John S. Livermore

(1918-2013)

1990 Medal of Merit Recipient

John S. Livermore is an exploration geologist who has substantially contributed to the mining industry through his discoveries and development of four disseminated gold mines in the Carlin trend in Nevada. Mr. Livermore's open mind and non-reliance on preconceived geological theories and his ability to integrate facts into new geological concepts are important keys to his success.  Mr. Livermore is more than a prospector; he is an ore finder, ore developer, and ore producer.

John Livermore was born in 1918, earned an A.B. degree in Geology from Stanford University in 1940. He worked as an engineer in the Construction Battalions of the U.S. Navy in the Pacific in World War II. He began his career in the mining industry in 1949 at the Standard mine near Lovelock, Nevada. He began working for Newmont in 1952, traveling to South America, Africa, and the Middle East, and finding additional reserves of base metals. In 1958, he was promoted to the New York office of Newmont and in 1960 he persuaded management to allow him to search for gold in Nevada. A sampling program under his direction in the Eureka area in 1961 culminated in 1965 with the first production of gold from the Carlin mine. In 1962, Mr. Livermore became president of Newmont Mining Company of Canada. He returned to gold exploration in Nevada in 1970, when he established Cordex Exploration Company and discovered the Preble and Pinson mines in 1971 and the Dee mine in 1981.

John Livermore has a strong commitment to learning and has supported education of the general public, university students, and public policy makers. He is on the Board of Trustees and Science Committee of the California Academy of Sciences Natural History Museum in San Francisco.  Mr. Livermore has also been generous to Stanford University and the University of Nevada at Reno, where he was instrumental in establishing the Arthur Grant Chair for mining geophysics. Mr. Livermore is also a founder and Vice President of Public Resource Foundation, a private nonprofit foundation which works on developing balanced public land policies.

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