Nick Le Boutillier (left) and Alex Kravtsov; Tarasov Section, Schevchenko Nickel Laterite Deposit, Zhitikara, Kostonai Oblast, Kazakhstan, June 2004.
Nick Le Boutillier; Cabeza De Vaca, Atacama, Chile, April 2009.
Currently (as of October 2008) working for the Canadian company Celeste Copper Corporation as a consultant, and Project Manager, on the Negrita and Celeste IOCG (iron oxide-copper-gold) porphyry and manto deposits in the Atacama Region of northern Chile. I am involved in overseeing part of the continuing exploration, mapping & diamond/RC drilling of the deposits, along with undertaking a structural, petrological, mineralogical and geochemical study. I am based in the city of Copiapo; the deposits are some 30km SSE in Cabeza De Vaca region of the Andes Mountains. The area is host to a number of major copper deposits, including the Candaleria and Refugio open pits, which may also carry significant gold and silver. For more information about the deposits and Celeste, click on the links below:-
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From May 2006 to September 2008 I worked for the Canadian company Alhambra Resources as a consultant on the Uzboy Gold Project in NE Kazakhstan. I was involved in undertaking a structural, petrological, mineralogical and geochemical study of the deposit. I was based primarily in the city of Stepnogorsk, north of the capital, Astana, and the mine camp at Uzboy, which is around 200 km NNW, out on the steppe. Uzboy is a vein/disseminated pyritic gold deposit, associated with intermediate to acid volcanic rocks and sits within the Charsk Belt that crosses NE Kazakhstan and is host to a number of major gold deposits.
During 2005 I worked as a consultant on the Bayankol Placer Gold Deposit in the Tien Shan Mountains, adjacent to the Chinese border, in SE Kazakhstan, for Bateman PLC. Prior to this, in 2004 I worked in NW Kazakhstan on Oriel Resources' Schevchenko nickel-laterite deposit, SSW of Zhitikara.
Previously I was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Camborne School of Mines in Cornwall (working on baseline lithogeochemistry of Cornwall), after completing a PhD (2002) at CSM on 'The tectonics of Permian magmatism and mineralisation in SW England'. Prior to that I worked for five years, between 1993 and 1998, as a mine geologist (eventually becoming Senior Mine Geologist; responsible for all operating levels between surface and the 400 Fathom Level and its sublevels) at South Crofty Tin Mine in Cornwall, U.K.
Other work undertaken includes resource evaluation on a tin/zinc/silver mine in Bolivia, mineralogical/metallurgical logging of Cu/Au porphyry copper boreholes (Kyrgyzstan), mudlogging in Algeria and aggregate reserve estimation in Somerset.
I live in west Cornwall, with my wife Svetlana. When not working I enjoy exploring old Cornish mines, mineral collecting, photography and riding my Honda Pan European.
This page last updated 17/05/2009
