Joint AusIMM Student BBQ Meeting – Mawson Lecture · PDF fileJoint AusIMM Student BBQ Meeting – Mawson Lecture Theatre Kevin Wills ... 1970 – 1974 Phd – Caribbean 1972

JOINT AusIMM-GSA Student Meeting • 17 MARCH 2011 1

Joint AusIMM Student BBQ Meeting – Mawson Lecture Theatre

Kevin Wills’ transition from Uni to work and beyond

Kevin Wills17 March 2011


Outline1949 – 1967 Pre–uni

1967 – 1970 At uni – Royal School of Mines

1970 Post–uni – Hindu Kush expedition

1970 – 1974 Phd – Caribbean

1972 South America trip

1974 Getting fi rst job

1974 – 1979 Transition – the fi rst 5 years

1974 – 2010 Working for companies

1974 – 2010 Large and small companies swot analysis

1992 – 2010 Being a director – setting up new companies Working with people

2011 – Forward to the past


Pre – Uni 1949 – 1967• Born and early years – Plymouth, Devon, UK

• Two trips to Malta as father stationed there with Royal Marines

• Active in Scouts, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and School Cadet Force


At UniRoyal School of Mines 1967 – 1970• Worked hard and played hard

• Came fi rst in third year for rock and mineral identifi cation

• Hons Thesis on Ardnamurchan – learned to organise project work by myself – you are more employable with an honours degree

• Got top 2-1 degree in year with four fi rsts

• Recreation – Imperial College Mountaineering Club

• To PhD or not to PhD – Job or Caribbean or Seychelles


Post – UniHindu Kush expedition 1970• Travelled in old Army truck with 6 climbers

• Drove overland through Europe and Middle East to Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush

• Walked to base camp with local porters

• I was expedition’s medical offi cer!

• We climbed 6 fi rst ascents in the 7000m height range

• Arrested in Kabul

• Major multifaceted learning experience


PhD – Caribbean 1970 – 1974• Two months late to start PhD – supervisor said it was worth it

• Worked on mapping and geochemistry of Southern Dominica

• Switched theme after 2 years to include study of plutonic nodules

• Became an igneous petrologist – night shift on electron probe

• Was only white guy in Grand Bay Village of 6,000 blacks

• Learned how to work by myself & that I was not racially prejudiced

• Completing a PHD makes a future employer think you have more potential


South America trip – 1972• Flew from Trinidad to Santiago and back

overland with detours

• Salvador Allende in power in Chile, hyperinfl ation and nationalisation

• Planned to climb Aconcagua – too much recent snow

• Visited many copper mines – saw sulphur and magnetite lava fl ows

• Lake Titicaca & Inca ruins fantastic

• Visited Galapagos Islands

• Trip of a lifetime & learned passable Spanish


Getting first job – 1974• Not much happening in mining in the UK in 1974

• Got an offer from UK Survey to look for Sand & Gravel in Southern England

• Went for a 2-day “high-fl yers” selection process with Rio Tinto

• Started with CRA Exploration on 5 November in Darwin – hot!

• Flat blown away by Cyclone Tracy (I was visiting friends in Melbourne)

• Tips for landing a job: boom (easier), bust (hard), timing (most jobs fi lled when a company is looking for someone), 2 musts (you like them & you like the job)


Transition 1 – the first 5 years 1974-1979

• Now you start to learn to apply all you learned at uni & more

• Learn to log drill holes, navigate in the bush (GPS Helps -- but what if it malfunctions), drive a 4WD, produce a geological map with drill targets, decide which samples to assay for what, prepare budgets, learn about the mining act, learn to negotiate acquisition and JV deals, learn new software applications, promote your project to a managers meeting, decide when to stop a drill hole, learn to collect representative samples, learn how to decide which area to apply for, learn to get on with diffi cult prospectors, learn to be a project champion but not fall in love with your projects! – et cetera -- et cetera

• Learn from your mistakes e.g. CRA’s 1976 18,000 sample Pine Creek soil survey — sampled over several gold mines but did not assay for gold

• Seek out mentors and learn from them – for me Rowley Brunker, Frank Hughes and Warren Atkinson were important

• Read news, journals and magazine articles – keep in touch – share ideas

• Visit mines & prospects, attend conferences, visit laboratories and drillers yards

• Write concise and legible reports and memos to communicate with others

• Married Marcia in 1977 – four children – divorced in 2000


Transition 2 – Pb-Zn world trip 1979

• In 1979, Andy Connor, Rob Edwards and me were sent by CRA on a world tour to visit about 15 lead-zinc mines in 30 days – a fantastic and useful experience which I still have a great visual memory.

Japan• Visited the Kuroko VMS

deposits, and the Kamioka stratiform meta Pb-Zn body.

