Honorary Fellows of LEME
We pay tribute to Honorary Fellows of LEME in recognition of outstanding
contributions to the development and promotion of Regolith Science. The Awards are in the form of embossed and engraved jarrah plaques. Seven Awards have been presented thus far.
The inaugural Awards were presented to Emeritus Prof Tony Eggleton, Dr Ross Fardon and Prof Graham Taylor at the conclusion of the Canberra Advances in Regolith 2003 Symposium, 21 November 2003. Two more Awards were made in September 2005 to Professor Gerry Govett and Dr Ray Smith. Please scroll down for detail.
2006 AWARDS
On 6 September 2006, it was the turn of Dr R Dennis Gee and Dr David Garnett to receive the recognition and appreciation of their colleagues. Board Chair, Mr George Savell was very pleased to make the presentations at the annual Board Dinner.
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DR DAVID GARNETT. David has been associated with LEME since its inception in 1995 as a Board Member - currently Deputy Board Chair and Chair of the LEME Minerals Advisory Council. In this latter role he has been very effective in facilitating a positive and mutually beneficial interaction between the LEME regolith geoscience researchers and the minerals exploration stakeholders. The Minerals Advisory Council, led by David, has influenced regolith research direction over the years contributing towards the excellent results being achieved via the multi-disciplinary research projects. From 1987 to 2004 David was General Manager of Becqueral Laboratories in Sydney and contributed significantly to the development of mineral exploration techniques and analysis in Australia. David has always had a particular interest in regolith geoscience as an aid to mineral exploration, as evidenced by his PhD Thesis - Element dispersion patterns in selected areas of southern Africa as a guide to base metal mineralisation. This focussed on element dispersion processes in semi-arid weathering environments, particularly in the regolith around and above base-metal deposits in calcrete covered areas.
David is a member of a number of professional associations, passing on his knowledge through these forums, including Fellow - Association of Exploration Geochemists, Australian Institute of Geoscientists, Geological Society, and Member - Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, International Association of Geoanalysts.
DR R DENNIS GEE. Dennis is continuing a distinguished career as a mineral explorationist both within the industry and government instrumentalities.
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After the conclusion of his contract and his 'retirement' as CEO of CRC LEME, he has retained his interests with CSIRO Exploration and Mining as a Honorary Research Fellow. He is also doing some exploration contract work in South America. Dennis was appointed as CEO of LEME in 2002, after completing a four-year contract as Director of the Northern Territory Geological Survey, in the course of which he implemented the Government funded Exploration Initiative, and brought NTGS to a premier geological survey. Prior to that Dennis was MIMEX Exploration Manager for Western Australia directing gold and base metal exploration. This was his second stint with MIM, having been a Kalgoorlie-based exploration geologist for Carpentaria Exploration Company in the days of the nickel boom. Prior to MIMEX he was Exploration Manager and Technical Director of Reynolds Australia Metals, which at one time was Australia's fifth largest gold producer -drawing from Boddington, Mt Gibson and Marvel Loch.
Dennis guided the LEME Executive and their Project Teams with skill and understanding, combined with an enormous breadth of knowledge. He ensured LEME resources (human and monetary) were utilized to maximum capacity to expand the effectiveness and influence of regolith geoscience worldwide.
At the Board Dinner on 8 September 2005, two more Awards were presented, to Professor Gerry Govett and Dr Ray Smith.
DR RAYMOND E SMITH. Regolith geologist and geochemist Dr Raymond E Smith is a pioneer of developing methods for locating ore deposits in areas of cover. His research with team members and industry partners has contributed to the discovery of several important Australian ore deposits, particularly through the use of laterite geochemistry. Ray and his team members recognised and described kilometre-scale 'laterite geochemical haloes' which provide a fingerprint of the ore deposits concealed beneath. Through his participation with fellow CSIRO scientists, he also helped bring about a landscape approach to mineral exploration. Ray was a founding member and spent eight years as the Executive Director of CRC for Landscape Evolution and Mineral Exploration (LEME 1) and then as CEO of the CRC for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration (LEME 2). These two Centres have notably advanced collaboration across Australia in research and teaching of regolith geoscience. In 1998 Ray became one of only five scientists to be made a CSIRO Fellow - a prestigious award of excellence in research development. He is currently an Emeritus Research Fellow with CSIRO Exploration and Mining, Adjunct Professor Dept Applied Geology, Curtin University of Technology and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. (Speech by George Savell)
 PROFESSOR GERRY GOVETT. CRC LEME has benefited immensely from the wise counsel and the scientific guidance of Prof Gerry Govett. He first came into LEME as Chair of the very-important Fifth Year Review of LEME 1 in 1999. This paved the way for the successful reincarnation into LEME 2. He was formally appointed as the Visitor to LEME under the CRC Program, in January 2001. In this move he became a HOPO (Holder of Public Office), and was subject to the usual declarations, reporting and reimbursement protocols of an Australian government agency. His designated role was to offer independent advice and mentoring to all those in LEME, and be a link between LEME and the CRC Program.
