Charles Ferdinand Zabel died in Spain on July 21st, 1921, aged 35.
An Australian by birth, he started his technical education in 1903 as a student at the Coolgardie (Western Australia) School of Mines. After about eighteen months there, he went to Freiberg for two and a half years, where he obtained diplomas in mining and surveying. His first professional engagement was with the Phillips River Gold and Copper Company, in Western Australia, where he spent two years successively as surveyor and mine manager.
In May, 1910, he was appointed geologist and practically head of an expedition sent to Portuguese East Africa by the Zambesie Exploration Company, work which occupied about two and a-half years. Following this, he was for about eight months shift-boss on the Van Ryn Deep and New Kleinfontein Gold Mines at Johannesburg, in order to gain experience of Rand mining.
He was in Germany at the outbreak of war, having in 1913 been appointed geologist and mine manager of manganiferous iron mines at Bingerbruck, and he was interned for the duration of hostilities. In 1919, on his release, he proceeded to Canada on behalf of the Associated Gold Mines of Western Australia, Ltd., and visited among others the Keeley mine at South Lorrain. Subsequently, he returned to Portuguese East Africa for the Industrial and Commercial Co., Ltd., of Beira, and he was on a visit to Spain at the date of his death.
Mr. Zabel was elected an Associate of the Institution in 1919.
Vol. 31, Trans IMM 1921-2, pp.588-89
