The mining world and in particular the mining journalism world lost a real giant recently with the death of Lawrie Williams last month. He was an old-style raconteur in the best sense of the world, always had a sparkle in his eye, and had a great sense of humour which made him good company – he was someone you always saw in a crowd at a conference or mining function and made a beeline for.
His career history was impressive and extensive. Founder and former owner of International Mining, John Chadwick, who also worked with Lawrie for many years at Mining Journal Ltd, said: “The global industry has lost one of the great characters of mining publishing. Lawrence (Lawrie) Williams passed away on August 9 this year. Lawrie started in mining in South Africa after graduating from London’s Royal School of Mines. He worked in gold at Western Areas before joining Rustenburg Platinum Mines in 1968. He was then Senior Mining Engineer with Dowson and Dobson before returning to the UK and joining Mining Journal Ltd in 1971.”
There he became CEO and masterminded much expansion of that company and its publications, including Mining Magazine, World Tunnelling and Mining Environmental Management. He left in October 2007 and took on the role of CEO and Editorial Director of Mineweb.com. Chadwick adds: “He and my wife Jan took that online publication to great international prominence. Under his guidance it became among the most widely read international mining news online, generated from South Africa. After that, he moved on again, he wrote for Sharps Pixley and lawrieongold.com and was still offering his thoughts on gold in 2022.”
And not to forget that his journalism and publishing skills were not only restricted to mining. He founded the lifestyle type quarterly glossy magazine for the 4,000 plus residents the Barbican in London, Barbican Life, which he went on to edit for 15 years.
On lawrieongold.com he expressed his thoughts on many topics, including when Mining Journal went from a weekly to a fortnightly publication back in 2016, which he felt was a retrograde step. He also felt that the sector was no longer employing the people with the technical background that really understood the industry’s nuts and bolts.
He said on this subject: “Time was when Mining Journal Limited under Michael West’s guidance from the 1960-90s and then later under my own for the final decade of the 20th Century and into the beginning of the 21st, employed no less than 15 qualified and experienced mining engineers, geologists, metallurgists and mineral economists to run the publications and its various divisions – more than most London-based mining consultancies at that time. We would not take editorial staff on unless they had prior mining, geological or metallurgical industry experience. It was very much an integral part of the industry we served rather than a publishing company which just happened to have an interest in mining.”
Mining journalism and mining publishing have changed with the times, but arguably not always for the better. Lawrie’s career spanned it all and he will be very much missed.