Through an act of dubious wisdom, the CRC Program decided to discontinue the formal Visitor Program. But so valuable was Gerry's contribution to the well-being of LEME and its people, the Board asked that he continue as "visitor". In this process he changed from a HOPO to a HEHE (Holder of High Esteem).
In these various capacities he has participated in all Board Meetings, Advisory Council Meetings, project reviews, Regolith Symposia in LEME 2. He has been proactive in offering sound advice to the full range of people in LEME, including the Chair(s), Participant representatives, the CEO, the Program Leaders, researchers and students. It is in this latter respect that he has made his greatest contribution in the encouragement and guidance to students and young researchers. And he has done this in his own time, and in his own inimitable way.
He certainly has the credentials to do this, for beneath that deceptively serene facade is a person of resolution and achievement. He has run geochemical mineral exploration programs in 15 countries, held the Chair of Geology at UNSW for 19 years, edited 7 volumes (and wrote one of them) in the series Handbook of Exploration Geochemistry, and been a Director of Delta Gold Ltd and its successor Aurion Gold Ltd - and Chairman of the Board during a period of reorganisation - during exciting times. (Speech by Dennis Gee)
 EMERITUS PROFESSOR TONY EGGLETON is now a Visiting Fellow/ Emeritus Professor in the Geology Department, Australian National University . He has spent more than thirty years teaching regolith science to undergraduates and graduates. Described by one of his PhD students as a ‘prince', his legacy lives on within LEME notably in the forms of Dr Mehrooz Aspandiar , Dr Steven Hill and Dr Ian Roach. Among many other awards Tony was invited to deliver the prestigious Clay Minerals Society "George W Brindley Lecture" in July 1999. Tony is an authority on modulated layer silicates (possibly the most complicated mineral structure) which has led to a modulated layer silicate being named after him - Eggletonite. Among many publications Tony and Graham Taylor published the textbook Regolith Geology and Geomorphology, and Tony produced the excellent and widely used manual The Regolith Glossary: surficial geology, soils and Landscapes. Tony and Graham Taylor were Co-Directors of the Centre for Australian Regolith Studies (ANU/UC) which preceded LEME 1. Tony was one of the team who successfully bid for the CRC for Landscape Evolution and Mineral Exploration (LEME 1) (1995-2001) and was its Synthesis Program Leader/Executive for five years.
 DR ROSS FARDON has only just stepped down as CRC LEME Chairman, after 8 years. He was instrumental in setting up LEME 1 (1994-5) and steered it through its highly successful and productive years of research which utilised regolith geology for the benefit of mineral exploration in Australia . Again in 2001 Ross played a leading role in renewing the Centre for its second research contract with the Commonwealth Government (LEME 2). He has continued throughout to give tremendous support and encouragement to the respective management teams. Ross undertook pioneering work on nickeliferous laterite for his PhD at Harvard, and then joined WMC. He was formerly in charge of mineral exploration for BHP and MIM Holdings and Director General of the South Australian Department of Mines and Energy. He has worked extensively in the mining exploration industry in the Americas and Asia , as well as throughout Australia . He is extremely busy in his role as Research Consultant of Fardon and Associates, where he is trying to economically extract kaolin from a giant regolith blanket in far north Queensland .
 PROFESSOR GRAHAM TAYLOR (Retired) has over 25 years of teaching experience (ANU, University of Hong Kong and UC). He has a passionate enthusiasm for regolith geoscience, imparting his knowledge to legions of students and contributing towards the importance of regolith and its educational uptake in Australian Universities. He currently lectures in rock weathering, regolith mapping and earth science fundamentals at UC. He developed (with Tony Eggleton ) Masters by Coursework and Sub-Thesis in Regolith Studies and undergraduate programs in Soils (ANU/UC). He is an authority on silcrete and other duricrusts, and loves an argument on "periods of weathering", landscape processes and regolith formation. As with his good friend Tony Eggleton , among many publications Graham produced the textbook Regolith Geology and Geomorphology. Graham has a decade of involvement with LEME firstly as a founder Executive Member and Leader of E&T Program in LEME 1, which was hailed at the 5th Year review as "one of the very best". He was instrumental in the successful bid for LEME 2 and was Interim E&T Program Leader.
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