OBITUARY — Colin Chapman

High River Gold Mines director Colin Chapman has died. He was 55.

Chapman was born in Birmingham, England. He earned a B.Sc. in mineral processing from the Royal School of Mines in London in 1965, having already obtained an enduring taste for Canada during a summer stint at the Schumacher gold mine. Upon graduation, he and his new bride, Christine, emigrated to Canada.

Starting out with Bechtel and Company in Montreal and then joining Texasgulf Mines in 1967, Chapman was on hand for the development of the Kidd Creek mine’s concentrator and held successively higher posts until he was appointed plant manager in 1974. He moved to Toronto in 1982, having been appointed chief metallurgical officer for Kidd Creek Mines.

Since founding Colin Chapman and Associates in 1988, he carried out numerous assignments throughout the world for various clientsizing in due diligence reviews and monitoring of gold operations.

Chapman was appointed a director of High River Gold Mines in 1994, assuming responsibility for, among other things, the monitoring of the Britannia mine in Manitoba, the feasibility study for the Taparko project in Burkina Faso and the expansion of operations at Buryatzoloto in southeastern Siberia. He also recently designed and managed the construction of a modular process plant on behalf of High River in Nicaragua.

Chapman is survived by his wife, Christine, and sons Cary and Neil.