Councillor David Murphy (2018-2019)

David Murphy

David holds a BSc (Hons) degree from the University of Edinburgh (1986), a MAppSc from Curtin University (1993), both in geology, and a PhD from the University of Western Australia (2009). After an early career as an exploration geologist (Geopeko – North Ltd, 1988 – 1994; Helix Resources NL, 1994 – 1996; Plutonic Resources Ltd, 1996-1997), David joined Normandy Mining Ltd (now Newmont; 1997 - 2009), where Nigel Radford instilled a love of geochemistry. This was cemented by Cliff Stanley, who supervised, along with Bob Gilkes, an eclectic thesis involving lithogeochemistry, clay mineralogy, and linear algebra. In 2010, David joined Barrick as regional geochemist, then in 2012 his current employer, AngloGold Ashanti, where he is the geochemist for the Global Greenfields Exploration group, with responsibility for the geochemical aspects of projects in Australia, North and South America, and Africa. He is also involved with data management and the interfaces between databases and data consumers.  David is interested in fine-fraction geochemistry, X-ray diffraction, mathematical applications, and data analysis. Outside work he enjoys learning ever more abstract programming languages and manages a few endurance runs between injuries.