MARVIN ALFORD MITCHELL (1938-2021)

Marvin Alford Mitchell passed away peacefully on April 13, 2021 in Burnaby General Hospital after a long illness.  Marvin was born the 15th of May 1938 in Vancouver BC and went to school in Vancouver, Squamish and Britannia Beach, where he worked at Britannia Mining and Smelting.  His parents were William Borrowman Mitchell from Jedburgh Scotland and Marjorie Cavell Alford from Calgary Alberta.

He completed school and enrolled in engineering at UBC but switched to the Montana School of Mines (now Montana Tech) in Butte Montana.    

He married Elizabeth Vollans, a well-known nurse from Britannia Beach in Vancouver in 1967.  He obtained his Professional Engineer certificate (P.Eng.) in 1972, and worked as a Geological Engineer and Consultant based in Vancouver.  He worked as a consultant in many parts of the world; Britannia Mine, Coal Geology in northern BC and in Australia for Ranger Oil, underground at the Bralorne Mine, and many other projects in Canada, USA, Uganda and Mali, Mexico, Argentina, Australia and Tajikistan. 

He became a respected advisor and director for many junior companies in Vancouver, including Island Arc Resources Corp. and many others, basing himself out of the Rogers Building, Vancouver.  He suffered a major stroke, after which he rehabilitated himself by becoming postman, and later, after a serious accident, on Granville Street near his office, with a transit bus on Aug 4, 2015 he was hospitalized for a long time and was placed  in the Finnish Care home, South Vancouver, where Elizabeth, his wife joined him later.  He was predeceased by his parents and his brother Robert, who died in 2015 in Victoria.  He is survived by his wife Elizabeth, his niece Jo-Anne Montenegro and her family Joaquin and Gabriella, his nephew David Hickey and his family Amanda, Myriam and Aliyah, and his sister-in-law Norma Gail Hickey and her husband Mike, his good friend colleague Barry Price and wife Imogen, and many friends in the mining exploration business in Vancouver and elsewhere.

Marvin was always a positive and cheerful person, even after his accident and accompanying medical problems, which he bore with dignity, and his good nature was an inspiration.  He is loved by his family and he will be missed by us all.

There will be no memorial immediately, but perhaps when the Covid pandemic is over, family and friends can gather for drinks and stories.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Marvin Mitchell can be made to either the Britannia Mining Museum or to the go-fund-me page “Mooses Down Under” (one of his favorite lunch places).