James Lorimer died on 25th September, 1953, at the age of 52.
Educated at Kilmarnock Academy, he entered the service of Messrs. Wm. Baird & Co., Ltd., Ayrshire (later Bairds and Dalmellington, Ltd.) in 1916 and worked in all branches of coal mining until 1926. During this period he attended the three-session ‘sandwich’ course at Glasgow University, graduating with the B.Sc. degree in mining engineering in 1924, and also obtained the First-Class Board of Trade (Mine Manager’s) Certificate.
In June, 1926, Mr. Lorimer joined the staff of Northern Peru Mining and Smelting Co., first as engineer and later as chief engineer at the Quiruvilca copper mine. He left in 1929 to take an appointment with Tetiuhe Mining Corporation in Siberia, where he was assistant mine superintendent until 1931. During 1932 he visited the Witwatersrand to study ore-breaking, and later that year became assistant superintendent at the Stan Trg mine of Trepca Mines, Ltd., Yugoslavia.
In September, 1936, Mr. Lorimer returned to Scotland, and was appointed mining engineer to Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., Nobel Division, in Ayrshire. He was engaged as an adviser on explosives in the mining industry, and in January, 1950, was appointed regional sales manager to the northern region of the Division.
Mr. Lorimer was elected to Membership of the Institution in 1938. He was also a member of the Institution of Mining Engineers, and in 1947 he was awarded the Trevithick Premium of the Institution of Civil Engineers for a paper entitled ‘Some uses of explosives in civil engineering.’
Vol. 63, Trans IMM 1953-54, p.428
