Citation by D. Leach
SGA-Newmont Gold Medal 2021
Citation of recipient Dr Richard J. Goldfarb by Dr D. Leach
Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gentlemen,
I am most honored to introduce Dr. Richard J. Goldfarb – the eighth recipient of the SGA NEWMONT GOLD MEDAL. This is our Society’s highest award, recognizing exceptional career accomplishments in earth science and studies of ore deposits. I have known Rich for more than 40 years, first as a field assistant at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and later as a colleague in the U.S. Geological Survey. It has been a pleasure to witness Rich’s accomplishments and his evolution to a world-class earth scientist.
Rich received his Bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University in 1975 and his Master’s degree from the University of Nevada in 1981. He was awarded his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in 1988. He had a stellar career with the U.S. Geological Survey, ultimately becoming a senior research geologist and program leader in the Minerals Program. Prior to leaving the USGS in 2015, Rich provided scientific leadership in the Office of Mineral Resources and served as a Team Leader for many major national research efforts. Following his retirement from the U.S. Geological Survey, Rich is now a Research Professor at Colorado School of Mines and serves as an overseas professor at the China University of Geosciences and as an international consultant to the minerals industry.
Rich’s scientific contributions are extensive and broad. He authored more than 250 publications on diverse topics that include orogenic gold, global metallogeny, tectonics, polymetallic veins, magmatic copper systems, exploration geochemistry and secular changes in mineral systems. His early USGS research on orogenic gold systems in Alaska brought together field observations with laboratory investigations. This groundbreaking work defined the links between the timing of orogenic gold mineralization and orogenic events. The results became the foundation for his global synthesis of orogenic gold systems and the role of metamorphism in gold metallogeny. Rich's research yielded major breakthroughs in understanding the genetic processes and keys to exploration for gold in metamorphic rocks. He defined the nature and distribution of orogenic gold deposits in a plate tectonic framework through Earth history. His review papers are considered the “gold standards” for orogenic gold deposits. Rich’s accomplishments led to numerous recognitions including the SEG Silver Medal, SEG Thayer Lindsley Lecturer, the SEG International Exchange Lecturer and the Honorary Meritorious Service Award from the USGS.
He is one of the most accomplished editors and reviewers in economic geology. Rich served as the editor of Mineralium Deposita (1996−2002) and additional editorial boards including Acta Geologica Sinica (2014−2016), Economic Geology (2007−present), Geochemistry−Exploration, Environment, Analysis (2000−present), and Gondwana Research (2005−present). He has been the editor in chief or co-editor for over 20 high-impact monographs and special publications. including the Economic Geology 100th Anniversary Volume.
He served as President of SEG and received numerous recognitions, including the Geological Society of Australia’s Distinguished Lecturer in Economic Geology, The SEG Silver medal recipient, the 18th Ralph Roberts Distinguished Lecturer in Ore Deposits. Nevada (2012) and the Kutina Smirnov Medal of IAGOD (2014). In recognition of his generous volunteerism and enthusiasm for workshops, committees, and editorial duties, Rich was presented the SEG Marsden Award in 2012.
Throughout his scientific career, Rich has been involved in student training and supervising graduate students at the University of Colorado, the University of British Columbia, the University Western Australia, and the Colorado School of Mines. Over the past decades, Rich has served as a mentor to hundreds of young geologists, advising them on graduate work and career opportunities.
In the past decades, few individuals have shaped the world of economic geology as much as Rich Goldfarb. His contributions advanced our profession and enriched our understanding of ore forming processes and changed the way we study ore deposits. Richard Goldfarb’s career exemplifies what the SGA-Newmont Gold Medal represents.
D. Leach
SGA-Newmont Gold Medal 2021
Acceptance speech – Dr Richard J. Goldfarb
Thank you David Leach, President Huston, and SGA.
I am very honored to receive this prestigious Gold Medal from the SGA. Of course, I would love to have been able to have received the award in person because I always look forward to the biennial SGA conferences. Their diversity in topics, the broad international participation, and abundant student interactions have made these meetings events that I have looked forward to during much of my career. In addition, Tony Christie always organizes outstanding conferences within New Zealand and this would have been no exception. However, given the present Covid restrictions, I will simply enjoy the next four days of presentations over the internet and will now give my sincere thanks to SGA in a similar manner.
My career achievements reflect a rich and lengthy series of collaborations with many noteworthy and influential colleagues. In fact, obviously indicating SGA’s successful history of leadership, three of my most important and long-term fruitful research interactions have been with three recent SGA presidents, David Leach, David Groves, and Karen Kelley.
David Leach and David Groves have been mentors for much of my career, without whose guidance I would not have accomplished the many successful studies that I am being recognized for. They both taught me how to get things done, recognize what is important in a research program, not to be afraid to give an opinion, and how to express oneself in a clear manner. David Leach first introduced me to our discipline, brought me to the USGS, and jump- started my career in Alaska. It was his direction and encouragement that led me to develop a clear understanding and a new model for orogenic gold formation in the North American Cordillera in the 1980s and 1990s. During my career in government science, there was no one better than David Leach to show me how to creatively get around restrictive bureaucracy so as to get the needed job done. I first met David Groves in 1997 and this opened a new chapter in my career leading to many holistic and creative studies looking at the big picture in global metallogeny. Spending time in Perth with David Groves at the Centre for Exploration Targeting allowed me to integrate what I had learned early in my career from the young North American Cordilleran orogen with his vast understanding of older mineral systems from around the world, which is a collaboration still ongoing today.
My 30+ years of work in the USGS’s Alaska program was made highly enjoyable particularly
though numerous collaborations with Karen Kelley. Teaming up with Karen over the many years to deal with various issues, such Alaskan logistics, funding, and difficult bosses, led to a long string of favorable and productive outcomes. And much of the successful studies across the vast and mostly remote state couldn’t have been done without many of our great team members over the decades including Barrett “Mag” Cieutat, Carter “Jimmy” Borden, Elmer Pickthorn, Bob “Rollo” Eppinger, Erin Marsh, Ryan Taylor, and Garth Graham. More recently, many contributions on China metallogeny could not have happened without collaborations with friends such as Kunfeng “QQ” Qiu, Jun Deng, and Jingwen Mao.
Finally, it seems I have been unable to say no to numerous editing responsibilities, which all began with SGA. David Leach’s mid-1990s initiative to make SGA more global in extent, led to my appointment as the first head editor of Mineralium Deposita outside of Europe from 1996- 2002. Peter Herzig and Jan Pasava helped to get the new office up and running in Colorado, and David Rickard welcomed me as his co-chief editor of the journal. Through working closely with the latter, I improved my skills needed to be a perceptive and critical editor, and believe I was able to be influential in increasing the international scope and impact of the Society’s journal. After David Rickard’s retirement, I was able to enjoy a number of years co-editing with Bernd Lehman, who moved the journal forward into the digital age and amazingly is still on the job some 20 years later.
In closing, I’d like to acknowledge my wife Mary Angeline for her patience and support as I have kept on trucking to various global garden spots even after my supposed “retirement”. And once again, I am truly honored to accept this momentus recognition from SGA.
Richard J. Goldfarb