Ronald William Hardy died on 16th July, 1962, in Bulawayo, at the age of 57.
He was born in Monmouthshire and educated at Eton and Christ College, Brecon. He was employed in Peru between 1925 and 1928, first as sampler and then as assistant to the chief surveyor at Casapalca for Cerro de Pasco Copper Corporation, on an extensive triangulation survey in the Andes. He was mine shift boss in charge of shaft sinking and development work during 1926 and then spent over a year on the Bellavista drainage and haulage tunnel.
Mr. Hardy was employed in Canada during the next four years. He was engaged between October, 1929, and May, 1931, opening up mica mines in south-eastern Ontario for a private syndicate, and then worked for a few months at Lake Shore Mines, Ltd., Kirkland Lake, and in December, 1931, transferred to the position of field manager in north western Ontario for Homestake Mining Co., of South Dakota.
He went to Southern Rhodesia in January, 1933, to operate gold mining and chromite deposits on his own account, and in August, 1934, joined Tati Goldfields, Ltd., Bechuanaland, where he was in charge of development and exploratory work for six months. During 1935 he worked at Phoenix Prince Gold Mining Co., Ltd., Bindura, Southern Rhodesia, and from November, 1935, to December, 1936, was employed on the B & S and Fossicker mines by Selection Trust, Ltd. He spent six months in 1937 prospecting on his own account in the South Belingwe gold belt, and in January, 1938, took up the appointment of assistant engineer to Gold Fields Rhodesian Development Co., Ltd., at Bulawayo.
During the war he served with the Royal Engineers, chiefly in the Middle East and Italy, rising to the rank of captain.
Returning to Gold Fields in Bulawayo after the war, Mr. Hardy pioneered the exploration and development of the uranium fields near Tete, Mocambique, in association with the British South Africa Company. After a short period on Sebakwe mines, Que Que, he was employed for a time in West Africa and then in England on railway tunnelling in the Pennines [Woodhead No.3 Tunnel, 1951-53].
He worked for Cyprus Sulphur and Copper Co., Ltd., Polis, from May, 1953, and three years later took up an appointment at Sukulu Mines, Ltd., Tororo, Uganda, where he became chief surveyor. On completing his tour he returned to Southern Rhodesia in 1958, and joined the staff of Windsor chrome mine. He rejoined Gold Fields, Bulawayo, in 1959, and was with them when he died.
Mr. Hardy was elected to Associate Membership of the Institution in 1939.
Vol. 72, Trans IMM 1962-63, p.792
