Awards & Scholarships

Richard Nash Hunt grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and attended the University of Wisconsin, where he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in geology. After spending a year with E. J. Longyear Co., he went to Bingham, Utah, as a geologist for the Utah Consolidated Mining Company at the Highland Boy Mine. This began his nearly half-century education in exploration and mine development. Mr. Hunt was successively chief geologist, director and vice president of the United States Smelting, Refining and Mining Co. He led in the expansion of Bingham, in the development of the low-grade ores of the Colorado San Juans, and in the re-entry of the Bayard-Hanover-Fierro District of New Mexico.

In 1954 Mr. Hunt was elected to the Board of Directors of the Hecla Mining Co., and is now vice president and director. His major interest has been in the exploration and development of mines, and he firmly believes that when the new developments in physics and chemistry can be brought to bear on field problems, the mining geologist will have significant tools to find metal reserves necessary to sustain the world's growing industrial economies.