Donald William John Grey died in October, 1957, at the age of 50.
Mr. Grey received his training at the Royal School of Mines between 1925 and 1928, obtaining the Associateship of the School and the B.Sc. degree.
He left for Sumatra to take up the appointment of assistant mining engineer to Exploratie Maatschappij Bondjol, a gold mine of the Borneo Company, Ltd. He was in charge of prospecting and development work on Pionggoe at Ayer Soewoeh and Marisi concessions, Tapanoeli Residency, and in 1929 was similarly engaged in Benkoelen. He was appointed acting manager and assistant manager of the Balimbing Mine in 1930, taking charge of mill erection and underground surveying, and became mill superintendent in 1931 and reduction officer later that year. He was appointed general manager of Balimbing Mijnbouw Maatschappii and Exploratie Maatschappij Bondjol in 1932 and while in this position examined properties in Sumatra, West Java and Central Borneo.
In 1935 Mr. Grey left for South America on his appointment as mining engineer at St. John d’el Rey Mining Co., Ltd., where he was in charge of mine, prospecting, reduction and research departments, covering operations at Morro Velho, Espirito Santo, Faria and Bicalho mines and the asbestos property worked by the company’s subsidiary, Companhia Mineraçao Novalimense. After nearly eleven years in Brazil Mr. Grey returned to England in 1946, living in Surrey as an invalid for many years before his death.
Mr. Grey joined the Institution as a Student in 1928; he was elected to Associate Membership in 1933 and was transferred to Membership in 1946. He contributed a paper to the Transactions of the Institution (vol. 45, 1935-36) entitled ‘Notes on Balimbing mine, West Coast of Sumatra’, for which he was awarded ‘The Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa, Limited’ Premium of Forty Guineas it 1936.
Vol. 68 Trans IMM 1958-59, p.159
