James Colquhoun died in Victoria, British Columbia, on 17th June, 1954, at the age of 96.
He was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland. In 1883 he joined the staff of the Scottish-owned Arizona Copper Co., Ltd. (subsequently sold to the Phelps Dodge Corporation), beginning as book-keeper at their Clifton works, also acting as assayer. The following year he was made superintendent of the metallurgical works; in 1891 he was appointed superintendent of mines also, and in 1892 became general manager of Arizona Copper Co., and general superintendent of the Arizona and New Mexico Railway.
From the early years of his career he made a name for himself in the design of plant and the treatment of copper and complex ores, and became President of the Phelps Dodge Corporation.
On his retirement from copper smelting in Arizona Mr. Colquhoun was appointed chairman of the Caucasus Copper Company, and was in Russia from 1916 to 1918 during the revolution. He was held prisoner but later escaped. The more recent years of his life were spent in Canada. He was the author of two books on the Clifton-Morenci mining district.
Mr. Colquhoun was elected a Member of the Institution in 1898 and was a Legion of Honour member of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.
Vol. 64, Trans I.M.M. 1954-55, pp. 642-3
