John Frank Michael Sims

(1933–2015)

British-born John Frank Michael (F. M.) Sims was a memorable lode gold expert with an international reputation, an effective educator in the geological and mining fields, and a leader that advocated for the importance of the Alaska mineral industry’s past, present and future. In the latter part of his career, he played an important role with a team of others in the creation of Alaska’s first successful marketing of a significant mineral resource (excluding petroleum)—Usibelli Coal Mine Inc.’s export coal to International (Pacific Rim) market destinations, which lasted for three decades.

Early Years, Education and Exploration Geological Career

John Frank Michael (F. M.) Sims was born and raised in England, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science (with honors) degree in economic geology in 1956 from Durham University. That same year, he began a 21-year career with Anglo-American Corporation, with whom he worked on three continents. His specialty was the exploration of lode gold-quartz-sulfide deposits of the ‘South African’ or ‘Witwatersrand’ type, which are among the world’s oldest ‘paleo-placers’. The Paleoproterozoic Witwatersrand basin has yielded more than one third of all the gold mined in the world. When he was Chief Geologist from 1962–1969 at the President Steyn Mine in Welkom, South Africa, John worked on his Ph.D. thesis, which advocated for a paleo-placer origin of the Witwatersrand gold deposits. John also oversaw the digging of the 7,800-feet-deep No. 4 shaft, which at the time, was the largest diameter single drop mine shaft in the world. John obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa in 1969.

Since the mid-1960s, plate tectonic theory predicted that the Africa and South American continents were originally together and rifted away from each other as separate plates along the mid-Atlantic Oceanic Ridge since Mesozoic time. Such an interpretation suggests that the Witwatersrand basin in South Africa should appear within the right geological context and geographical position on the South American continent. John predicted that paleo placers in South America and South Africa may be equivocal.

Subsequent to completion of his thesis, John was asked by Anglo-American to initiate field investigations in South America to confirm or refute his theory that the paleo placer districts of both continents were equivocal. Beginning in 1973, John designed an exploration program to examine potential South American analogs.

A four-year effort led to the discovery by John and his staff that the Jacobina Gold District in Bahia, Brazil, was indeed an analog to the Witwatersrand. Artisanal (placer) miners recovered gold from the region from the beginning in the 17th Century. In the 1950–1960s, the Canavieras mine excavated about 120,000 tons grading 18g/t gold. Subsequent to John’s recommendations, Anglo-American acquired properties and began underground development in 1980; commercial production at the ‘Jacobina mine’ (actually four deposits) was achieved by Anglo-American in 1983. Eventually other firms would acquire Anglo-American assets. The main gold producer in the Jacobina district today is Pan American Silver Corporation. John also explored for diamonds in western Africa on behalf of Anglo-American.

John’s Alaskan Career as an Educator

John’s frequent absences from home in South Africa took a toll on his family life, with many challenges, including long separations from family members and lack of firm educational opportunities for his children. John’s wife, Patricia, was an accomplished dancer and dance instructor and his international exploration activities offered nothing to support her career. Another reason for John and Pat’s desire to leave South Africa was that, within a few years, their two sons would be subject to obligatory service in the South African Army at a time of civil unrest and violence in the final years of apartheid.

One day, a Johannesburg Sunday newspaper contained an advertisement for a faculty position at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. A close friend and colleague, Dr. Peter Siems, who taught at the University of Idaho, encouraged John to apply for the position. Dean Earl Beistline quickly offered him an associate professorship at the College of Earth Sciences and Mineral Industries (CESMI) at UAF (a part of which would be later reorganized as the School of Mineral Industry or SMI). John encountered challenges in securing the position. He couldn’t get anywhere with the U.S. Immigration Service in Johannesburg, but U.S. Senator Ted Stevens stepped in and ‘saved the day’ (as he so often did) by facilitating visas for John and his family. On December 14th, John and family arrived in Anchorage. On that day, it was minus 47°F in Fairbanks. As reported in Rock Poker and Paydirt, John would say:

“I’ll never forget it. I’d never owned a parka in my life. I did not know what ice fog was. My wife and I spent 2 days and 3 flights attempting to get from Anchorage to Fairbanks, but the aircraft couldn’t land due to the ice fog and it had to return to Anchorage…When we finally landed in the ice fog in Fairbanks, my wife said ‘You are mad—bloody mad!’. But she changed her mind with the passing of subsequent years.”

