546 Deviot Rd 
Deviot 7275
Tasmania
gunnmetal@gmail.com
 
31st October 2022
Hello Crawford family, Geoff Jones just passed on the very sad news. Please accept our sincere condolences from Australia, as we have very fond memories of Malcolm and although I have no photos of him, I can remember his face vividly.
It is more than 47 years ago that, after being shown to be totally incompetent with the main sulphide concentrator metallurgical accounting, I was transferred to the ‘Oxide’ concentrator where Malcolm was either Senior Met or Assistant Superintendent. A lunatic called Mike Burke was the boss, and Ken Cuthbert was involved somehow as well, perhaps after Malcolm left. Malcolm was my mentor and gently showed a very green steels trained metallurgist the minerals industry ropes.
I recall Malcolm took great pride in his Scots upbringing, and in his Peugeot utility which was the best dirt track car I had ever been in. He enjoyed the Australian perspective of the world (a bit bolshy, no respect for authority, etc), which was unusual for the Copperbelt at the time, as it was largely run by Poms who thought they were a bit special. I think I remember him also owning an Australian Holden utility at some point.He was constantly amused at my exaggeration of the size of the insects and hazards of living in Australia.
There were some big parties, the most memorable being the bash put on by the Italian trucking contractor who hauled our product to the smelter. A few ended up skinny dipping in his pool to the amusement of all. Malcolm and I had serious moustache competitions – his was quite splendid and it framed that very memorable grin.
At some point Malcolm was transferred to the Bwana Mkubwa plant and my old mate from university Geoff Joneswho arrived in Zmbia soon after me was fortunate to work with him there, and of course later in Kenya. When my brand new wife Annette and I decided it was time to depart in ‘78Malcolm invited us up to Eldoret and we had a memorable trip out from Nairobi and a great couple of days at the mine and around. Annette was keen to get back home, so we declined the position Malcolm was trying to fill, and we never crossed paths again except through the news passed on by Geoff.
I have just turned 70 and Malcolm must have been a touch older than that I think. Geoff and I live on opposite sides of Australia now, but we will make a point next time we meet of having a few in Malcolm’s memory.
 
Best wishes to you all in this difficult time,
Mike Gunn.