William Edward Sinclair died in Natal on 13 May, 1966. He was 72 years of age.
Educated at Pretoria College and the South African School of Mines and Technology, Johannesburg, he undertook general mining work in South Africa before joining Union Minière du Haut Katanga in the then Belgian Congo in 1917.
In 1925 he was appointed mine captain with Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, Ltd., Gold Coast Colony, and shortly afterwards moved to Nigeria, where he was engaged in a number of managerial positions. Ill health forced Mr. Sinclair to return to South Africa and from 1933 to 1950 he was employed in various managerial capacities with, among others, White Limes, Ltd., and De Beers Consolidated Mines. Ltd. He next undertook independent consultancy work and in 1963 was appointed consulting engineer, Puttens’ Asbestos Corporation, Ltd.
Mr. Sinclair was elected to Associate Membership of the Institution in 1926 and transferred to full Membership in 1949. He was also a member of a number of other technical bodies. The author of several mining papers, he also wrote the book entitled Asbestos: its origin, production and utilization (published in 1955).
Vol. 75, Trans I.M.M., 1966, p.76
