Legendary minefinder David Lowell’s advice: set aside geological dogma

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada kicked off its annual convention in Toronto with a panel discussion tossing around the idea of what makes for a successful discoverer of ore deposits.

Panel member and legendary minefinder David Lowell expressed some strong views about the value of independent thinking on the part of exploration geologists.

A member of the U.S. Mining Hall of Fame since 2002, Lowell is best known among geologists for his co-developing the highly influential Lowell-Guilbert porphyry copper model, and for his leading part in a string of incredible finds that include: Kalamazoo and Vekol Hills in Arizona; Casa Grande West in Arizona; JA in Canada; Dizon and Far Southwest in the Philippines; La Escondida, Zaldivar-Escondida Norte, San Cristobal and Leonore in Chile; and the 8-million-oz. Pierina gold deposit in Peru.

Over the last decade, he was the geological brains behind the sevenfold growth of Corriente Resources’ Mirador-Panantza copper resource in Ecuador from 350 million tonnes to 2.3 billion tonnes.

Today, in his latest vehicle named CIC Resources, Lowell is pushing forward the development of a lateritic titanium and iron ore project that is set to become Paraguay’s first significant modern mine.

Speaking on the panel, Lowell described exploration geology as a “strange occupation” that requires a mix of talents and experiences, and a willingness to take risks and fail.

“Being good at being wrong may be one of my most outstanding qualities,” Lowell laughed. “Someone focused on never being wrong will probably never find a mine.”

He noted that another part of his success when working as a consultant from 1961 to 1990 was his ability to give straightforward “yes” or “no” answers. He said this approach was convenient for companies who’d hired him, in that if he was wrong about something, it was easy for the company to pin the blame on him.

During that time as a consultant, he said only about half his proposals were accepted, and that a third of those wound up resulting in the discovery of an orebody, for about six major successes.

“I believe the more drilling you do with a shotgun approach, the more success you’ll have… Luck has to be counted as a factor.”

In recounting his discovery of the virgin Pierina deposit while working in Peru in the early 1990s, Lowell recalled his critical “spur of the moment decision to stake all the alteration zones in the Yungay graben” – only one of which contained Pierina.

“Keep an open mind, and even a simple mind at times, when the situation demands it.”

As an example, he talked about his current venture in Paraguay, where the pre-existing, incorrect dogma was that there were no titanium deposits to be found in laterite.

Describing some of his current inspiration, Lowell called the work on gold-copper systems by Greg Corbett and Terry Leach in the late 1990s (see: http://www.corbettgeology.com) as “one of the most important publications in the last 10-15 years” for the way it examines 50-60 gold deposits and how “it is a model on how to find an ore deposit.”

He closed out his comments with a half-joking request for the audience to “please do not fall for dogma excessively… except for the Lowell-Guilbert porphyry model!”