JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mining geologist David Whitehead has passed away at the age of 74, Aim-listed Tertiary Minerals reported on Wednesday.
Whitehead was a nonexecutive director of the company at the time of his passing.
“A larger-than-life character with a great intellect, wit and wisdom, David served the company as a director for 15 years. During his time with us he made an invaluable contribution based on a long and successful career in the global mining industry where he rose to the highest levels of management. We will greatly miss him," chairperson Patrick Cheetham said in a statement.
Prior to his appointment to the Tertiary board in 2002, Whitehead was the VP for integration, exploration and innovation at BHP Billiton. He joined the BHP Billiton group in 1976.
A Bloomberg News executive profile states that, while at BHP Billiton, Whitehead was responsible for promoting the concept and implementation of reengineering Billiton's exploration effort by means of strategic alliances with junior exploration companies and leveraging of Billiton's capabilities with funding obtained in the venture capital markets. Following the merger of Billiton and BHP in 2001, Whitehead was responsible for the integration and rationalisation of the group’s exploration and research and development functions into a single-focused unit.
Whitehead has lived and worked in Europe, North and South America and Africa.