Maureen Muggeridge
Encyclopedia
Maureen Muggeridge was a niece of Malcolm Muggeridge
but made her name in a very different field. After graduating in Geology
from the University of St Andrews
, she made her own way to Perth, Western Australia
, with support from her family. Within a week she got a job with a mining company called Tanganyika Holdings and was flying over the Outback searching for diamonds. Tanganyika Holdings was involved in a joint venture
with other companies.
In 1976 minerals were found which suggested the presence of diamond
s. A joint venture was set up with CRA Exploration which they called the Ashton Joint Venture. This was masterminded by Rees Towie, managing director of Northern Mining. In 1979, Maureen married Towie's son John, she became pregnant and she discovered diamond samples in the flood plains surrounding Smoke Creek, a small stream in East Kimberley that drained into Lake Argyle
. At the time word had got out that there might be diamonds and rival exploration teams were in the area. To put them off the scent, CRA put it about that Maureen had gone on maternity leave while in fact she was tracing the source of the diamonds to the headwaters of Smoke Creek and pegging out the boundaries of her claim
. This turned out to be the world's largest known diamond deposit, larger than all the rest put together. Today these diamonds are among the world's rarest gems and the mine produces one third of global output.
Maureen Muggeridge received international recognition for papers on the applications of explosion-sampling techniques. She directed exploration for Moonstone Diamond Corporation in Perth and then set up her own Paramount Mining Corporation. It was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2004.
She died of a stroke while sampling for diamonds at Napier Downs, in a remote part of Western Australia.
Malcolm Muggeridge
Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge was an English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist. During World War II, he was a soldier and a spy...
but made her name in a very different field. After graduating in Geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
from the University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
, she made her own way to Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, with support from her family. Within a week she got a job with a mining company called Tanganyika Holdings and was flying over the Outback searching for diamonds. Tanganyika Holdings was involved in a joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
with other companies.
In 1976 minerals were found which suggested the presence of diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
s. A joint venture was set up with CRA Exploration which they called the Ashton Joint Venture. This was masterminded by Rees Towie, managing director of Northern Mining. In 1979, Maureen married Towie's son John, she became pregnant and she discovered diamond samples in the flood plains surrounding Smoke Creek, a small stream in East Kimberley that drained into Lake Argyle
Lake Argyle
Lake Argyle is Australia's second largest artificial lake by volume. It is part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme and is located near the East Kimberley town of Kununurra...
. At the time word had got out that there might be diamonds and rival exploration teams were in the area. To put them off the scent, CRA put it about that Maureen had gone on maternity leave while in fact she was tracing the source of the diamonds to the headwaters of Smoke Creek and pegging out the boundaries of her claim
Mineral rights
- Mineral estate :Ownership of mineral rights is an estate in real property. Technically it is known as a mineral estate and often referred to as mineral rights...
. This turned out to be the world's largest known diamond deposit, larger than all the rest put together. Today these diamonds are among the world's rarest gems and the mine produces one third of global output.
Maureen Muggeridge received international recognition for papers on the applications of explosion-sampling techniques. She directed exploration for Moonstone Diamond Corporation in Perth and then set up her own Paramount Mining Corporation. It was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2004.
She died of a stroke while sampling for diamonds at Napier Downs, in a remote part of Western Australia.