Memorial to J. P. Pollock1915-1992

R A N D A L L J. W EEG E H C 2 Box 783, Florence, Wisconsin 54121

With the death o f James R Pollock, the science of geology and the mining industry lost a rare combination of scientific know ledge and p rac tica l app lication . He died at Pardee Hospital in Hendersonville, North Carolina, October 25, 1992, at the age of 77. Those of us who knew him well lost a loyal friend, a patient mentor, and an intellectual companion. He helped many of us by his guidance, his vast knowledge, and his personal experience. His warm personality charmed all he met. He will be deeply missed.

Jim was bom in Evanston, Illinois, on July 26, 1915, the son of Lewis John Pollock and Sarah Katherine Pollock. He attended Dartmouth College from 1932 to 1935 before transferring to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he received his Bachelor o f Science degree in 1938 and his Master of Science degree in 1940.

While attending MIT Jim met Mavis Currier, a student at Simmons College in Boston. They were married in Tucson, Arizona, in 1941 and celebrated their 50th anniversary just before her death in 1991. Jim is survived by two sons, James Currier Pollock and Peter Lewis Pollock; one daughter, Martha P. Bullock, and six granddaughters.

Jim married Hulda Petermann in 1992. She resides in Hendersonville.Jim was first and foremost a mineral explorationist, but during his career he also worked as

a mine geologist, surveyor, draftsman, ground-water geologist, project engineer, and mining engineer. Most o f his work was done in the United States, but a significant amount was done in foreign lands. He was gifted with the ability to learn and utilize difficult foreign languages to assist in his quest o f mining opportunities when local communication meant the difference between success and failure. He often enthusiastically participated in different cultures by becoming an integral part o f that society. He leaves many friends in those lands who remember him more as a person than as the man who led the development of a new mine.

His accomplishments are many. Among them are the discovery and development o f the Rio Tuba nickel laterite in the Philippines, the recognition of the potential profitability and supervision of a pilot plant to treat the vast copper waste dumps at Santa Rosalia, Mexico, and the origination and direction of the Centennial #3-6 exploration project on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan.

After finishing his studies, Jim started his career with the U.S. G eological Survey in Nevada. Before long, however, his interest in the practical side of geology led him to accept the position of resident geologist at the Ground Hog mine in New Mexico for the American Smelting and Refining Company. He remained in this capacity until 1945, when he became exploration geologist for AS&R and searched for mineral deposits in New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico.

In 1950, he became assistant superintendent at the Toquepala mine in Peru, where he was in charge of diamond drilling, chum drilling, and sampling. During this period, 500 million tons of ore were blocked out at this mine, one of the world’s great porphyry copper deposits.

Upon completion of this work in 1953, Jim left AS&R and joint Calumet and Hecla, Inc., in Calumet, Michigan. In 1954 he was appointed chief geologist of this uniquely famous copper company. He was responsible for all surface and undergound exploration, mine geology, and

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grade control for the company's nine mines and 250,000 acres of mineral lands on the Keweenaw Peninsula. He was also in charge of the company’s exploration projects in Tonopah, Nevada, Shullsburg, Wisconsin, and Grants, New Mexico.

As a vote of confidence in this multitalented individual, C&H gave him direction of the mining department in 1960, with responsibilities for mining, mining engineering, surveying, and industrial engineering.

During his career with Calumet and Hecla, Jim was instrumental in expanding the company’s exploration and development activities from a modest $500,000 in 1954 to $6,000,000 in 1965. Extensive development programs were begun at the Centennial #3-6 and Kingston mines. The Marquez uranium mine was discovered near Grants, New Mexico, treatment of the Santa Rosalia waste rock was begun, grade control work substantially increased the grade at the Osceola mine, and a well-trained geological staff was established.

He left C&H in 1965 and joined the Hanna Mining Company as assistant chief geologist, foreign. While with Hanna, he supervised the final drilling, prepared the ore reserves, and supervised the collection of a 1000-ton metallurgical sample for pilot plant tests at the Cerro Matoso nickel laterite deposit in Colombia.

Jim returned to Calumet and Hecla in 1967 as vice president, geology. A short time later C&H was merged into UOP, Inc., and he remained as a senior consulting staff member of the C&H group. A labor dispute ultimately resulted in the closing of all the Calumet and Hecla mining operations and therefore the discontinuation of all geological activities.

After the demise of the C&H operations, Jim joined the geological staff of the Ralph M. Parsons Company in 1973 in Pasadena, California. During this period, he made property examinations in many different parts of the world. One of his more significant assignments at this time was the evaluation of the mining potential of the northern part of the Arabian shield in Saudi Arabia. He remained with Parsons until he retired in 1980.

Jim did indeed have a varied and productive career in the mining industry. While it is often difficult to measure the success of an industrial geologist, this is not a problem with J. P. Pollock. One such measurement would be the number of people who earned their livelihood through projects he instigated and continued through the production stage. There are many people, from the desert in Baja, Mexico, to the jungles of Palawan Island in the Philippines, who would have lived in poverty if Jim had not done his job so well. There are also those of us in the United States who have benefited from the riches of his mind and the leadership he practiced so well.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF J. P. POLLOCK1943 Some concepts of the geology of quicksilver deposits in the United States: Economic

Geology, v. 38, p. 149.1958 Organization for exploration: Mining Congress Journal, v. 44, p. 43-46.1960 A geochemical anomaly associated with a glacially transported boulder train, Mt.

Bohemia, Keweenaw County, Michigan: International Geological Congress, Copenhagen, XXI session, Part II, p. 20.

1962 Exploration— Its present and future [abs.]: Mining Engineering, v. 14, no. 12, p. 15.1965 (with Weege, R. J.) Exploration methods in the copper country, Keweenaw Peninsula,

Michigan: Nevada Bureau of Mines Report 13, Part C, p. 51-61.1971 (with Weege, R. J., and the Calumet Division Geological Staff) Recent developments in

the native copper district of Michigan: Society of Economic Geologists Guidebook for the Michigan Copper District Field Trip.

1972 (with Weege, R. J., and the Calumet Division Geological Staff) The geology of two new mines in the Michigan Copper District: Economic Geology, v. 67, p. 622-633.

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