Our Petrographers
John Payne (Ph.D. 1966)
Senior Petrographer for Vancouver Petrographics since 1974. Excellent working knowledge of volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits, porphyry Cu-Au deposits, vein, skarn deposits, PGE deposits. Regional geological and property mapping since 1967. Consultant since 1974, mainly in the North/South American Cordillera. Major exploration property mapping and petrographic studies: Campo Morado area, Mexico (VMS); Britannia, B.C. (VMS); Delta District, Alaska (VMS), Cariboo area, B.C. (VMS); Stewart-Sulphurets-Iskut River, B.C. (Au-Ag); Casino, Yukon (porphyry Cu-Au-Mo); Talcuna, Chile (vein and breccia Cu); High Andes, Argentina (bulk Au-Ag); Pedra Branca, Brazil (PGE); Calico, California (bulk Ag); Pebble Deposit, Alaska (Porphyry Cu-Au-Mo).
Jeffery F. Harris (Ph.D. 1965)
Senior Petrographer for Vancouver Petrographics since 1983. Graduate of Royal School of MInes, London, and Australian National University. 44 years of professional experience in Africa, Australia and Canada. Established and managed a major exploration research facility for Cominco Ltd. SInce 1983, consultant in geochemistry and mineralogy. Broad experience in petrographic and chemical studies on all major rock groups, ore deposit types, and associated alteration features; specialist in metallurgical and environmental studies; expertise in X-ray diffraction and photomicrography.
Craig Leitch (Ph.D. 1989)
Senior Petrographer for Vancouver Petrographics since 1986. Exploration geologist since 1980. Major exploration projects in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Iran. Taught ore petrology at University of British Columbia 1987-1991. Taught introduction to Ore Deposits and Mineral Exploration at U.B.C. and Simon Fraser University 1998-1999.
Fabrizio Colombo (Ph.D. 1996)
Exploration geologist since 2000. Major exploration projects in Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, China, Central African Republic, Romania, Tunisia. Good working knowledge of greenstone belts, porphyry-style deposits, intrusion related gold deposits, skarn deposits, veins and structurally controlled deposits, metamorphic rocks, industrial minerals (feldspar, quartz sands). Regional geological, structural and property mapping since 1990.
Ingrid Kjarsgaard, (D.Sc., 1988)
Studied Mineralogy in Bochum and Freiburg, Germany, where she received her doctorate in Mineralogy and Petrography specializing in subduction related volcanics and carbonatites. During her post-doc at Mainz University, Germany she studied alkaline volcanics, floodbasalts and mantle xenoliths, and gained experience in a wide variety of analytical techniques (ICP-AES, HPLC, mass spectrometry, EMPA). Since 1992 she has been consulting for the Geological Survey of Canada, provincial and territorial geological surveys and for industry clients. She specializes in petrography, microphotography, microprobe analyses and mineral data interpretation of samples from a wide variety of ore deposits types (VMS, SEDEX, Ni-Cu-PGE, BIF, Au- and Ag-veins, rare element pegmatites and carbonatites), their alteration assemblages and host rocks, as well as meteorite impact rocks, igneous layered intrusions, and kimberlite indicator minerals. Ingrid has taught igneous, metamorphic and ore petrology (including petrography) at Carleton University and Ottawa University and presently teaches gemology at Carleton University, where she is an adjunct professor.
As well we have three full-time technicians with nearly 20 years experience apiece.
