Earl Herkenhoff, An Appreciation

An appreciation from Bill Hawes (60, BS, mining engr.) and Bill Fuchs

New Mexico Tech lost one of its outstanding alumni, and the mining profession lost one of its highly distinguished members on March 14, when Earl Herkenhoff passed away in Reno, Nev. Earl was born in Socorro on October 1, 1915. He graduated from his hometown college, New Mexico School of Mines, in 1936 with highest honors in mining engineering. Following this, he received a fellowship to the University of Idaho and earned a master's degree in metallurgical engineering in 1937.

For the next four years following his formal education, he worked in various mines and mills in New Mexico, Arizona and Montana for Phelps Dodge, New Jersey Zinc and Anaconda. In late 1941, Earl started a ten-year association with American Cyanamid Co. in Stamford, Conn. and Hibbing Minn. After ten years with Cyanamid, he joined Pickens Mather & Co. as assistant chief metallurgist in Hibbing, Minn. In late 1955, his expertise in iron led Utah Construction and Mining to lure him away to the Bay Area of California as director of metallurgical research. After four years there, he became vice-president of a Utah affiliate, Marcona Mining Co., with a large iron ore deposit in Peru. Of all the projects in his experience, this was his favorite.

After Marcona, in 1963, Earl worked on two other projects as a vice-president, involving a copper-iron mine in British Columbia and a phosphate project in Peru. In 1966, following these two projects, Earl rejoined Pickens Mather, this time as vice-president and general manager in Australia. In 1969, he returned to the U.S. and joined Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corp. in the Bay Area, where he worked on the feasibility of projects in Sierra Leone, the U.S., Argentina, New Caledonia and Australia. In 1971, he joined the Southern Peru Copper project as manager-owner's control group at the Flour-Utah offices in San Mateo. This project, a joint venture of ASARCO, Cerro de Pasco, Phelps Dodge and Newmont, with corporate offices in New York, fully utilized Earl's skills in mine, mill, power house and smelter design.

In 1975, after Southern Peru Copper, Earl stayed in the Bay Area, working for AG McKee and Kaiser Engineers, consulting or directing various projects in Algeria, Guatemala and South Africa. Earl finally pulled up stakes from the Bay Area and joined the second uranium boom, becoming engineering director for Phillips Uranium Corp. in Albuquerque. During the heady times of projected high energy prices a deep (3200 feet) low grade (0.15-0.20% U3O8) uranium mine/mill complex was viable, but when uranium prices weakened in 1980, Earl, with his vast knowledge of energy resources and economics, resigned ahead of the crowd.

He next did consulting work for Getty Oil on an oil-saturated diatomaceous earth deposit in Bakersfield, then consulted for Jacobs Engineering on a Peruvian phosphate project.

From 1984 on until the mid 90s, Earl consulted for additional clients, until his health started to fail. He was recognized as a distinguished engineer by SME in 1986, and received New Mexico Tech's Distinguished Achievement Award in 1990. He published fifteen technical papers and received fifteen U.S. patents, primarily in iron ore flotation.

Earl will be remembered by those who knew him as one who could look at a project's flowsheet and immediately spot fatal flaws or trouble areas. Aside from his expertise in solving mining and metallurgical problems, Earl was what is best described as one who could get to the heart of the problem.

Earl was preceded in death by his first wife, Rose, and is survived by daughters Sandra Pursell and Linda Herkenhoff, both of Menlo Park, CA; two sons, Fred of Orlinda, CA and Stuart of Globe, AZ, and his niece Gay Herkenhoff Dwyer, who lives in Albuquerque. At Earl's request, his ashes were scattered on M Mountain.