Hugo T. Dummett (1940–2002) was a
South African mineral-exploration
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
who is best known for his role in the discovery of the
Ekati Diamond Mine
The Ekati Diamond Mine ("Ekati") is Canada's first surface and underground diamond mine. It is located north-east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and about south of the Arctic Circle, near Lac de Gras. Until 2014 Ekati was a joint ventur ...
in the Barren Lands of Canada's
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
. Dummett has been described as "the brains, the ideas and the energy" behind the discovery of Ekati, which led to the creation of a new Canadian diamond-mining industry.
Career
Dummett earned his BSc degree at the
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...
in 1964, and moved to Canada in 1965 and attended Queen's university at Kingston, where he was a star rugby player playing fullback. In 1970, he entered the
University of Queensland
, mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work
, established =
, endowment = A$224.3 million
, budget = A$2.1 billion
, type = Public research university
, chancellor = Peter Varghese
, vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry
, city = B ...
for graduate work. In 1977, Dummett signed on with
Superior Oil
Superior may refer to:
*Superior (hierarchy), something which is higher in a hierarchical structure of any kind
Places
*Superior (proposed U.S. state), an unsuccessful proposal for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to form a separate state
*Lake ...
to prospect for diamonds in North America, just as the science of using indicator minerals --
pyrope
The mineral pyrope is a member of the garnet group. Pyrope is the only member of the garnet family to always display red colouration in natural samples, and it is from this characteristic that it gets its name: from the Greek for ''fire'' and ''e ...
garnets, chrome
diopside
Diopside is a monoclinic pyroxene mineral with composition . It forms complete solid solution series with hedenbergite () and augite, and partial solid solutions with orthopyroxene and pigeonite. It forms variably colored, but typically dull ...
and
chromite
Chromite is a crystalline mineral composed primarily of iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide compounds. It can be represented by the chemical formula of FeCr2O4. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. The element magnesium can s ...
—for
diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
exploration was being worked out. Superior formed a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
with
Falconbridge Limited
Falconbridge Limited was a Toronto, Ontario-based natural resources company with operations in 18 countries, involved in the exploration, mining, processing, and marketing of metal and mineral products, including nickel, copper, cobalt, and plati ...
, and the joint venture hired geologist
Charles Fipke
Charles Edgar "Chuck" Fipke (born 1946) is a Canadian geologist and prospector who discovered the existence of diamonds around Lac de Gras in Canada's Northwest Territories. He is now a multimillionaire involved in geological explorations aroun ...
for the diamond exploration project. Early in the program, Dummett tried to convince Governor
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
to lease Arkansas's
Crater of Diamonds State Park
Crater of Diamonds State Park is a List of Arkansas state parks, Arkansas state park in Pike County, Arkansas, Pike County, Arkansas, in the United States. The park features a 37.5-acre (15.2 ha) plowed field, the world's only diamond-bearing sit ...
.
[Kevin Krajick, ''Barren Lands: An Epic Search for Diamonds in the North American Arctic.'' 2001, Freeman/Henry Holt, ] Between 1979 and 1982, the partners found at least 20
kimberlite
Kimberlite is an igneous rock and a rare variant of peridotite. It is most commonly known to be the main host matrix for diamonds. It is named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa, where the discovery of an diamond called the Star of ...
pipes, but none had commercial diamond potential. The Falconbridge-Superior joint venture then funded a research program by South African
geochemist
Geochemistry is the science that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms behind major geological systems such as the Earth's crust and its oceans. The realm of geochemistry extends beyond the Earth, encompassing the ...
John Gurney, to study possible indicator minerals for diamondiferous pipes. By 1982, Gurney had established that the kimberlite
pyrope
The mineral pyrope is a member of the garnet group. Pyrope is the only member of the garnet family to always display red colouration in natural samples, and it is from this characteristic that it gets its name: from the Greek for ''fire'' and ''e ...
garnet "G10" was critical to diamond discovery. Pipes without the G10 garnet were likely to be barren. Using this new technology, the venture discovered a promising pipe in eastern
Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...
, but lost the land to
De Beers
De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and c ...
, who later discovered a commercial diamond deposit there.
Mobil Oil
Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.
...
then bought Superior, and ended its mineral exploration program in 1987. Dummett convinced Mobil to turn over its data to Fipke so the exploration effort could continue.
