Hugo
Dummett
Dummett earned his BSc degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1964, and moved to
Canada in 1965. In 1970, he entered the University of Queensland for graduate work. In
1977, Dummett signed on with Superior
Oil to prospect for diamonds
in North America, just as the science of using indicator minerals -- pyrope garnets,
chrome diopside and chromite -- for diamondexploration was
being worked out. Superior formed a joint
venture with Falconbridge, and
the JV hired geologist Charles
Fipke for
the diamond exploration project. Early in the program, Dummett tried to
convince Governor Bill
Clinton to
lease Arkansas's Crater of Diamonds State Park.[2] Between 1979 and 1982,
the partners found at least 20 kimberlite pipes, but none had commercial diamond
potential. The Falconbridge-Superior joint venture then funded a research
program by South Africangeochemist John
Gurney, to study possible indicator minerals for diamondiferous pipes. By 1982,
Gurney had established that the kimberlite pyrope garnet
"G10" was critical to diamond discovery. Pipes without the G10 garnet
were likely to be barren. Using this new technology, the JV discovered a
promising pipe in eastern Botswana, but
lost the land to De
Beers, who later discovered a commercial diamond deposit
there.[3]
Mobil
Oil then bought Superior,
and ended its mineral exploration program in 1983. Dummett convinced Mobil to
turn over its data to Fipke so the exploration effort could continue.[1][2] Fipke and his partner Stewart
Blusson, working on a "shoestring," staked some
promising ground near Lac
de Gras in
1989. Dummett took a new job with BHP
Minerals in
1989, and convinced his new employer to lease their property. In 1991, BHP
drilling on their leased claims found micro-diamonds, sparking one of largest claimstaking rushes in mining history.[3]
Under
Dummet's direction, BHP eventually developed commercial diamond reserves in
five pipes; the discovery pipe turned out to be non-commercial.[3] BHP began the permitting
process for the Ekati
Diamond Mine in 1995,
received final approval in 1997, and opened the mine late in 1998.[4] By 2009, annual sales
from EKATI amounted to about 5% by value of world diamond production.[5]
In
2001, Dummett joined Ivanhoe
Mines as
Vice President. He contributed to the discovery of a large porphyry
copper-gold deposit that was renamed in his honor, at the
advanced Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia.[1]
Thomas Dibblee
After
graduating from Stanford University in 1936, Dibblee worked briefly for the California Division
of Mines, then went to work for Union Oil Company and then Richfield Oil as a field exploration petroleum geologist. His field mapping
led to the discovery of the Russell Ranch Oil Field, the first oil field to be found in the Cuyama Valley, in 1948, and then to the nearby larger South Cuyama Oil Field in 1949.[3]
He joined the US Geological Survey in 1952, and was assigned
to geologic mapping in the Mohave Desert. In 1953 he and co-worker
Mason Hill published a paper proposing 350 miles (560 km) of lateral
movement along the San Andreas Fault.[5] At that time, prior toplate tectonics theory, there was no known
mechanism that could cause such large-scale movements.
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