Gerard Adolphus Chapman Ulrich died in Timaru hospital, New Zealand, on 16th June, 1956, at the age of 73.
Mr. Ulrich entered Otago University School of Mines in 1898 and graduated three years later as an Associate of the School. During these years he did vacation work with mining companies in New Zealand and Victoria, Australia. His first appointment after leaving University was with the Komata Reefs Gold Mining Co., Ltd., in Komata, New Zealand, on milling and stamps work. In 1903 Mr. Ulrich qualified by examination for the New Zealand Government’s Battery Superintendent’s Certificate, and in that year was appointed surveyor and sampler of the Waihi Gold Mining Co., Ltd., later becoming assistant underground manager. During this period of employment he graduated in 1908 with a B.Sc. degree in metallurgy of New Zealand University and in 1910 qualified for the New Zealand Government’s 1st Class Metal Mine Manager’s Certificate.
In 1913 Mr. Ulrich left New Zealand and became underground manager for Prestea Block A Gold Mining Co., Ltd., Gold Coast Colony, but in 1914 enlisted in the British section of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He was on active service in Egypt and Gallipoli with the 1st Field Company Engineers and in 1918 was invalided out.
The following year Mr. Ulrich was appointed assistant manager for Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, Ltd., Gold Coast Colony, and was later promoted manager in charge of all operations, a position which he held for four years. He then became relieving manager of Taquah and Abosso Mines, Ltd., in 1925 and from 1927 to 1930 was employed as a prospecting geologist on tin and mica with the Ilorin Exploration Syndicate in Nigeria. In 1930 he did experimental testing for Waihi Gold Mining Co., and began comprehensive research work on tin recovery from Cornish tin residues.
From 1936 to 1937 Mr. Ulrich was manager in Cornwall for the Doneth Syndicate, and during the second world war was an air-raid warden in London for some time, and from 1941 to 1944 worked as a metallurgical chemist in a Royal Ordnance Factory at Blackpole, Worcestershire. He left England in 1954 for his native New Zealand, where he spent the last years of his life.
Mr. Ulrich was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1912, and transferred to Membership in 1925. He was also a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
Vol. 66, Trans IMM 1956-57, p.503
