From Tasmania to Tennessee & beyond by John Gaskell

Paperback: 172 pages, $29.95

ISBN: 9781925138405

Published in 2015

John Gaskell has written a ripping yarn. The centrepiece of this book is the struggle for the rich Ernest Henry mine in Queensland, but enroute Gaskell takes us through his picturesque life as a geologist, even including a brush with the notorious Mr Asia, the major drug dealer who was murdered by his two closest associates. It’s a modern adventure story.
-- Trevor Sykes, Australian finance journalist and author.

This is the story of a geologist’s journey from Northern England via Malawi to Australia and many other places. It looks at the mining business through the eyes of a junior explorer that became a significant producer of copper, gold, zinc and coal in seven years only to be swallowed up by a much larger predator. At its heart is a day-by-day account of a dramatic court case the outcome of which was to set Savage Resources the junior company on its trajectory. Major companies such as Western Mining Corporation, Mount Isa Mines Ltd, Pasminco and Union Miniere, all of whom are no more, played important roles. Other episodes also play a part including a young Pommy geologist’s introduction to Queensland, the evaluation of a bat guano deposit in caves in Malaysia for clients who were not what they seemed to be and Kerry Packer’s rubies. It is a chronicle of litigation, court room drama, transactions where hundreds of millions of dollars changed hands, murder and sex (a bit), drugs and rocks.

John Gaskell is a Lancashire-born geologist who has worked as both a consultant and executive in the international mining business for nearly fifty years. He now lives in Sydney.