Mark Hutchison, graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc in Geology in 1993 and Ph.D. in 1997. Following from his Ph.D. research into deep mantle sourced diamonds from Juina, Brazil and with the discovery of two new minerals, Dr. Hutchison has continued to focus on diamond research and exploration. He has in-depth knowledge of diamonds from a number of worldwide localities and has worked actively in developing emplacement models and new methods for geochemical exploration, particularly focussed on non-traditional diamond settings. Dr. Hutchison has worked as a Research Associate for the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, the Institute of Advanced Studies in Canberra, Australia and as a Senior Research Scientist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. He has directed work on projects including investigating colouration and impurities in natural and synthetic diamonds, diamond growth at high pressure and temperatures and the mechanisms influencing prospectivity of deep sourced diamonds.
He is intimately familiar with the gem diamond business, having run a diamond brokerage business out of Los Angeles from 2000-2002. Since joining Trigon GeoServices Ltd. as a founding member in 2001, Dr. Hutchison has acted as Project Leader and Exploration Manager for projects in the Canadian sub-Arctic and Greenland. Notably, he was responsible for the discovery of Hudson Resources' Garnet Lake diamondiferous kimberlite occurrence. Additionally he has led exploration projects in Sierra Leone and provides gemmological services to the Antwerp gem-diamond community. Dr. Hutchison now works full time as Exploration Manager for Blina Diamonds N.L. with seconded responsibilities to Kimberley Diamonds’Ellendale project, WA.