Pierina founder Lowell among US Hall of Fame inductees

Renowned exploration geologist David Lowell is one of three new inductees into the American Mining Hall of Fame. He is also scheduled to speak at the awards banquet, slated for Dec. 7 at the Westin La Paloma in Tucson, Ariz.

Joining Lowell will be Howard Twitty, Sr., a public lands lawyer, and Bernhardt Rohe, who helped establish Peoles as a major Mexican mining company.

David Lowell (b. 1928)

Lowell received a bachelor of science degree in mining engineering from the University of Arizona in 1949, a master of science in geology from Stanford University in 1957, and a professional engineer’s degree from the University of Arizona in 1959.

He began his career as a mining engineer and shift boss with Asarco in Mexico, and went on to prove himself as an exploration geologist with the Atomic Energy Commission in the Colorado Plateau.

He also worked in uranium exploration in Utah for a subsidiary of Canadian-based Ventures, and later entered the search for porphyry copper in Arizona. In 1959, he became district geologist specializing in porphyry copper for Utah Construction in San Francisco, Calif.

Lowell became an independent consultant and, from 1961 to 1990, worked for 110 companies in 26 countries. Most of these companies were exploring for porphyry copper.

He contributed to the discoveries of numerous important deposits: 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, most recently, the 8-million-oz. Pierina gold deposit in Peru.

He has published more than 50 articles, one of which, co-authored with John Guilbert, defines the Lowell-Guilbert porphyry copper model.

Lowell was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1999 and has received awards from various industry organizations, including: the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration; the American Institute of Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers; the Society of Exploration Geophysicists; and the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America.

He is currently managing exploration projects in Ecuador and Chile.

Howard Twitty, Sr. (1909-1989)

A native of Williams, Ariz., Twitty received his bachelors of arts degree from the University of Southern California in 1931, and a law degree from the University of Southern California in 1934.

He began his career as an attorney for the Industrial Commission of Arizona, from 1935 to 1942. During the Second World War, he served as a captain in the office of the quartermaster-general in Washington, D.C., and afterwards returned to Phoenix to start a private practice specializing in mining law. He was a partner in Twitty, Sievwright & Mills, where he resolved complex title questions for several major companies.

He was also an attorney for Magma Copper, San Manuel Copper and Banner Mining. While at Banner, he cleared title to mineral claims south of Tucson, where Anaconda developed the large Twin Buttes copper mine, which later became Anamax Mining.

A long-time member of the American Mining Congress public lands committee, Twitty prepared the 6-volume Legal Study of Non-fuel Mineral Resources, an authoritative text on mining law.

He was chairman of the American Bar Association’s section of mineral and natural resource Law and served as president of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation.

Bernhardt Rohe (1909-1992)

German-born Bernhardt Rohe worked in a small engines factory in Munich, which earned him enough to finance his studies in engineering at the University of Frankfurt. After graduating with a degree in business administration, he joined a consulting firm.

During the Second World War, Rohe served as an officer in the German army but was anti-Nazi and fled to Spain in 1944. There he met and married his wife, Mary, an employee of the U.S. Embassy. They emigrated to the U.S. after the war and soon joined American Metal Corp. at a copper smelter in New York state.

In 1950, Rohe was transferred to Industrias Peoles de Mexico to work in the minerals purchasing department in Monterrey. There, he was promoted to manager of the metals department, commercial manager, general manager and executive vice-president.

He helped transform Peoles into a major mining corporation by supporting construction of the Laguna complex in Torreon and calling for the resumption of underground mining in the Guanajuato area. These steps helped Mexico regain its status as the leader in world silver production.

He later retired to Texas.

In addition to the three inductees, medals of merit will be presented to Richard Call, a designer of open-pit mines, and Kenneth Zonge, who developed induced polarization systems.

Richard Call (b. 1934)

A native of Massachusetts, Richard Call moved to Alaska at the age of 12. As a teenager he worked for the Alaska Highway Department, and for Metcalf & Eddy in Greenland as a soils technician.

He received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Williams College in 1956 and a master’s in geology from Columbia University in 1960. He attended Washington University to complete his doctorate but left to work for Kennecott Copper as a mine geologist at Bingham Canyon in 1961. While at Bingham, he participated in a slope stability study.

In 1966, Call attended the University of Arizona, where he obtained his doctorate and taught geological engineering. During this time, he consulted on pit slope design and was consultant for the Canadian Centre for Mining and Energy Technology.

In 1972, he joined the consulting firm Pincock, Allen & and Holt (PAH), where he formed a rock mechanics group for slope and underground design. In 1979, he and David Nicholas, a former senior project engineer with PAH, started Call & Nicholas, a firm specializing in open-pit and underground rock mechanics. He continues to work for the firm as a consultant.

Throughout his career, Call assisted in the slope design of more than 100 open pits. He is the author of numerous papers, including the slope stability chapter of the SME Mining Engineering Handbook.

Kenneth Zonge (b. 1936)

Kenneth Zonge is president of Tucson-based Zonge Engineering & Research Organization, which he founded in 1972 in order to apply his doctoral thesis on broadband induced polarization, also known as complex resistivity.

This technology, for which Zonge holds the patent, was originally used to explore for disseminated copper.

Zonge’s company also developed instrumentation for the controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotellurics (CSAMT) system, designed to detect massive sulphides.

The two techniques were combined in a single receiver for commercial use, and the company began to manufacture and market geophysical instrumentation on a worldwide basis.

Zonge Engineering has since expanded into all electrical geophysical methods, and now provides services and instrumentation for exploration for minerals, hydrocarbons and geothermal resources. The company has satellite offices in Nevada, Alaska, Austrlia, Brazil and Chile.

In 1995, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists Enterprise awarded Zonge for “having demonstrated courage, ingenuity and achievement while risking his own resources and future in developing a product which is recognized as a distinct and worthy contribution to the industry.”

He received a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Alaska in 1962 and masters and PhD degrees in electrical engineering and geosciences from the University of Arizona in 1972. He is now an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona.

In addition to the inductees, an industry partnership award will be presented to Sen. Lawrence Craig (R-Idaho) for his work on behalf of the mining industry.

The banquet is being organized by the Mining Foundation of the Southwest, which started the American Mining Hall of Fame in 1983. The members number 79, and plaques commemorating their accomplishments hang on the walls of the Arizona Historical Society Museum in Tucson.