UBC–Mineral Exploration Joint Venture Appoints New Director

Dr Craig Hart has been appointed director of the Mineral Deposit Research Unit, an award-winning industry-UBC Science partnership. Hart, well known to the Canadian geoscience community, is currently a senior research fellow at the Centre for Exploration Targeting at the University of Western Australia. He will assume the position in January, 2009.

"We’re pleased to appoint Craig as the new director," said Ian Graham, chair of the MDRU Board of Directors and Chief Geologist, Diamonds, Rio Tinto. "We welcome Craig back to Canada, and look forward to working with him to continue the research and training excellence that has been established at MDRU."

"I’m eager to accept the new challenges that this position will present," said Craig Hart. "I look forward to continuing the excellence of MDRU, working with the current research staff and faculty at the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, and facilitating new collaborative research projects with industry and government in Western Canada and around the world."

Hart completed his PhD at the University of Western Australia working on the Tintina Gold Belt in the Yukon and Alaska, and is a UBC Science graduate (MSc, 1995).

MDRU was established in 1989 as a joint venture between the mining industry and the University of British Columbia to increase knowledge about mineral deposits, aid in their discovery and assist industry in locating and developing new resources worldwide. MDRU also provides the means to train highly qualified geologists for exploration and mining companies.