Former Alcoa, Western Mining and BHP Chairman Sir Arvi Parbo recently passed at age 93. Born in Estonia, he fled the Russian occupation and ended up in a German refugee camp in 1944. After attending the Clausthal Mining Academy in Germany from 1946 to 1948, he migrated to Australia in 1949. He graduated from the University of Adelaide with a bachelor of engineering degree in 1955. He ascended from a surveyor to the top ranks of the mining industry in Australia. He is credited with the discovery of the Olympic Dam copper-uranium deposit. During his tenure at Western Mining, nickel production tripled, gold output increased 14-fold and Olympic Dam was brought into production.
(img: Sir Arvi Parbo)
