Michael Lesher
Carl Michael Lesher (born 1951) is an American geologist. He is an authority on the geology and origin of nickel-copper-platinum group element deposits, especially those associated with komatiites, their physical volcanology and localization, the geochemistry and petrology of associated rocks, and controls on their composition.
Life, education, and career
Lesher was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, but has been living and working in Canada beginning in 1975 and continuously since 1997. He holds BSc and MA degrees in geology from Indiana University, and a PhD degree in geology from the University of Western Australia. Between 1975 and 1979, he worked as an Exploration Geologist and Mineralogist for the Iron Ore Company of Canada; between 1982 and 1984, he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the J. Tuzo Wilson Research Laboratories of the University of Toronto; and between 1984 and 1997, he was Professor of Economic Geology at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. In 1997, he was appointed Professor of Economic Geology, NSERC Senior Industrial Research Chair in Mineral Exploration, and Founding Director of the Mineral Exploration Research Centre at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. He served as Chairman of the Department of Earth Sciences between 2003 and 2006, and as Director of Mining Initiatives (designing and founding the Goodman School of Mines ) during 2010–2011. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (1989 and 1991) and the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University (1990), an Honorary Professor at the Chengdu University of Technology (2000), and a Visiting Professor at Indiana University (2002-2003). Between 1998 and 2002, he was Leader of International Geological Correlation Program Project 427, Ore-Forming Processes in Dynamic Magmatic Systems; in 2010, he was Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the 11th International Platinum Symposium. He is presently Principal Investigator and Project Director of the $13M pan-Canadian "Integrated Multi-Parameter Footprints of Ore Systems" project, sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canada Mining Innovation Council.
Lesher has authored or co-authored over 400 scientific publications, and has served on the editorial boards of Mineralogical Abstracts (1987-1988), The Canadian Mineralogist (1989-1991), Reviews in Economic Geology (1993-1998), and Mineralium Deposita (2010-present). In addition to his research, he has consulted for mining companies in Australia, Canada, Finland, and the USA.
Honours and awards
Lesher has been awarded the Duncan R. Derry Medal (2007) from the Mineral Deposits Division of the Geological Association of Canada, and co-awarded the Julian Boldy Award (2002) by the Geological Association of Canada, and the Wardell Armstrong Prize (2009) by the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. He has served as a Society of Economic Geologists Thayer Lindsley Visiting Lecturer (1998-1999) and as a Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy University Lecturer (1997-1998). He is an elected Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists, the Geological Society of America, and the Geological Association of Canada.
Selected publications
- 2011, Houlé M, Lesher CM, Komatiite-associated Ni-Cu-(PGE) mineralization in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Ontario. Reviews in Economic Geology v. 17, p. 89-121
- 2011, Layton-Matthews DM, Lesher CM, Liwanag J, Halden N, Burnham OM, Hulbert L, Peck DC, Keays RR, Mineralogy, geochemistry, and genesis of komatiite-associated Ni-Cu-(PGE) mineralization in the Thompson Nickel Belt, Manitoba. Reviews in Economic Geology v. 17, p. 123–143
- 2009, Lesher CM, Barnes SJ, Komatiite-Associated Ni-Cu-(PGE) Deposits, in C Li and EM Ripley (Editors), Magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE Deposits: Genetic Models and Exploration, Geological Publishing House of China, p. 27-101
- 2008, Arndt NT, Lesher CM, Barnes SJ, Komatiite, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 488 pp., ISBN 978-0-521-87474-8
- 2007, Lesher CM, Ni-Cu-(PGE) Deposits in the Raglan Area, Cape Smith Belt, New Québec, in Goodfellow, W.D. (Editor), Mineral Resources of Canada: A Synthesis of Major Deposit-types, District Metallogeny, the Evolution of Geological Provinces, and Exploration Methods, Geological Survey of Canada and Mineral Deposits Division of the Geological Association of Canada Special Publication, p. 351-386
- 2005, Arndt NT, Lesher CM, Czamanske GK, Mantle-derived magmas and magmatic Ni-Cu-(PGE) deposits, 100th Anniversary Volume, Society of Economic Geologists, p. 5-23
- 2002, Lesher CM, Keays RR, Komatiite-Associated Ni-Cu-(PGE) Deposits: Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Genesis, in LJ Cabri (Editor), The Geology, Geochemistry, Mineralogy, and Mineral Beneficiation of the Platinum-Group Elements, Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, Special Volume 54, p. 579-617
- 2001, Lesher CM, Burnham OM, Multicomponent elemental and isotopic mixing in Ni-Cu-(PGE) ores at Kambalda, Western Australia. Canadian Mineralogist, v. 39, p. 421-446
- 1996, Stowell HH, Lesher CM, Green NL, Sha P, Sinha, K, Metamorphism and gold mineralization in the Blue Ridge, southernmost Appalachians. Economic Geology, v. 91, p. 1115-1144
- 1989, Lesher CM, 1989, Komatiite-associated nickel sulfide deposits, Reviews in Economic Geology v. 4, p. 45-101
- 1986, Lesher CM, Goodwin AM, Campbell IH, Gorton MP, Trace element geochemistry of ore-associated and barren felsic metavolcanic rocks in Superior Province, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 23, p. 222-237
References
- Personal Webpage
- LinkedIn Profile
- Zoom Info Profile
- Derry Citation in Gangue
- Laurentian University re Derry Award
- May 2013 NSERC Impact Story
- May 2013 NSERC News Release
- Dec 2011 NSERC InPartnership Newsletter