The Society of Economic Geologists Awards for 2015

Abstract

President Foster, SEG members, and friends: Introducing Richard Sillitoe to economic geologists is an easy task, since most are familiar with his published record on ore deposits. Many here today have heard Dick speak at previous conferences, and the fortunate ones have spent time in the field with him on assignments, assessing the potential of prospects around the world. Dick got started in economic geology when he began Ph.D. studies in 1965 at London University, on supergene oxidation and enrichment of Chilean copper deposits and exploration implications. His first publication, in 1968, was on the chronology of landform evolution and supergene mineral alteration in the southern Atacama Desert, followed by several other papers on supergene minerals. On completion of his thesis, he took up a position in 1968 with the Instituto de Investigaciones Geologicas of Chile, the predecessor of SERNAGEOMIN, to develop exploration models for porphyry copper deposits throughout Chile. He decided to discontinue this work in 1971 because of difficulties created by the changed political situation. In retrospect, this was very fortunate, both for Dick and the broader economic geology community, as …