Sir Colin Fraser died in Melbourne on March 10th, 1944, at the age of 68.
He was born in New Zealand and educated at Auckland, subsequently undergoing training at the Schools of Mines at Thames and Coromandel. For six years he held the appointment of gold assayer and accountant to the Bank of New Zealand at Thames, Coromandel and Ohinemuri (Hauraki). In 1900 he joined the underground staff at the Bunker’s Hill mine and was later engaged in erecting stamp mills at Hauraki.
From 1901 to 1904 he attended the University College, Auckland, New Zealand, where he took the degree of B.Sc. in 1903, and M.Sc. with First Class Honours in Geology in 1905. In the following year he joined the New Zealand Geological Survey and worked on detailed surveys of various mining fields of Westland and of almost the whole of the Hauraki Peninsula, including the Waihi Goldfield.
In 1911 he came to London and set up in practice as a consulting mining geologist, but returned to Australia in 1914 to make an examination of the properties of the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Co., Ltd. Shortly afterwards he was engaged by the newly-formed Broken Hill Associated Smelters, of which he later became managing director. His association with various mining enterprises Australia spread, and he was a member of the delegation representing base-metal interests which visited Ottawa and London in 1932. He received his knighthood in 1935.
He was chairman of the Electrolytic Zinc Company of Australia, Ltd., Broken Hill South Ltd., and the Australian Boards of the Imperial Smelting Corporation, Ltd., and New Broken Hill Consolidated, Ltd. He was a delegate to the Lead Producers’ Conference in New York just before the 1939-45 war, and at the time of his death was Director of Materials Supply in the Australian Munitions Department, official adviser on non-ferrous metals to the Department of Supply and Development in the Commonwealth Government, and chairman of the Commonwealth Minerals Committee. For many years he was President of the Australian Mines and Metals Association.
Sir Colin was admitted to Membership of the Institution in 1912 and was elected an Honorary Member in 1942; he served as Member of Council for Australia for the periods 1924 to 1929 and 1936 to 1941. He was also a Member and later an Honorary Member of the Australasian Institute, of which he was President in 1923 and 1924.
Vol. 54, Trans IMM 1944-45, pp.265-6
