James George Horne died at Woking on 3rd April, 1960, at the age of 66 after a long period of ill health.
After completing his technical training at the Paddington Technical Institute in London, Mr. Horne was appointed assistant to the district engineer of the Central Uruguay Railway, Ltd., in January, 1912. Two years later he joined the Chile Exploration Co. as assistant and was concerned principally with surveying and sampling. In 1915 he was placed in sole charge of the three antimony mines of Messrs. Stevenson, Macmillan and Co., and after the closure of these mines in 1918 continued his association with this company, taking charge of their tin prospects in various parts of Bolivia for two years. Between 1920 and 1923 he worked tin on his own account, and in 1923-24 was general foreman of Empresa Prósper-a de Colavi, leaving to run a tin ore buying business and small concentrating plant in Potosi for two years. He rejoined Mr. W.B. Stevenson in 1927 to work an antimony mine until 1928, when he was appointed chief sampler at Patiño Mines and Enterprises Consolidated, Inc. On leaving Patiño two years later he prospected and worked tin claims for his own account, then returned to the United Kingdom where, from 1934 to 1935, he was section chief (underground) at Halkyn District Mines, North Wales.
From 1935 to 1938, Mr. Horne held the position of surveyor and assistant mine superintendent with New Goldfields of Venezuela, Ltd. He left South America in 1938 and in August, 1939, took up the post of area manager, Minerals Research Syndicate, Ltd., in Nigeria. In the following year he joined Nigerian Alluvials, Ltd., Jos, working tin and columbite, and remained with that company until his retirement in 1956. He became a director in 1947 and joint general manager in 1948.
Mr. Horne was elected to Associate Membership of the Institution in 1930.
Vol. 70, Trans IMM 1960-61, p.678
