.

· HQ Integration - Brought exploration into the ambit of Head Office concerns, devising models acceptable to Business Evaluation, Tax and Group Public Affairs.

1976-77 WORLD STUDY GROUP GEOLOGIST, RTZ plc : London UK.

Undertook special study into copper in sedimentary rocks: their genesis, economics and exploration approaches. Visited mines and prospects in Namibia, Zaire, Zambia, Chile, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and USA. Initiated negotiations with BRPM (government mining company in Morocco) that led to a major exploration effort by RTZ in the Anti-Atlas Mountains.

1971-76 SENIOR GEOLOGIST, RIOTINTO BETHLEHEM INDONESIA : Indonesia.

Rapidly became team-leader for airborne porphyry copper search in rugged tropical terrain in west Sumatra, thence branching out into gold and coal reconnaissance, exploration strategy and government liaison. Main duties and achievements:

· Porphyry copper search - Helicopter-borne drainage geochemistry, photo interpretation, detailed mapping and sampling. Three uneconomic deposits located: first man on site in two of them.

· West Sumatra coal - Rediscovered Apun coal basin and produced detailed map. Major drilling program found the deposit to be sub-economic.

· East Sumatra coal - Led airborne and river-borne search for later Tertiary coal deposits over 40,000 km2 area in east Sumatra: deposits uneconomic.

· Kalimantan coal - Explored northeast and east Kalimantan for Tertiary coal deposits. Made find that developed into largest open-pit coal mine in Indonesia.

· Property Acquisitions - Extended existing exploration contract with Indonesian Government by agreements with Indonesian Geological Survey and private individuals. Allowed company into areas closed to non-nationals, and protected finds made. Find of Kelian gold mine (176 tonnes of recovered gold) was secured in this manner.

· Gold alluvials - Assisted with appraisal of alluvial gold prospects in central and eastern Sumatra.

· Literature appraisals - Evaluated previous literature (Dutch and Japanese) and drew up exploration targets for the archipelago.

1969-70 SENIOR GEOLOGIST, AUSTRALIAN DEVELOPMENT, N. L. : Australia.

Employed as exploration and mine geologist at Noble's Nob open-pit mine in Tennant Creek gold-copper-bismuth field. Main duties and achievements:

· Mine mapping - Geological mapping and grade control for the Noble's Nob open-pit gold mine.

· Regional exploration - Geological mapping in complex sedimentary regime of Precambrian Tennant Creek field. Devised a correlation system based on mapping of turbidite units.

· Geophysics - Assisted with magnetometer surveys and their interpretation.

· Drill-rig supervision. - Supervised drill-rigs (diamond drill and blast-hole) and sampled core. Devised a method of logging that used rock cleavage as a control in downhole mapping. Reorganized drilling strategy to cope with serious downhole deviation.

· Literature studies - Quantified orebody parameters by review of previous literature, visits to neighboring mines and reexamination of past drill cores. Important implications for reserve estimation and magnetic anomaly interpretation.

· Property evaluations - Evaluation of properties in Tennant Creek field and beyond: gold-copper-bismuth in ironstone bodies, lode gold and carbonate-hosted lead-zinc.

1968-69 FREELANCE WRITER : UK.

Attended writing courses and published a small number of pieces.

1966-68 GEOLOGIST, RIOFINEX IRAN : Iran.

Mine and exploration geologist at small lead-zinc mine in central Iran. Main duties and achievements:

· Mine mapping - Underground mapping and grade control for underground property in early stages of mining.

· Regional geological mapping - Mapping of tectonically complex zones in central Iran: thrusts, complexly- folded Infracambrian sequence, major wrench fault systems.

· Detailed surface mapping - Preparatory to drilling stratiform lead-zinc-copper prospect.

· Geophysics - Assisted with electromagnetic and magnetic surveys.

· Drill-rig supervision - Supervised drilling: underground and surface prospects.

· Sampling - Sampled drillcores and underground channel samples.

· Property evaluations - Evaluation of properties in central and northern Iran: lode gold, carbonate-hosted lead-zinc and strata-bound lead zinc.

· Copper porphyry exploration - Successful airborne search for porphyry coppers in central and northwest Iran: aerial surveys, helicopter visits to prospects, surface mapping and sampling.

Academic Publications

Fluid flow and the genesis of sedimentary orebodies. Economic Geology. Vol. 79, 1984.

Intraplate wrench deformation in Iran, Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Geologische Rundschau Vol. 67, 37-48.

How rigid are the lithospheric plates? Fault and shear rotations in southeast Asia. Journ. Geol. Soc. Vol. 134, 325-42, 1977.

Earthquake foci distribution in the Sunda arc and the rotation of the back-arc area. Tectonophysics, Vol. 43, 169-80, 1977.

Englishing the Gita Govinda. Journal of Vaishnava Studies, Vol. 22, 1, 27-46, 2013.