Citation: Fernando Tornos SGA -KGHM Krol Medal
It is my great honor and pleasure to introduce Dr. Fernando Tornos as the fifth recipient of the SGA-KGHM Krol Medal.
Fernando Tornos was born in Madrid, Spain, into a large family of six siblings. Despite coming from a background of engineers, lawyers and economists, he developed a passion for geology, especially for mining, at an early age. He studied Geology at the Complutense University of Madrid, where he graduated in 1981 and obtained his PhD with honors in 1990 with a thesis on “Skarns and related mineralizations in the Central Iberian System. Petrology, geochemistry and metallogenic model”
Meanwhile, he started working as an exploration geologist and obtained a scholarship at the Spanish Geological Survey (IGME), where he worked as a researcher until 2017. During those years, he combined his research on the geology and geochemistry of ore deposits and hydrothermal systems with teaching at the Complutense University of Madrid and Huelva University. Since late 2017, he has been working at the Spanish National Research Council, currently as a Research Professor and leader of the ExMODe-CSIC team, a research group focused on the exploration and modeling of ore deposits, especially of raw materials. Prof. Tornos is an outstanding scientist with more than 123 papers published in prestigious journals on Mineralogy, Geomicrobiology, Geochemistry and/or Economic Geology1 - and teacher (having supervised 12 PhD Theses and 9 MSc Theses).
Fernando Arroyo has been a key person in the development of the SGA for the past decades. He joined the Society in 1992 and served as Council member, VP and President from 2004 to 2011. During his presidency, he initiated and coordinated implementation of important changes in the SGA Constitution, organized the SGA African Metallogeny Course in collaboration with UNESCO and IUGS, and opened the door of the Latin-American geology and mining world to the SGA. He was also heavily involved in the preparation of the 11th SGA Biennial Meeting, held for the first time in South America (Antofagasta, Chile) in 2011, which attracted a record number of participants2. After his presidency, he continued promoting the SGA, especially in South America, as a coordinator and keynote speaker at the SEG-SGA-UNESCO Latin American Metallogeny Course in 2013, 2015 and 2017. He has also been a long-term Member of Editorial Board of Mineralium Deposita since 2003.
So, Fernando, simply, thank you… THANK YOU, in capital letters, for spreading the SGA Society around the world. Your work over these decades has been simply magnificent. Personally, and as an old former student of yours, I would like to thank you, thank you very much, for your masterful lessons on geology and life. You have shaped the career of so many geologists in Spain and Latin America, and you are a leader in the field of metallogeny in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin American countries. We wish you all the best in your professional career and in your life project with your family and friends.
Thank you for your attention.
Prepared and presented by: Carmen Conde
Zurich, August 29, 2023
Acceptance by Fernando Tornos
Dear Council members, dear friends
First of all, I would like to thank Carmen Conde for her warm, despite biased, words. Also, I would like to thank the friends that nominated me for this prestigious award. Secondly, it is rather impressive to be presented by a former PhD student – in fact, one of my first students. This can only mean that I am turning into a really old potato.
A long time ago, when my son was seven years-old he was asked at school what his parent’s job was. He said “I don’t know, but my father takes pictures of coins on stones and writes long and boring papers in a newspaper that nobody reads” – 23 years later, he continues to think the same.
Yes, taking pictures of rocks and wondering about their significance and origin is perhaps one of the most fascinating and exciting jobs we can imagine. We are lucky people. We are fortunate since ore geologists are perhaps the ones that combine more disciplines in their day-by-day work. On top of this, few other topics in geology need such an interaction between academia and industry – just think of the long list of scientific terms which started as academic concepts and which are now routinely used in exploration and mining.
When I started working for the Spanish Geological Survey, ore deposit geology was mainly associated to the description of ore deposits and mineralogical studies. Then the dark ages came, prices dropped down and globalization arrived. The official message (at least in Spain and probably in the whole of Europe) was that the age of metals was finished and, amazingly, that no more mining was needed. Departments at Universities closed, researchers moved to environmental studies and at the Spanish Geological Survey, the ore deposit group shrunk from almost 150 people to merely a dozen.
But, times change and now the society has realized that metals are still needed! Politicians have learnt that we need metals for our survival. Even normal people debate on rare earths supply and know that cobalt is not just a word you can find in the weekend crosswords. The study of ore deposits has flourished and critical ore materials are the flavor of the month.
A lot of great and enthusiastic young people are devoting their careers to understand how to best provide raw materials to the society of the XXI c. We have new powerful analytical techniques and have developed concepts that make ore deposit studies not just a matter of description but of understanding systems from the local to the regional scale. But, on the other side, this boom has put a great pressure in publishing, leading in certain cases to the prioritization of quantity over quality.
Perhaps, the role of Societies is to try to encourage the interaction between industry, field geologists, experts in analytical techniques and students. We cannot do good research without collaborating and learning from each other. We cannot lose the geological and geochemical foundation upon which all our science is based. With my newly acquired old potato title, I think that perhaps the most important thing for me now is to try to give young colleagues and students as much as I received from my mentors back in the days.
This is maybe the right moment to acknowledge and to thank the colleagues and students of the ExMODE group of the CSIC and all of you for accompanying me in this exciting journey. I hope that we continue meeting together and taking pictures of coins on stones.
With all this in mind, I am greatly honored and humbled to accept the SGA-KGHM medal. Thank you very much.
Fernando Tornos