Charles Watson Boise
| Charles Watson Boise | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 9, 1884 Lakota, North Dakota, United States |
| Died | November 15, 1964 (aged 80) Kent, England |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of North Dakota |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Mining engineering |
| Employer(s) | Forminière |
| Significant advance | Opening up of diamond fields in Southern Africa |
Charles Watson Boise (November 9, 1884 – November 15, 1964) was an American-born naturalised British mining engineer.
Born in Lakota, North Dakota on November 9, 1884, his family soon moved to Hope where he spent his formative years. Boise attended the University of North Dakota where he developed an interest in literature, publishing Varsity verse: A selection of undergraduate poetry written at the University of North Dakota with P.B. Griffith in 1908. After graduation Boise found work with the Santa Rita Mining Company in New Mexico.
He gained employment with Forminière in the Belgian Congo in 1911, directing the exploration, mining and research operations at the company's Kasai diamond fields. He received promotion to Chief Engineer of the company and remained in the region throughout the First World War. Boise led prospecting expeditions in Southern Africa in 1914 and published Diamond fields of German South West Africa in the South African Mining Journal in July 1915 and The Vaal River diggings in Griqualand West in the Mining Magazine in 1916.
After the war Boise established himself in London as a diamond mining consultant. In 1920 he made the first investigation of the diamond fields of the Gold Coast which led to the founding of the Consolidated African Selection Trust. He was also involved with opening the diamond fields in Sierra Leone and the exploration of Northern Rhodesia for copper, which resulted in the creation of the Rhodesian Selection Trust. In 1926 he applied for a British patent (with W. R. Degenhardt) for a machine that could disintegrate clay and mix sand, cement and other materials. He received a patent in the US for the machine in 1929.
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