Bob Eveleth to be inducted into the NM Mining Association's Hall of Fame

At the New Mexico Mining Association's 80^th Annual Convention & Trade Show, Robert (Bob) Eveleth, Emeritus Senior Mining Engineer at the NM Bureau of Geology, will be inducted into the Association's Hall of Fame. The induction will take place at 7:00 PM in the Fidel Center Ballrooms B & C on the campus of New Mexico Tech during the Convention's Annual Banquet.

Below is the nomination prepared by Dr. Viginia McLemore and Dr. Virgil Lueth:

NOMINATION TO THE NEW MEXICO MINING ASSOCIATION MINING HALL OF FAME

Robert (Bob) Eveleth

Major contribution to New Mexico’s mining industry: history, importance of mineralogy to mining industry, and curator of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Mining Archives

Robert Eveleth was born in 1943 in Brighton, Massachusetts. Bob is a Miner, a 49er, an engineer, a bartender, and a historian; and for more than 45 years he has researched and documented New Mexico history related to mining, the city of Socorro, and New Mexico Tech. He arrived at Socorro and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology along with 10 other entering students in September 1963, in a local passenger train known as the “Doodlebug” by Socorroans who had experienced its irregular diesel journey over the rails of Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe. He paid for his education as a bartender at The Capitol Bar and as a miner at Leadville, Colorado. Bob also worked in the Bureau’s metallurgy lab as a student, where he learned the laboratory methods for identifying specimens that are so important to mining. He performed flotation tests using frothing and suppressing agents. He eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering in 1969 from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. After graduation, Bob married his wife, Susan, and worked at a small lead/silver/gold mining company in Silverton, Colorado. In late 1971, Bob became chief mining engineer for U.S. Smelting and Refining in Silver City, New Mexico. Early 1977, Bob worked for the U.S. Geological Survey in Albuquerque. Then in November 1977, Bob was hired by the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (known then as the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources), where he worked for more than 35 years and now is the Emeritus Senior Mining Engineer, specializing in mining technology, mining law, and mining history. Bob checked and located properties, mining claims, geo-mapping, and laboratory samples throughout his career. He discovered that, especially prior to WW I, newspapers were a prime source of mining information and began the New Mexico Mining Archives, which includes copies of many of these newspaper articles and numerous other mining reports. Bob has written numerous books and journal articles about the history and principals of New Mexico mining and geology. Some of Bob’s important contributions included providing information to the annual mining industry of New Mexico for the U.S. Bureau of Mines annual Mineral Yearbooks from about 1978 to 1995. He is thanked and acknowledged for his contribution in many more books, papers, and articles. For many, he is the ‘memory’ of New Mexico’s mining industry and the “go to guy” for information on obscure mining localities. He has been instrumental in developing the New Mexico Mineral Museum for many years along with the Bureau’s museum curators. His emphasis has been archiving mineral specimens and mining ephemera to preserve our rich mining history. One still can find Bob, even though retired, around the Bureau, continuing to update the Bureau’s mining archives or in the Mineral Museum, helping someone identify a specimen.

See more on his life at https://nmgs.nmt.edu/notablegeologists/Robert_Eveleth

Submitted by:
Virginia T. McLemore and Virgil Lueth, NMBGMR
January 2019