Chris Mills, M.Sc., PEng, passed away unexpectedly on February 10, 1999
at the age of 50.Chris was born in Stratford Upon Avon, England and completed a B.Sc. degree in 1969 in mining engineering and mineral technology from the Royal School of Mines in London England. He then went to the Colorado School of Mines for a M.Sc. degree in metallurgical engineering/surface chemistry graduating in 1974. He attended Capilano College in 1991 taking courses in environmental management. Chris has been involved in the mining industry for over 30 years and enjoyed all aspects of it. His contribution to others came in the form of written and verbal technical papers as well as co-writing a book with Richard Burt in 1984 titled Gravity Concentration Technology.
Chris began his career with Associated Minerals Consolidated Ltd. in Australia, then moved onto ASARCO Inc in New Jersey; Behre Dolbear, New York; Tantalum Mining Corp and Highwood Resources Ltd. where he spent considerable time working on the Thor Lake beryllium deposits. In 1986 became an environmental and mineral process engineer consultant. Chris also worked with a number of mining-related multi-stakeholder agencies and chaired the western section of Aquamin. His latest work was involved with acid rock drainage, where upon he created an excellent acid rock drainage website essentially for teaching others about this subject.
Chris's leisure time was spent on planning and cooking gourmet meals as well as outdoor pursuits. In his teenage years, he spent a lot of time rock climbing and camping in England. He later spent a great deal of time bicycle touring in Manitoba and in the Princeton, New York area. He later began hiking and backpacking with his wife Shelley. His interests in the outdoors led him to become Vice President of the Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC and also in the creation of the Federation's website
Chris helped wherever possible at the B.C. Mining Museum at Britannia Beach. Britannia became his mission and learning centre. It was here that he, with colleagues, took numerous teachers and students and introduced them to the world of geology, mining and acid rock drainage. This became Chris' mission to teach and educate others in the field of mining.
Chris was not afraid to challenge the status quo, to risk an idea or challenge the authorities. His energy; his time always available to discuss ideas; his ingenious way of looking at things, his attention to detail and professionalism; his love of education and teaching and his sense of humour are qualities that we admired in Chris.
A friend and colleague, that was Chris.