University life was very different for John because he had spent his entire career in the private sector. He would say:

“I had spent my entire career in private industry, running exploration programs and working in underground mines…And here everyone thought I spoke funny-like…yet everyone at the university was very tolerant about my ignorance of American Academia and my lack of understanding of ‘Arctic Survival’…The lady in the front office seemed to give Earl (Beistline) his marching orders and coordinated all of his busy schedule on a daily basis. She was Joyce Carlson, Earl’s secretary.”

Besides teaching courses focused on geological engineering curriculum, including a mineral economics course, John taught summer geology field camp for CESMI. His selected area for teaching the field camp was the northern Wrangell Mountains in the vicinity of the historic Nebesna underground gold mine, now in Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve, which operated during the 1930s and 1940s.

John’s Role in State Government

As John was teaching geology and mining curriculum at UAF, Alaska’s political climate was caught up in profound changes concerning how land was to be used and managed. Section D-2 of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) had mandated that at least 83 million acres of Federal Lands be permanently withdrawn from mineral entry and placed into National Conservation Units. In December 1980, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) was passed by the U.S. Congress and created more than 105 million acres of lands which would be mostly withdrawn from mineral industry development. Development of newly discovered, world-class mineral deposits faced uncertainty. The Quartz Hill molybdenum deposit near Ketchikan was incorporated into a national conservation unit (Misty Fiords) and the Greens Creek silver-polymetallic deposit near Juneau was incorporated into Admiralty Island National Monument. Alaska’s placer miners were being challenged by strict new water quality regulations and reclamation issues. Mineral activities in all regions of Alaska seemed to be facing an uncertain future.

Facing these challenges, Charles Webber, the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Commerce and Economic Development (DCED), created the Office of Minerals Development (OMD), a division level function within DCED, which was to advocate for mineral development in Alaska and seek solutions to perceived issues with mining activities. In February 1981, John Sims accepted the position of Director of OMD. Norma Wynen and Charles B. Green became his lead researchers and ‘work horses’.

One of John’s first tasks was to compile an authoritative and contemporary review of the mineral resources of the State. The Alaska Territory and early State of Alaska agencies published authoritative annual mineral summaries until the report series was abruptly terminated in 1974. A large data gap about what exactly was happening in Alaska’s mineral industry formed.

In late 1981, Sims provided a crucial grant to the Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) within the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (ADNR) to initiate the publication of an annual mineral industry summary. One of the writers of this biographic sketch (Bundtzen) was lead author of the initial publication, entitled Alaska’s Mineral Resources 1981–1982, which was released in mid-1982. Since that time, the Alaska Mineral Industry Reports, which were originally designed as a co-authorship between various divisions of the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Commerce and Economic Development, are still being produced to this day.

OMD became involved in monitoring individual on-site visits to a number of Alaskan mineral properties, including the Red Dog project in northwest Alaska, the Bornite Cu-Co deposit in the Brooks Range, and the Greens Creek mine in SE Alaska. Papers were presented at various public and professional venues, including annual meetings describing mineral activities.

Red Dog Project Analysis

In 1983, Alaska Governor Bill Sheffield commissioned DCED to coordinate a comprehensive analysis of the proposed Red Dog zinc-polymetallic project for the purpose of formulating the State’s role in the project. The lead agency within DCED was OMD under John Sims, which coordinated the input of six other Alaska State agencies. The report concluded that despite high initial development costs, the very large tonnage, with high ore grades, would give the Red Dog project a long-term competitive advantage over other world producers during cyclical downturns and metal recessions.

