I am a registered Structural Engineer having studied geology and civil engineering in college. My specialty areas of study were geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, and mineralogy. I started my career working in the Bingham Canyon, Utah, open pit copper mine as a geotechnical engineer doing pit mapping, oriented drill core logging, and rock quality studies. Now, I pursue structural engineering where I develop and design buildings and structures in precast concrete.

Since college, I have been an avid field collector and have written articles for Rocks & Minerals magazine, specifically the Utah and Arizona Special Issues. I was chairman of the Flagg Mineral Foundation from 2013 until 2020, an all volunteer non profit organization which promotes the study of the earth sciences, hosts both the annual Flagg Gem and Mineral Show and the Arizona Mineral Symposium, and maintains a wonderful Southwest mineral collection on temporary loan and exhibit in the new University of Arizona Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum in the renovated, historic Pima County Courthouse located at 115 North Church Street, Tucson, Arizona.

I was first captivated by a Bingham Canyon pyrite given to me by my grandfather around the age of ten or eleven. I still have that specimen today in my collection; its what started it all! My personal collection, although somewhat wide ranging, is mainly composed of a number of focused themed suites; pyrite, Utah localities, calcite, galena, simple sulfides, and quartz in descending order of priority and number of specimens. Interspersed within the collection are offshoots that caught my attention such as pyrite pseudomorphs, volcanic ejecta, mineral oddities and concretions. While I see the merits of culling a collection down to fewer aesthetic high end pieces, this is a hobby to be enjoyed and I can't pass up on plain cool rocks!

My daughters and I have been members and regular exhibitors at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society Show since about 2006. I have been visiting the mindat site since early 2009. Keep up the great work Jolyon.

Phil