I'm interested in many aspects of mineralogy and geology and the instruments and techniques used in their investigation.

Professional experience

1973 to 1990: Geologist, petrologist, and mineralogist with the British Geological Survey
In the Petrographical Department at The Geological Museum in South Kensington from 1973 to 1984, then in the Applied Mineralogy Research Group and the Mineral Sciences and Isotope Geology Research Group of the Geochemistry Division.
Research interests:
Ores of non-ferrous metals, igneous and metamorphic petrology (including granites, pegmatites, alkaline and ultramafic rocks), U mineralisation and radioactive waste disposal, tectonics & volcanicity, crystallography, microscopy, topographical mineralogy, mineral analysis, specimen curation and gemmolgy. (I studied for my FGA Diploma in 1982-1984, whilst working at the Geological Museum.)
Regional experience/interests:
The geology and mineralogy of the Lake District, the St Kilda intrusive centre (Outer Hebrides), The Moine Thrust Zone and Lewisian basement of the North-west Highlands, the Lizard Complex, the Li-mica granites of St Austell and Tregonning-Godolphin in Cornwall.

1990 - 2000: Mineralogist for the European division of Rio Tinto Borax (latterly Rio Tinto Minerals)
Responsible for laboratory support of exploration and mining activities, technical troubleshooting, refined product quality control, and commercial research projects, including characterisation of borate ores and minerals, mineral processing trials, and investigation of various applications of borate minerals. (E.g. in glass & ceramics manufacturing, detergent formulation, timber preservation and fire retardancy.)

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During those appointments I was responsible for a wide range of research projects, laboratory management, museum curatorial tasks, answering public enquiries, giving scientific presentations, and contributing to technical reports and research publications. Those tasks required the identification, analysis and characterisation of a wide range of rocks and minerals and synthetic materials (e.g. metals, glass and ceramics, natural and synthetic gemstones, and other crystalline industrial products), using techniques such as optical microscopy, mineral separation (using magnetic, electostatic, density, and flotation methods), thermal analysis, infra-red spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, scanning electron microscopy and the electron microprobe.

As well as my laboratory and museum work, many of my projects involved various types of fieldwork, including geological mapping, collecting samples for analysis and museum display, site investigations, borehole logging, topographical surveying and sea-bed surveys, carried out at a wide variety of field locations including working and disused mine and quarry sites, and in many different environments, from farm and moorland to high mountain terrain, on remote islands, and at offshore locations.

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Following my retirement, I have kept up my interest in mineralogy by active involvement in organisations such as the Sussex Mineral and Lapidary Society [https://www.smls.online/] and of course, here at Mindat:

Summary of my recent Mindat Forum posts: https://www.mindat.org/message_search.php?u=723

Amongst my non-mineralogical interests are: angler, birdwatcher, bookworm, collector, gardener, hill walker, microscopist, petrolhead, photographer, sailor, sceptic, snorkeller, stargazer, sunbather, traveller, woodworker . . .
I sometimes wonder how to make time for all of those, and unfortunately conflicts of interests are much too common! E.g.(Heresy/spoiler alert!) - I have even been known to miss out on a mineralogical field trip to take up an invitation to go blue water sailing on a racing yacht; it's tough, this retirement lark!

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Publications list at my Linkedin profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-nancarrow-15095161/details/publications/
Selected publications available on-line:

The sand and gravel resources of the country around Chichester and north of Bognor Regis, Sussex (1983)
https://pubs.bgs.ac.uk/publications.html?pubID=B02670

St Kilda: an illustrated account of the geology (1984)
http://pubs.bgs.ac.uk/publications.html?pubID=B01274

Saint Kilda Geological Map (British Geological Survey 1:25 000 Special Sheet) (1984)
https://largeimages.bgs.ac.uk/iip/mapsportal.html?id=1003964

Vanadiferous Nodules from the Littleham marl near Budleigh Salterton, Devon. (1985)
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/504485/1/WGPM85012.pdf

The Lithium potential of the St Austell Granite (1987)
http://pubs.bgs.ac.uk/publications.html?pubID=B01309#v=d&z=2&n=5&i=B01309_0001.jp2&y=333&x=295

Stratabound barium and base-metal mineralisation in Middle Dalradian metasediments near Braemar, Scotland. (1989)
http://pubs.bgs.ac.uk/publications.html?pubID=B02866#v=d&z=2&n=5&i=B02866_0001.jp2&y=333&x=289

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Society memberships

Ashdown Sailing Club
https://ashdownsc.co.uk

Fellow of The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain
https://www.minersoc.org/membership-categories.html

Royal Horticultural Society
https://www.rhs.org.uk/

Royal Society For The Protection of Birds
https://www.rspb.org.uk/

Royal Yachting Association
https://www.rya.org.uk/

Sussex Mineral and Lapidary Society
https://www.smls.online/

Warsash Sailing Club
https://www.warsashsc.org.uk/

(Formerly also FGA [Diploma qualified Fellow of The Gemmological Association of Great Britain], which is now lapsed because, being retired, I could not justify paying out the ever increasing fees just to maintain my Fellowship status!)

Pete Nancarrow, BSc F.Min.Soc.

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