UBC research centre to receive geologist’s life’s work on diamonds — New library will cater to researchers, industry

The University of British Columbia will become a diamond hunter’s best friend following the donation by a Toronto geologist of decades of research papers related to the sought-after stone.

Patricia Sheahan, president of consulting firm Konsult International, will donate to the papers, amassed over 35 years, to the university’s Mineral Deposit Research Unit.

“This has been a labour of love,” she said. “I really wanted a home for [the collection], one where it would be used and appreciated. MDRU have a fantastic directive, which is to meld academia and industry.”

Under an arrangement with MDRU, a joint project of the university’s department of earth and ocean sciences and the mining industry, Sheahan’s life’s work on diamonds will be accessible to both academics and the industry.

The geologist began gathering information on diamonds after joining Selection Trust, a company exploring for diamonds in the James Bay region in the 1960s. Today, the collection includes research information on prospective regions from Greenland to South Africa. Her consulting firm counts among its clients South African companies Anglo American, Goldfields and De Beers Consolidated Mines, as well as Canadian-based Barrick Gold, Falconbridge, Cominco and Teck.

“What I really want to do is continue to build on it,” she explains.

Richard Tosdal, director of the MDRU, would also like to expand the collection. “It’s her private consulting library that she built up over time, and the goal of MDRU is to make this available to industry and the academic community. We also want to make it grow. It’s a living library, so to speak.”

Although a site for the library has not been chosen, it will likely find a home in the department of earth and ocean sciences. Says Tosdal, “It could require a fair amount of room.” Sheahan says the papers are currently stored in about 100 boxes, which will be shipped to the university later this year.

“It’s a fantastic gift, and we’re quite pleased to have it since Vancouver is becoming the diamond headquarters of Canada,” says Tosdal.