Robert Alexander Mackay died on 26 November 1965. He was 62 years of age.
An Associate of the Royal School of Mines in both mining and mining geology, he was subsequently awarded the degrees of D.Sc. and Ph.D. by the University of London. His first professional assignment was as a geologist for Messrs. Armstrong Whitworth, Ltd. and concerned the examination of copper concessions in Zlot, Serbia. This was followed, in 1925, by his
appointment as assistant inspector of mines to the Government of Tanganyika – a post he held until 1927, when he joined Messrs. Hill and Stewart as geologist and engineer in charge of the exploration, examination and diamond drilling campaign of the consultants’ copper concession in the Southern Highlands.
ln 1928 Dr. Mackay joined Pyrites Co. Ltd. (a subsidiary of what was then the Rio Tinto Co. Ltd.), Cyprus, as geologist and mining engineer. He remained with the company until 1931 and then took up the post of geological engineer, Panama Corporation, Ltd, Panama. ln March, 1932, he moved to Canada to undertake examinations of mining properties and in September of the same year was appointed exploration engineer with Noranda Mines, Ltd.
Two years later he returned to Africa, having been appointed inspector of mines to the Government of Tanganyika. In 1941 he joined the Government of Nigeria as inspector of mines, being appointed mining geologist, Geological Survey Department, in January, 1946, and acting director later that year.
ln 1948 Dr. Mackay returned to the United Kingdom, working with the Atomic Energy Division of the Geological Survey until 1950, when he joined Mond Nickel Co. Ltd. He remained with that company until 1952, but at the same time was engaged in private consultancy work. In 1952, in association with Dr. G.A. Schnellmann, he founded his own company, Mackay and Schnellmann, geological and mining consultants, and retained that association until his death.
Dr. Mackay was elected to Student Membership of the Institution in 1924, was transferred to Associate Membership in 1928 and to full Membership in 1947. He was the author of many valuable technical papers, based on his worldwide experience, and made frequent contributions to the discussion of papers presented at general meetings of the Institution. Among his own Institution papers are ‘The influence of super-imposed strata on the deposition of certain lead-zinc ores’ (Transactions. vol. 35. 1925-26). ‘The detection of columbite by ultraviolet light’ (Transactions, vol. 60. 1950-51), and that presented at the Institution’s 1958 Symposium on the Future of Non-Ferrous Mining in Great Britain and Ireland, ‘The Leadhills Wanlockhead mining district’.
Vol. 75, Trans IMM 1966, p.75
