Robert J. Kamilli

Publications listing

Interests: 

Economic geology and Geochemistry, including:

Mineral-deposit formation (especially deposits of copper, gold, silver, molybdenum, tin, and tungsten)

Estimating undiscovered mineral resources

The distribution of minerals and mineral deposits in space and time

Mineral exploration

 

520-670-5576

Fax 520-670-5571

bkamilli@usgs.gov

Education

Experience

When I was five years old, I sold quartz pebbles collected near my home in southern New Jersey. I would paint them bright colors, and sell them to the neighbors. Little ones cost a penny; big ones cost a nickel; two-tone rocks were a dime. I also loved maps. From about the age of eight, I was the official navigator on family vacations. Fortunately, my parents did not object to my planning routes that passed near quarries and mine dumps. My father bought me my first rock hammer when I was twelve. (By then, he was probably tired of my ruining his claw hammers.) I did not know that maps had anything to do with rocks until I took a geology course at the Colorado School of Mines between my junior and senior years of high school, courtesy of the National Science Foundation.

My first job in geology was as a teaching fellow while a graduate student at Harvard. As a part of my thesis research, I had the opportunity to work as a consulting geologist for the Huampar and Buenaventura mining companies in Peru. I also learned how to breathe at elevations above 15,000 feet. After graduate school, my first full-time job was with the Climax Molybdenum Company as a geologist at the Henderson Mine in Colorado. I always have loved working underground. (See photo.)

I joined the U.S. Geological Survey in 1983 as a geologist in their Saudi Arabian Mission. I studied deposits of tin and tungsten and advised the Saudi government on mineral exploration. From 1987 to 1989, I was Chief Geologist of the Mission. During that time I developed and led a minerals-exploration program for the Mission and the Saudi government.

Having developed a taste for hot climates, I moved to Tucson in 1989.

I enjoy teaching and working with students of all ages. I have developed earth science curricula for primary and secondary schools in Saudi Arabia and Arizona. While I lived in Colorado, I was an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado in Boulder. I taught courses on ore deposits and advised students.

Current Activities

I am currently working on two projects. I am assessing sediment-hosted copper deposits in the Western Hemisphere for the Global Mineral Resource Assessment project. I am also working on the genesis of deeply buried copper deposits in the Patagonia area of Arizona for the Concealed Mineral Deposits project. I am an Adjunct Professor in the Geosciences Department of the University of Arizona and am active in the Arizona Geological Society (AGS) http://www.arizonageologicalsoc.org/. I was Program Chair of the AGS Ores and Orogenesis Symposium held in September 2007. I also serve as the USGS resource specialist for tin and tungsten.