The following citation prepared by J. Peter (Geological Survey of Canada) was delivered by J. Pašava:
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am honoured to present the citation of Dr. Steven SCOTT – the fifth recipient of the SGA- NEWMONT GOLD MEDAL. I have known Steve for more than 30 years since coming to do postgraduate studies with him in Toronto. Dr. Scott graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1963 with his B.Sc. and in 1964 with his M.Sc. He then studied at Pennsylvania State University, graduating in 1968 with his Ph.D. Immediately thereafter he joined the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor, and was promoted to Full Professor, and then in 1998 became the Norman B. Keevil Professor in Ore Genesis (emeritus since 2006). He is also visiting professor at the University of Bretagne Occidental in France, near where he lives for several months of each year, and Honorary Professor at the China University of Geosciences in Bejing.
He has authored and/or co-authored 188 papers, 8 book chapters, 30 short course chapters, including papers in Nature, Geology, Mineralium Deposita, and Economic Geology. He also recently edited a volume of the Treatise of Geochemistry on the geochemistry of mineral deposits.
Dr. Scott is a world leader in two research areas: The first is the application of experimental sulphide, oxide, and silicate equilibria to ore deposits. His landmark contributions provided the tools to estimate the temperature, pressure, and redox conditions of ore deposit formation and/or metamorphism. The second is his research focused on the genesis of, and exploration for, volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits, together with their modern analogues (seafloor massive sulfides). He contributed significantly to our understanding of the physical and chemical parameters of their formation, the enrichments of precious and other metals, magmatic contributions in these deposits, and the development of exploration methodologies for them. His pioneering work on seafloor massive sulfide deposits and comparison with their ancient VMS counterparts contributed significantly to the recent global focus on exploration of modern submarine arcs.
A major achievement with colleague Ray Binns of the Australian CSIRO was the discovery in 1996 of the large and rich Solwara 1 Cu-Ag-Au seafloor massive sulfide deposit at 1600 metres water depth in the Manus Basin off the east coast of Papua New Guinea that will be mined by Nautilus Minerals starting in 2018 thus establishing a new multibillion dollar industry.
He has been an exemplary mentor of undergraduate and postgraduate students, supervising or co-supervising 24 Ph.D., 21 M.Sc., and 26 B.Sc., and students, together with 10 postdoctoral fellows and several research associates, many of whom have made major contributions to academia, government and mineral exploration. He has been President of the International Marine Minerals Society, served as councillor of SGA for 9 years, and has served on numerous Canadian and international committees and editorial boards. He has been organizer and convenor of numerous symposia at international conferences and been invited as a keynote speaker at many others.
Dr. Scott has been recognized for his scientific contributions by many organizations and countries. He has won 11 awards or medals from Australia, Canada, and USA, including the Lindgren Award and Silver Medal of the Society of Economic Geologists, the Past President’s Medal of the Mineralogical Association of Canada, the Michael J. Keen Medal of the Geological Association of Canada, the Haddon Forrester King Medal of the Australian Academy of Sciences, the Bancroft Award of the Royal Society of Canada, and the Moore Medal of the International Marine Minerals Society.
More recently, he has consulted to the ocean mining industry on the methodology and strategy of mining seafloor massive sulphides in the southwest Pacific Ocean. For the past 9 years with SGA’s financial support, he has organized and presented workshops with colleagues from four countries on ore deposits models and exploration to very large and enthusiastic audiences at several venues in China. The 10th workshop will be in Xi’an in November.
Many of us have had the pleasure of interacting and collaborating scientifically with Dr. Scott. Although now retired, he remains an influential force in science and industry. On behalf of SGA I would like to congratulate Dr. Scott on this and his other successes and we look forward to his continued contributions in the geosciences, and enjoyment in his private life that he and his wife of 52 years, Joan, spend in Toronto and on the Brittany seacoast of France.
Letter of acceptance by s. Scott
The following acceptance speech was delivered by S. Scott:
Thank you Georges, Jan Peter (in absentia) and Jan Pasava. Dear friends and colleagues: I was sitting comfortably savouring my morning coffee and gazing out at the sea from our oceanfront home in Brittany, casually reading my e-mail, when I came across one from SGA President and good friend, Georges Beaudoin. I said to myself “What does Georges want now?” Well, what he wanted was to tell me that I was to receive the SGA-Newmont Gold Medal at SGA’s 50th anniversary meeting in Nancy. I got so excited that I almost spilled my coffee over my tablet!
As you have heard from the citation, this is not the first award I have received but it holds a special place in my heart. I have always had a fondness for SGA as it has provided a venue to meet so many scientists from various countries where meetings are held. I count as close friends many members and officers of SGA. In my younger years, I served on the SGA council, a most gratifying experience that I heartily recommend to others who have a desire to influence their science.
My first medal, also gold, was for being top of my graduating class at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. A relative was admiring it when it dropped onto the road. It rolled straight for a sewer grate but fortunately stopped just a few centimetres from disappearing forever. I will see that anyone who examines the SGA-Newmont Gold Medal does so well away from danger!
Something I want to highlight is SGA’s constant support over 10 years of the 5-day “Ore deposits models and exploration” workshop held annually in China. The enthusiasm we receive from the Chinese students and professionals is palpable. No workshop has had fewer than 250 participants; the last one in November had 450, including 120 via teleconference from 11 remote locations organized by our host, the Zijin Mining Group. SGA can take great pride in initiating the workshop at the 2005 biennial meeting in Beijing and their continuing support. The next workshop, number 10, will be held in November at Chang’an University in Xi’an, the home of the famous terra cotta soldiers.
I know well three of the four previous recipients of this prestigious medal – Zdenek Johan from France, Shunso Ishihara from Japan and David Groves from Australia and I met the 2013 recipient, Michel Cuney, last evening at the ice breaker. All four have had exceptional careers in ore deposits and it is both exciting and humbling to be a member of this exclusive club.
An occasion like this gives me an opportunity to think back over my career – the ups and downs, the successes and failures. Happily I had more ups and successes than downs and failures primarily because of the superb supervision I received during my PhD from Hu Barnes at the Pennsylvania State University in the late 60s and the many exceptional people who chose to work with me at Toronto – undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs and visiting professors – plus from other institutions such as Ray Binns at CSIRO in Sydney. The University of Toronto made it possible for me to be away at sea for weeks to months, often during the academic year.
Although “retired” since 2006, I am not finished yet. I am involved in a research project with colleagues from Greece and China that I instigated on submarine weathering of sulfide chimneys. My last and final marine expedition, number 30, in the northern Aegean Sea with the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research and the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration of Greece has generated another project. Let me close with the observation that nominations for an award like this don’t just happen. It takes dedicated people who are willing to spend the time to put together a nomination and steer it to eventual acceptance. In my case, it was Jan Peter of the Geological Survey of Canada. He was accompanied by Mark Hannington, Paul Spry and Dan Layton- Matthews. I thank them profusely. I also thank the SGA council for agreeing with Jan’s
nomination and Newmont for continuing to provide this most important gold medal. Most of all, I thank Joan and the rest of my family for being so very supportive of my far flung and eclectic career spanning 5 decades.
Thank you all!