Eventually the Delong Mountains Transportation System (DMTS), despite being initially very controversial, was provided with a loan from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) to construct a 52-mile-long road from mine to port site that allowed for development of the mine—now in its 37th year of operation. That loan was completely paid back with interest.

Placer Mining Impacts

OMD became a lead agency to develop factual information about the status and importance of Alaska placer gold mining industry, including forums to examine how to mitigate issues related to water quality and land reclamation. OMD commissioned economic ‘input-output’ studies in the 1980s by consultant L. A. Peterson and Louis Berger and Associates, which estimated the financial impact of the beleaguered placer industry. Because of the perceived importance of the study to the industry, more than 600 miners and placer firms and 162 support industry representatives provided information to the survey.

Coal Export Studies

An important project for Sims’ OMD was to assist the marketing of steam coal produced by Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc. (UCM) and other sites, especially in South-Central Alaska. Shortly after his 1981 state appointment, John began to work with UCM personnel, including Joe Usibelli, on the firm’s ambitious plans to export coal to Pacific Rim customers. A design phase for the export market was completed in 1983, with OMD working closely with Usibelli and other entities. In order to complete the challenge of exporting a relatively low unit value fuel in a competitive marketplace, the Seward Coal terminal was completed in late 1984 by Suneel Alaska Corporation at a cost of about $21 million. About 35,000 tons of coal were loaded onto a Panamax vessel in late 1984 and near full scale annual output of about 750,000 tons was achieved in 1985.

South African Mine Tours

In 1982 and 1985, John organized two tours of the South African (SA) mining industry. The primary purpose of both trips was to have Alaskans see what a modern mining industry looked like and how it could economically benefit Alaska. Although new mineral discoveries had been made, including the Quartz Hill, Red Dog and Greens Creek deposits, no modern mine of significant size (except Usibelli Coal Mine) had been placed into production in Alaska for decades.

Due to John’s prominence in the SA mining industry, the mines visited would typically host luncheons and dinners for the Alaska-based group and sometimes provided accommodation. The itineraries of both tours included gold, copper, tin, platinum, antimony and diamond mines; with the 1985 tour emphasizing SA’s diamond industry. Because of Alaska’s coal endowment, the tour also visited coal mines, a coal-to-oil synfuel plant, and the Richards Bay Coal terminal, the world’s largest coal export facility at the time.

Joining the Usibelli Coal Mine Team

In 1986, John joined UCM in Fairbanks and became UCM’s Director of Marketing. His primary mission was to help sustain the coal export market developed between UCM and the Korean Electric Power Company (KEPCO) in South Korea and find new markets for UCM coal. Later UCM coal was shipped to other Pacific Rim destinations although the KEPCO contract remained the most important market. The export market was challenging for most of its 30-year existence and required frequent maintenance to keep it sustainable. John once told one of the writers of this article (in humor of course) that he sometimes thought he was a citizen of South Korea. Indeed, John spent much time in negotiations with KEPCO in South Korea, as well as in other Pacific Rim destinations. Few Alaskans realize that the export of Usibelli’s coal to the Pacific Rim, which lasted for more than three decades, constituted the first significant export of Alaska’s mineral resources (excluding petroleum) to international market destinations.

Other Activities

John joined and helped raise funds for the Alaska Minerals and Energy Resource Education Fund (AMEREF). This non-profit organization was originally founded by Anchorage businessman George Schmidt in 1986 and included Doug Colp, Earl Beistline, John Blackwell and John Sims among its first Board members. AMEREF’s mission was to educate students about Alaska’s natural resources and foster informed stewardship, often in collaboration with the Resource Development Council for Alaska Inc. It is now known as Alaska Resource Education (ARE), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation which is active throughout the Alaska primary and secondary school systems.

Sims was immensely proud of becoming a U.S. Citizen and a number of his friends were there at the Federal Court House in Fairbanks to witness his Oath of Allegiance to his new country.