[ Fipke and his partner ]Stewart Blusson
Stewart Lynn "Stu" Blusson, (born 1939) is a Canadian geologist, helicopter pilot, businessman and philanthropist. He co-discovered billion-dollar Ekati Diamond Mine, 300 kilometres from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. He is President ...
, working on a small budget, staked some promising ground near Lac de Gras
Lac de Gras is a lake approximately north east of Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Lac de Gras was the centre of the diamond rush of the 1990s. There are two working, and one closed, diamond mines in the area, Diavik Diamond ...
in 1989. Dummett took a new job with BHP
BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...
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.
Under Dummet's direction, BHP eventually developed commercial diamond reserves in five pipes; the discovery pipe turned out to be non-commercial. BHP began the permitting process for the Ekati Diamond Mine
The Ekati Diamond Mine ("Ekati") is Canada's first surface and underground diamond mine. It is located north-east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and about south of the Arctic Circle, near Lac de Gras. Until 2014 Ekati was a joint ventur ...
in 1995, received final approval in 1997, and opened the mine late in 1998. By 2009, annual sales from EKATI amounted to about 5% by value of world diamond production.
In 2001, Dummett joined Ivanhoe Mines
Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal projects in Southern Africa: the development of new mines at the Kamoa-Kakula copper discoveries in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Platreef palladiu ...
as Vice President. He contributed to the discovery of a large porphyry copper
Porphyry copper deposits are copper ore bodies that are formed from hydrothermal fluids that originate from a voluminous magma chamber several kilometers below the deposit itself. Predating or associated with those fluids are vertical dikes of ...
-gold deposit that was renamed in his honor, at the advanced Oyu Tolgoi
The Oyu Tolgoi mine, also ( mn, Оюутолгой, ; "Turquoise Hill"), is a combined open pit and underground mining project in Khanbogd sum within the south Gobi Desert, approximately east of the Ömnögovi Province capital Dalanzadgad. ...
project in Mongolia.
Dummett was killed in an automobile accident in South Africa in August 2002.[
]
Honors and awards
*Hugo Dummett won The Northern Miner
''The Northern Miner'' is a weekly trade journal (formerly part of the Hollinger group) that reports on the mining industry. ''The Northern Miner'' began publication in Cobalt, Ontario, Canada, in 1915, and has since moved publication to Toront ...
's "Mining Man of the Year" award for 1998.
*In 2002 Dummett was President of the Society of Economic Geologists
The Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) is a scientific organization that promotes the study of geology as it relates to mining, mineral exploration, mineral resource classification and mineral extraction. The society's Publication Board publishe ...
.
*The Far North Zone of the Oyu Tolgoi
The Oyu Tolgoi mine, also ( mn, Оюутолгой, ; "Turquoise Hill"), is a combined open pit and underground mining project in Khanbogd sum within the south Gobi Desert, approximately east of the Ömnögovi Province capital Dalanzadgad. ...
copper-gold deposit in South Gobi, Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
was renamed the Hugo Dummett Deposit in 2003 by his last employer, Ivanhoe Mines
Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal projects in Southern Africa: the development of new mines at the Kamoa-Kakula copper discoveries in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Platreef palladiu ...
. The Oyu Tolgoi mining project is the largest financial undertaking in Mongolia's history, and is projected upon completion to account for more than 30% of the country's economy.
*The Hugo Dummett Diamond Award was established in his honor in 2004 by the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia.
*Dummett was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame
The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame was conceived by Maurice R. Brown as a way to honor Canada's mine finders and builders, in recognition of accomplishments by leaders in the Canadian mining industry.
The Hall was established in 1988; in 2022 it ha ...
in 2010.
*Dummett has also received the William Lawrence Saunders Gold Medal (1997) and the Daniel C. Jackling Award (2000), among other awards and honors.
References
Further reading
*Kevin Krajick, ''Barren Lands: An Epic Search for Diamonds in the North American Arctic.'' 2001, Freeman/Henry Holt, . at Smithsonian
The Story of Indicator Minerals - Pyrope Garnet (G10)
by Bryson Burke Diamond Corporation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dummett, Hugo
1940 births
2002 deaths
South African geologists
Canadian geologists
University of the Witwatersrand alumni
University of Queensland alumni
Economic geologists
20th-century geologists