Archie Firth Smith died on 2nd June, 1953, in Camden Hospital, New South Wales, as a result of injuries received in a motoring accident. He was 50 years of age.
From 1922 to 1925 he attended the Royal School of Mines, and obtained the Associateship in Mining and the B.Sc. degree. He worked in Nigeria for three years for Anglo-Continental Mines Co., Ltd., subsequently prospecting and examining properties in Uganda and Tanganyika Territory in 1928 and 1929.
Towards the end of 1929 Mr. Smith took up the appointment in Morocco of assayer and surveyor to European and North African Mines, Ltd. In 1932 he went to New Zealand where he set up in practice as manager and consultant, with Messrs. L.E. Sinclair and W.M. Gimson, to various local properties, under the style of Mining House (N.Z.), Ltd.
Mr. Smith joined Mount Morgan (Developments), Ltd., in Fiji in 1935 as manager and examining engineer, and from 1936 to 1937 held the post of mine superintendent, New Guinea Goldfields, Ltd., at Edie Creek mine. After examining several properties in New Guinea, Fiji and Australia in 1937, he became metallurgist to Austral Malay Tin, Ltd., and was made manager of a subsidiary company, Asam Kumbang Tin Dredging, Ltd.
During the last war, from 1942 to 1944, Mr. Smith was field superintendent to the Directorate of Mineral Production (Australia), and for several years before his death he had been engaged in mining investigations in Australia for Austral Malay Tin, Ltd.
He was elected a Student of the Institution in 1925 and transferred to Associate Membership in 1930.
Vol. 62, Trans I.M.M., 1952-53, pp.563-64
