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Golden opportunity
Geology master's student Nathan Forsythe spends first few days "on
the job" in Fiji.
- Off and on these past couple of years, Nathan Forsythe talked to Paul
Spry, professor of geological and atmospheric sciences, about the possibilities
of continuing his studies as a master's student at Iowa State.
"I had classes with him when I was an undergraduate and we talked about
ideas for a master's project," Forsythe said. "Dr. Spry had several
contacts in Australia and thought it would be a possibility."
That possibility became a reality in September of this year when the first-year
graduate student spent three weeks in the South Pacific.
Only it wasn't Australia but rather remote areas in Fiji's Upper Sabeto
River.
One of Spry's contacts is Alcaston Mining, a Western Australian mining company.
The firm was interested in getting Forsythe to Fiji to map the area, take
core samples for possible gold mining, and eventually provide analysis on
those samples.
Forsythe had barely started his master's work when he soon found himself
in Fiji for three weeks. He's doing his master's thesis on the geology and
geochemistry of gold and copper mineralization in the Upper Sabeto River.
Each day Forsythe would make the journey from Nadi, the Fiji city where
he was staying, to a location in the mountains to map the site.
"It would take a good hour to get to the village where we were based
at," he said. "Sometimes we would have to take horses, other times
the vehicle we were driving would scrape the bottom on the road."
The area of the Upper Sabeto River Forsythe was mapping was in the center
of an old volcano. He described the area as almost "jungle-like."
Forsythe was looking for certain minerals, particularly quartz, that can
contain gold better. A former student of Spry's had previously mapped south
of Forsythe's location and found evidence of gold. The Australian mining
firm had acquired the mineral mining rights to the area.
The gold samples they are looking for however aren't the large gold nuggets
portrayed in the movies.
"The samples are so microscopic you really can't see them," Forsythe
said. "The gold is tied up in other minerals.
"Being out there was great on-the-job training," he continued.
"I'm very interested in the exploration part of the project. It was
a good opportunity to see how things are done out in the field."
It was also a great opportunity for Forsythe to view a different culture
as he interfaced with one of the local indigenous villages. Both Forsythe
and Spry were included in ritual welcoming and goodbye ceremonies.
"In Fiji it sometimes felt like I was on an anthropology trip,"
Forsythe said. "It was a tropical paradise but I was kind of surprised
by the villagers living conditions. There was much more poverty than I expected."
Still it was a chance of a lifetime for Forsythe. An opportunity he'll get
to relive when Alcaston Mining brings him back to conduct additional mapping
and collect more core samples later this academic year.
And when he talks to his fellow geology graduate students, he realizes how
fortunate he is with his thesis project.
"My friends in the department are doing their research here,"
Forsythe said, "and I get to go to Fiji.
"I feel pretty lucky."
Around LAS
November 13 to December 3, 2006
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