John Livermore, noted geologist, dies
Published 5:23 pm, Tuesday, March 12, 2013
A memorial tribute will be held April 19 for John Sealy Livermore, a San Francisco-born geologist whose discovery of vast deposits of microscopic gold particles in Nevada changed mining history, generated billions of dollars and made him famous in mineralogy circles.
Mr. Livermore set off a Forty-Niners-style rush with his claim on the first deposit of "invisible gold" - flakes so fine and dispersed over the landscape that they could not be seen. He died of cancer Feb. 7 at his home in Reno. He was 94.
The longtime mining executive has been referred to as "the John Sutter of the microscopic gold rush" and "the John Marshall of the 20th century," but relatives said his true passion was exploring nature and being outdoors.
Born in San Francisco on April 16, 1918, he was the third of five sons from a long line of explorers, miners and pioneers starting with his great-grandfather, Horatio Gates Livermore, who came to California in 1850 during the Gold Rush and became a state senator in El Dorado County.
Love of outdoors
His father, Norman Livermore Sr., was an engineer who helped build Folsom Dam and develop hydroelectric power on the American River. His mother, Caroline Sealy Livermore, was an early Marin County conservationist who helped save Angel Island from development.
Mr. Livermore grew up in San Francisco and Marin County and developed a love of the outdoors at the ranch his grandfather bought in 1880 near Calistoga. He worked during high school at a mule-packing outfit with his brother, Norman, who eventually served as California's secretary of resources under Gov. Ronald Reagan.
Mr. Livermore, who graduated from Stanford University in 1940, said he first became interested in geology on a summer oil exploration trip to Alaska. During World War II, he worked on the United States Navy construction battalion known as the Seabees. He helped build a magnesium plant in Nevada and other facilities in New Guinea and the Philippines.
In 1952, he was hired as a geologist for the Newmont Mining Corp., which sent him around the world on a variety of successful mineral resource exploration projects.
It was a hunch that led to his greatest discovery. Mr. Livermore had long believed there was gold in Nevada that could not be seen by the naked eye and was so fine that it could not be panned. A few low-grade deposits had, in fact, been found, but his goal was to find the microscopic gold mother lode.
Mr. Livermore said he studied an obscure 1939 U.S. Geological Survey report on the phenomenon and, in 1961, headed out into northeastern Nevada with a colleague in search of the elusive treasure. The men, using a heating technique to assess the ore content of the widely dispersed particles, hit pay dirt near Carlin, Nev.
The mining claims he made for Newmont eventually became part of what is known as the Carlin Trend, a 5-mile-wide and 40-mile-long deposit that produces more than 4 million ounces of gold a year and contributes $1.8 billion a year to the Nevada economy.
Scramble for riches
The discovery created a scramble for riches that rivaled the California Gold Rush. The Carlin Trend is one of the richest gold mining districts in the world. More than 70 million ounces of the once-invisible ore, worth around $85 billion, have been produced, more than the Gold Rush or the Comstock Lode.
"It is not overstating the case to say Livermore's microscopic-gold discovery changed the course of mining across the world," said John Dobra, a professor of natural resource economics at the University of Nevada, Reno.
In 1962, Mr. Livermore became president of Newmont's Canadian exploration division. Eight years later, he left Newmont and returned to Nevada, where he formed Cordex Exploration, which discovered several new and profitable mines.
Mr. Livermore, who never married, is survived by his brother Putnam Livermore of Calistoga, 12 nieces and nephews, and 17 grand-nieces and grand-nephews.
A celebration of his life will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. April 19 at the Redfield Auditorium in the Davidson Math and Science Building at the University of Nevada in Reno.