• Had a guide and translator from Rio Tinto Japan – the way to go.


Canada• Started in Vancouver, visited Faro Range, then Pine

Point and then Sullivan orebody


Ireland and Germany• Visited the Tynagh Orebody then Rammelsberg


South Africa• Visited Gammsberg Pb-Zn, Prieska Cu-Pb-Zn & O’Keip Cu


Working for companies 1974–2010Rio Tinto 1974-1981 Top training/involved in Argyle discovery

Penarroya 1981-1985 Regional WA study/Thalanga feasibility study, enlarged Thalanga, discovered Waterloo

Metana 1985-1990 Exploration Manager/Chief Mine Geologist found 2 million ounces gold in Murchison

Dominion 1991-1994 Developed Calcrete use in SA led to Challenger

Adelaide Resources 1994-1999 Learned director’s job/established tenements

Flinders Mines 2000-2010 Found many kimberlites – some with diamonds, discovered iron ore, probable new Pilbara mine

Maximus Resources 2004-2009 Increased Au resource at Bird in Hand, found Canegrass magnetite near Mt Magnet in WA

Flinders Exploration 2010 Helping with IPO now


Large & small companies – swot analysis*

Large companies Small companiesST Good job security & pensions

You get well trainedGood strong teamsCan have large budgets

Can be very entrepreneurial & competitiveCan move fast to peg groundGood at recognising talentCan know everyone & everything about Co

WK Slow at pay rises & promotionBureaucratic so can kill initiativeTargets very big so few to discoverHierarchies make it hard to get to know upper management

Small budgets may limit activitiesIn at deep end with no training (some like it)Not a big pool of mentorsDiffi cult if you fall out with somebodyDiffi cult to travel or work overseas

OP Allow big ambitionsYou meet great mentors with ideasGood for travel and trips

Fast promotion & big responsibilitiesSome people thrive in free environmentGood training if you want to own a Company

TH Tend to have wipe-outs of staffYou are small cog in large machineMay be taken over and dumped

Low job securityCan be very boom & bustMay have a short life & can’t fund a project

*ST= strengths, WK=weaknesses, OP=opportunities, TH=threats


Being a director setting up new companies, 1992-2010

• Best to have an MBA and technical & management experience

• Suggest working as a director to learn the ropes

• Setting up new public Companies is never easy but quite doable if you have a positive attitude, hard work, persistence, luck (remember you make your own by having a go) and a network of useful contacts

• Process for listing: get some fellow directors (people you would trust in an emergency), incorporate, get some seed capital, peg or acquire prospective properties, engage legal/fi nancial/geological consultants, write a prospectus, get stockbroker support to sell your shares, get some publicity, open you IPO to sell your shares (need minimum 400 shareholders with a minimum $2,000 parcel and $2million in bank after issue costs), list on ASX – now you can start!

• My tips for best chance to fl oat: 1 a good market, 2 a good proactive stockbroker, 3 some projects with development potential and 4 an experienced Board (note the order)

• My tip for success: fi nd something of high value that the market wants


Working with people• The Bible is: Dale Carnegie’s “How to win friends and infl uence people” AusIMM

President Greg Chalmers also highlighted this in his recent visit

A few thoughts from my life in mineral exploration follow:• Decide if your style is to be cooperation or confrontation (the latter doesn’t work well in

exploration but you can get away with it in mining)

• Admit your mistakes – yes we all make them – but don’t make them again

• Do engage in constructive, but not destructive, criticism

• Ask if you don’t know or understand – don’t be a “know it all”

• Be a good listener or you will fall into traps, i.e. working on the wrong problem

• Always explain the background context of a job – you will get some surprises when unexpected useful work is delivered

• Try to give others time to do their jobs and don’t hassle them

• Remember you don’t have to be in love or even like somebody to work with them

• If you want somebody to do a job try to get them to suggest the idea themselves


Forward to the past – 2011 ►• I recently decided that 10 years was enough time as

an MD and that Flinders Mines needed an operations person as a CEO – so I resigned.

• I have always been interested in research and teaching so I applied for a position as an Affi liate Associate Professor – the appointment was recently confi rmed.

• I hope to provide opportunities for teaching from somebody with recent industry experience and to improve the already good relations between local industry and the University of Adelaide.

2011 MINERALS GEOSCIENCE 1

2011 MINERALS GEOSCIENCE

THE MINERALS INDUSTRY

Kevin Wills7 March 2011

Documents

Joint AusIMM Student BBQ Meeting – Mawson Lecture · PDF fileJoint AusIMM Student BBQ Meeting – Mawson Lecture Theatre Kevin Wills ... 1970 – 1974 Phd – Caribbean 1972