Julius Kruttschnitt
KRUTTSCHNITT, Julius, DEngQld BA Yale Hon. MAusIMM FIMM MAIME (1885-1974)
KRUTTSCHNITT, JULIUS, mining engineer, was born at New Orleans, Louisiana, USA on 7 May 1885. He attended Yale University, graduating in 1906 with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. He started his mining career as a mine surveyor at Morenci, Arizona, with the Arizona Copper Company. In 1909 he joined the Mining Department of the American Smelting and Refining Company (Asarco) as Superintendent of the Reforma lead mine in the State of Coahuila, Mexico. Later he was moved to the State of Aguascalientes as Superintendent of the mine Santa Francisca, a silver mine located near the village of Asientos. He was transferred to El Paso, Texas, as field engineer for Asarco becoming Manager of their Mining Department of the South-West with headquarters in Arizona.
In September 1930, Asarco (who controlled the company) offered Kruttschnitt the appointment of General Manager of Mount Isa Mines Limited and he accepted. His task was to rescue the ailing mine from complete collapse; he set about it with such zeal that the first ore was lifted from the mine in 1931 and within six years the company showed its first net profit. Kruttschnitt was appointed a director of Mount Isa Mines Limited in 1932 and became Chairman of the Board of Directors in 1937. He retired from the chairmanship of Mount Isa Mines in May 1953 but remained on the Board as a director until 1967.
A bare recital of Kruttschnitt's association with Mount Isa and Mount Isa Mines Limited (today M.I.M. Holdings Limited) does not capture the greatness of this physically small man, who braved the daunting tasks of isolation, mine flooding, bedrock metal prices, limited cash resources and ever-increasing demands for capital, and won. It was Kruttschnitt's determination, backed by American support, that brought Mount Isa to success, paying its first dividend in 1947. In the years succeeding World War II, with his successors he developed Mount Isa into the world's largest single producer of lead and silver and among the major producers of copper and zinc.
Kruttschnitt was a kind and courteous person, a "gentle man" in every sense of the word. He was welcome and at home in all circumstances, from his game of bowls with the mine blacksmith to receptions with the greatest in the land. He was twice President of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and was awarded its Medal in 1946. The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy awarded him its Gold Medal in 1960. He was President of the Queensland Chamber of Mines for fourteen years from its inception. He served as a member of the Board of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Queensland from 1954 to 1962 and the honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering was conferred on him by the University in May 1971.
The Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre was presented to the University of Queensland by M.I.M. Holdings Limited in 1971 to honour Dr Kruttschnitt. He made a generous personal donation which established the Julius Kruttschnitt Education Fund whose purposes include the provision of scholarships and other financial assistance to undergraduates in mining and metallurgy courses in Queensland, and contributions towards the expenses of the annual Julius Kruttschnitt Lecture, held each year in Brisbane. Mount Isa's second domestic water supply source, the Lake Julius Dam, is named after him. He became an Australian citizen in 1965.
A much loved and most eminent Queensland engineer, he died on 23 September 1974, at the age of eighty-nine. He was twice married and was survived by two sons and two daughters by his first marriage.
References:
Eminent Queensland Engineers Vol 1 is available here.
G.N. Blalney, 'Mines in the Splnlfex' (5yd, 1960);
Proc. Australas. Inst. Min. Metal I., No. 253 (Mar. 1975), p.1;
Bull. Australas. Inst. Min. Metall., 468 (Oct.1982), pp.17-21
NOTE: Julius Kruttschnitt has also been recognised in the Queensland Hall of Fame
