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Gilbert Joseph Gauthier was born December 24, 1924, in Belgium and trained as a geological engineer. He received strong mineralogical instruction while he was a student at the Catholic University of Louvain. Belgium. His primary mineralogical teacher was Jacques Thorcau (1886-1971), but he was also well acquainted with Henri Buttgenbach (1874-1964) and others of the older generation. (He did receive his certificate in gemology from the British Gemological Association about 20 years ago.) He began his career as a teacher at the University of Liége, but soon discovered that he could earn a better living as a mining geologist with the then robust mining company. Union Minére du Haut Katanga (UMHK). He worked as a drilling engineer and an overseer of drilling at sites throughout Katanga, including an important assignment at the Shinkolobwe uranium mine. His supervisor was Johannes Vaes (1902-1978).
Gilbert had been a mineral collector since an early age, but Katanga was a paradise for mineral collecting, especially if your work kept you close to the mine's working face. The technical staff of the UMHK lived in compounds apart from the miners and residents, but the close association meant that Gilbert was in close contact with the company's geologists, and few among them who were not also mineral collectors. (Gilbert, a particularly fastidious record keeper, kept in touch with his UMHK colleagues and over the years purchased nearly every one of their mineral collections, or at least sold many pieces for them on consignment.)
By the mid-1950'S, Gilbert's collection had grown to the point thai he decided to make vacation journeys to other great African mining districts including those in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Tsumeb, Southwest Africa (Namibia). He had a mini-van-like truck loaded with minerals and he traded Katanga minerals with everyone that he could. His extensive travels allowed him to become friends with a large population of mineral collectors, many of whom returned to Europe and continued their mineral collecting specialties. By the late 1950's, Gilbert became a consulting drilling authority and worked primarily with oil exploration and frequently worked for the United Nations, mostly in Africa's emerging oil fields. Gilbert never really retired from geological consulting and his field experiences continued well into the 1980's, although he was frequently an...