Retirement, His Passing and Legacy

John Sims retired from Usibelli in 1994, after nearly 40 years in a combined earth science and mining career. He and his family stayed in Fairbanks for a number of years afterwards before leaving Alaska in 2002. His wife Pat was very active in the Fairbanks dancing community since they arrived in 1978 and taught dance classes to many Fairbanks students over many years. John and Patricia retired in Tucson, Arizona. John loved golf and after retirement, played all over the world. Unfortunately, following a lengthy illness associated with diabetes, he passed away on April 1, 2015 in Tucson, Arizona at the age of 82.

At the time of his passing, John was survived by his wife Patricia; sons Christopher and Michael, daughter Elizabeth; as well as five grandsons and two great-grandsons.

By Thomas K. Bundtzen and Charles B. Green. Edited by Mitchell Henning.

References Used in this Biography

Bundtzen, T.K., Eakins, G.R., and Conwell, C.N., 1982, Alaska Department of Natural Resource Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and Alaska Department of Commerce and Economic Development Office of Mineral Development, 182 pages, 5 plates at various scales.

Bundtzen, T.K., Eakins, G.R., Green, C.B., and Lueck, L.L., 1986, Alaska’s Mineral Industry 1985: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 39, 68 pages.

Green, C.B., 1983, Red Dog Update, in, Rybachek, Rose, editor, The Alaska Miner the Journal of the Alaska Miners Association, Vol. 11, No. 10, pages 20–21.

Jacobina Mine, 2026, Grokipedia 11 pages, https://www.researchgate.net/publications/271736696_Gold_mineralization_in_the_Serra_de_Jacobina_region

Kirk, Dawn, editor, 1981, Sims Heads Minerals Office for Commerce, in, The Alaska Miner, the Journal of the Alaska Miners Association, vol. 9, no. 3, page 7.

Ledru, P., Milesi, J.P., Johan, V., Sabate, P., and Maluski, H., 1997, Foreland basins and gold-bearing conglomerates: a model for the Jacobina basin, Brazil: Precambrian Research, vol. 86, p. 155–176.

Maneval, D.R., 1985, South African Diamond Mines Toured by Alaskan Professional Mining and Engineering Group, in, Rybachek, Rose, Editor, The Alaska Miner, the Journal of the Alaska Miners Association: Vol. 13, no. 12, pages 7, 16.

Noyes, Leslie M., 2001, Rock Poker and Pay Dirt: The History of Alaska’s School of Mines and Its Successors: Published by University of Alaska Foundation and distributed by University of Alaska Press: 713 pages.

Peterson, L.A., Hanneman, K.L., and Tsigonis, R.C., 1987, Placer Mining Demonstration Grant Project, Final Report: Prepared for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, by L.A. Peterson and Associates, Inc., Fairbanks, Alaska, 113 pages.

Staff, 2015, John F. M. Sims Obituary, published by Fairbanks Daily News Miner, April 7th, 2015.

Sims, John F.M., 1981, The function of the Office of Minerals Development, in, Campbell, B.W., editor, Third Annual Conference on Alaska Placer Mining: MIRL Report 52, pages 222–225.

Sims, John F. M., 1982a, Outlook for Mineral Development in Alaska: Society of Mining Engineers of AIME, presented at First International SME/AIME Fall Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, September 4–9, 1982; SME Preprint 82-343, Littleton, Colorado, 19 pages.

Sims, John F. M., 1982b, The economic impact of placer mining in Alaska, in, Campbell, B.W., DiMarchi, J. J., and Wolff, E.N., editors, Fourth Annual Conference on Alaskan Placer Mining, MIRL Report 61, Pages 2–4.

Staff, 1983, The Role of Placer Mining in the Alaska Economy: Louis Berger and Associates report for State of Alaska Office of Minerals Development, Department of Commerce and Economic Development, 22 pages.

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