Brian King

How did you get your start in the mineral industry?

I was introduced to geology at school by an enthusiastic geography teacher. Whilst reading for my first degree, I worked as a summer vacation student in Falconbridge’s Falconbridge mine, Ontario Canada. The job made me decide I wanted to be an exploration geologist not a mine geologist. After completing a mapping project in the Swat Himalayas for my second degree, I joined Anglo American’s exploration team in Zambia and stayed with them until retiring in 1998.Whilst I was with the team it was responsible for the geological side of bringing to production Middleplaats Manganese and Namakwa Sands mines in South Africa, Sadiola Gold mine in Mali and Navachab Gold mine in Namibia. The team was also responsible for all the earlier geological work on Munali Nickel Zambia, Skorpion Zinc in Namibia and Uitkomst (Nkomati) Nickel in South Africa. Until the present I have been consulted on geological aspects of numerous gold and base-metal projects around the world and more theoretical work including thumb-nail descriptions of rocks for the British Geological Surveys rock nomenclature.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering a career in the mineral industry?

In spite of remote sensing, augmented and virtual reality, it is still important for geologists to see as many rocks in the field as possible with visits to mines and mineral occurrences. Geologists are often the first outside people to visit some places and may have audience with high ranking government personnel such as presidents and ministers, meaning they often act as envoys for their country and company, laying the groundwork for good relations between them.