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oBItUARY

The Australian exploration industry lost
one of its true characters in May when
Terry Grammer died at the age of 70.
Long-time exploration partner and friend

Julian Hanna remembers Terry and his
influence on a series of WA discoveries

Terry Grammer was a very colourful and well-known char-
acter of the Australian exploration sector over many years.
He had a long and successful career as a geologist which
included an impressive record of nickel discoveries.
Terry’s reputation was cemented following the discovery of
the bonanza grade Cosmos nickel deposit near Leinster, for
Jubilee Mines in 1997. Along with Tony Rovira he was awarded
the AMEC Prospector of the Year Award in 2000 for the dis-
covery, which was developed into a highly profitable mine by
Jubilee.
Cosmos was the first of a string of discoveries which involved
Terry. He was not always the geologist who drilled the discov-
ery hole, but he contributed to the success in many ways. In mid-2015 I met up with Terry in central Perth and told him
I first met Terry in late 1998 when we were both consulting for about my new role with MOD Resources which was trying to
Rothschild on some gold and nickel projects in Western Aus- acquire a copper exploration project in Botswana. He fired back
tralia. He was introduced by a senior manager at Rothschild that he and his wife Diane had been fishing in Botswana for
with the comment: “If you want to know anything about nickel, many years. This led to the inevitable question: ‘Where do you
ask Terry”. This turned out to be very good advice. catch fish in the Kalahari Desert?’ ‘In the Okavango River of
In 1999, Terry arranged a meeting with long-time nickel in- course’ was his reply, with a big chuckle.
vestor Terry Streeter who thought nickel could be headed for By now, Terry was technical director at UK investment com-
another bull run. We teamed up with Tim King from Norgard pany Metal Tiger plc. A deal was negotiated whereby Metal
Clohessy and several others to found a new nickel explorer, Tiger would fund the initial acquisition cost of the Botswana
Western Areas Ltd. Terry Streeter handed over the first cheque project for a 30% JV interest.
for $10,000 on Christmas Eve 1999 and famously said: “That’s
probably the last I’ll ever see of that money”. He certainly got In February 2016, drilling commenced at the Botswana pro-
that wrong. ject and within weeks, MOD intersected high-grade copper at
the T3 prospect, in a region with no previous drilling. Terry’s
Eighteen months after Western Areas listed in July 2000, track record of being associated with significant discoveries
Terry Grammer noticed an advertisement in the local paper was explained recently by his long-time friend, Trevor Dixon:
regarding the sale of a failed Canadian company which had a “Terry was always the right person, at the right time, and in the
JV interest with Finnish nickel company Outokumpu along the right place – not just once, but many times!”.
Forrestania nickel belt, 400km east of Perth. Three weeks before his passing Terry phoned to talk about
Western Areas started drilling the project in October 2003 his latest travels to India with Diane, which they both really en-
and the first hole below the old Flying Fox mine intersected joyed. He was cheerful and we reminisced about a site visit to
massive nickel sulphides. By 2005, Flying Fox was being de- China to visit a platinum project in early 2003, only to find the
veloped as a major high-grade underground mine which is still SARS epidemic was under way, Beijing was in lockdown and
operating today. Terry was a big part of the formation of West- the site visit was cancelled. To fill in time, we caught a taxi to
ern Areas and a contributor to its exciting early success. the Forbidden City to find the gates open and not one person in
In May 2004, Terry left to become technical director of junior sight. We spent the afternoon walking around this vast historic
explorer Hannans Reward Ltd and in June 2010 was appointed complex in the snow with Terry marvelling at the engineering
non-executive director at Sirius Resources. of the wooden pavilions, the huge carved marble ramps and
Just two years later, Sirius announced the discovery of the many other treasures. It was an amazing experience which
stunning Nova-Bollinger nickel/copper deposit in a remote re- could never be repeated.
gion east of Kalgoorlie. As with Cosmos and Flying Fox, Nova- Terry was an enthusiastic and enquiring person. He had a
Bollinger also became a highly profitable mine which has de- wonderful sense of humour and was someone people could
livered excellent returns to shareholders. Terry enjoyed walking always enjoy a beer with. At the same time, he was a dedicated
around town with a piece of high-grade drill core from each of family man who shared many stories about his earlier travels
these three deposits in his bag. He would delight in showing in Africa with Diane and his daughter Lissette. He will be sadly
this to anyone who was interested, saying: “Now this is what missed and the exploration industry in WA will be poorer with-
you need to find!” out him.

Page 24 JULY 2020 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT