William Lawrence Austin
(1853 – 1939)
President of the Colorado Scientific Society
(1897, 1898)
President in 1897 and 1898
- Consulting mining engineer
- Graduate of Heidelberg; had a Ph.D. degree in mining
- Author of articles about nickel and copper, telluride veins in the La Plata Mountains, Colorado, nickel near Riddle, Oregon, Boundary and Trail Creek mining districts of British Columbia, copper deposits of New Mexico, ore deposits of Cananea, Mexico, and gold production of North America
- In addition to mining engineering, worked as assayer, metallurgist, and mechanical engineer
- Worked on mineral deposits in Venezuela; Leadville, Colorado; Mexico; Japan; Egypt; British Columbia; Clifton, Arizona; and Montana. He also operated a laboratory near his home in Riverside, California.
- Was a consulting engineer for years for Lee, Higginson and Co., and for the Calumet and Hecla Co. Patented the Austin pyritic smelting process, for metal extraction relying on the sulphur content of the ores
