2014: Colin Dunn

Colin Dunn, AAG 2014 Gold Medal

from left to right: 2014 AAG President Matt Leybourne, Colin Dunn, Beth McClenaghan, Ravi Anand, AAG Vice President Ryan Noble.

Dr. Colin Dunn has worked tirelessly for decades in advancing the field of biogeochemistry as it relates to exploration. He is recognized as the preeminent leader in the world on the topic. Many geoscientists have been mentored by Colin over the last several decades. His work has been documented through over 200 peer-reviewed publications, as well as presentations at international venues, short courses, informal conversations with many prospectors, geologists, and geochemists, and through the publication of his definitive book on the subject, Biogeochemistry in Mineral Exploration.  Colin has assisted commercial analytical laboratories in the development of analytical techniques and the establishment of analytical control materials. In addition, he has been a long-standing member and Fellow of the Association of Applied Geochemists, a past councillor and has volunteered on numerous AAG committees. As an applied geochemist, Colin has been a stalwart for the geochemistry profession in general, and for biogeochemistry in particular.

Colin received his PhD from London University in 1972.  Spanning government and industry, Colin’s career began at the Saskatchewan Geological Survey and moved to the Geological Survey of Canada in 1985. Colin retired from the GSC in 1998 as the Head of the Geochemical Research Section. As a consultant since then, he continues to be very active globally in the field, having undertaken surveys for major and junior companies, governments in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Finland, and numerous projects sponsored by Geoscience BC and CAMIRO, among others. Having championed the use of biogeochemical exploration for a wide range of commodities, such as Ag, Au, PGE, base metals, Mo, U, REE, and diamonds, Colin’s approach has always been practical, distilling procedures to the most basic to facilitate their use by industry.  

Robert G. Eppinger
Chair, AAG Awards and Medals Committee