The SEG Silver Medal for 1999 Citation of Murray W. Hitzman

Abstract

Mr. President, members of the Society, and guests: It gives me great pleasure to present Murray Hitzman for the 1999 SEG Silver Medal. Murray receives the Silver Medal for his outstanding contributions to economic geology on a very broad front: in ore finding, in mine development, in research, in policy planning, and in teaching. Murray entered the Ph.D. program in economic geology at Stanford in the fall of 1978. He arrived with a double major in Anthropology and Geology from Dartmouth, an M.S. degree in geology from the University of Washington, several years of experience in mineral exploration, and a thesis project all lined up and funded by Bear Creek. The thesis was to be the Ruby Creek deposit, in northern Alaska. Instinctively, Murray developed a regional and stratigraphic approach to understanding Ruby Creek. In a paper published in Economic Geology in 1986, Murray pointed out the similarities between Ruby Creek and the Cu deposits near McArthur River and in silica-dolomite at Mt. Isa, and proceeded to place Ruby Creek in the context of linkages between deposit types at the scale of sedimentary basins. This was a preview of what was to come in Ireland 10 years later. On finishing his Ph.D. at Stanford in 1983, Murray joined Chevron Resources Company and convinced the company to explore in Europe. Murray arrived in …