ABOUT US
Our People
Iain Bryson
geologist and metallurgist
Iain has over 30 years’ experience in the mining industry and has worked in numerous African countries, including Namibia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria and Mauritania. He is skilled in both process engineering and geology with an in-depth knowledge of diamond and rare earth processing and iron ore exploration.
Iain began his career in 1979 as a geologist/metallurgist at Newmont/Phelps Dodge in the diamond and gold industry. He then moved to De Beers in 1985 where he held a number of positions over the course of his 13-year career at the company, eventually heading up the diamond research laboratories in the capacity of a senior process engineer.
In 1998, Iain opened his own consultancy business where among other projects, he conducted an audit of the recovery plant at Oryx Mine in the DRC, designed the diamond recovery plants at De Beers and started a new sorthouse for Premier Mine.
From 2003-2005 Iain consulted for Hatch in various diamond consultancy roles where he worked on the C-Cut Plant for Cullinan Mine and conducted a feasibility study for Kao Mine in Lesotho.
From 2005-2008, he joined BSGR Resources as Group Exploration Manager, which combined his geological and processing engineering skills. During this time, Iain worked on bauxite, uranium, diamonds and specialised in identifying potential mining operations in African countries, including Guinea, Mali, DRC, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Angola. His major achievement was the discovery of a new major iron resource in Guinea, West Africa.
Following his career at BSGR, Iain consulted for a number of companies in an associate capacity including SNC-Lavalin and Core Consultants from 2009 -present, taking a short break in 2013 to join Great Western, a TSX listed rare earth company in the capacity of a Senior metallurgist, in charge of developing the process for Steenkampskraal rare earth mine.
During this time as an associate, Iain developed his own mining projects globally, visited and studied deposits in Brazil, Afganistan and various African countries with a specific focus on non-oil opportunities.
Iain holds a masters in chemistry and geology from the university of Witswaterstrand.