Forbes Kingsbury Wilson was born in York, Maine, on February 16,1910. He was educated at Worchester Academy in Massachusetts and graduated from Yale University in 1931 with a degree in Mining Geology.

Upon graduation he worked as a shift boss at the Braden Copper Company in Chile until 1933. From this time on he held a succession of jobs: Mine Superintendent and General Superintendent Manager, Minera Timmins Ochali Mining Company in Colombia; Administrative Manager, General Engineer and General Manager, Freeport Minerals Company’s Nicaro Nickel Company, Cuba and President, Rising & Nelson Slate Company, Vermont. In 1951 he rejoined the Freeport Minerals Company as Manager of Exploration in New York City. By 1956 He became Vice President and in 1970, Senior Vice President. In 1966 he became President and Director, Freeport Indonesia, Inc. a subsidiary of Freeport Minerals Company. He retired from Freeport in 1974.

Forbes Wilson’s greatest accomplishment was the development of the Ertsberg copper deposit in New Guinea (now Irian Jaya, Indonesia). This was a copper-rich outcrop on the side of a 9000-foot mountain tucked deep in an almost impenetrable jungle. In May of 1960, he set out with an expedition of some co-workers and Irianese for a 17-day hike over some of the world’s most treacherous terrain – just to get rock samples of the Ertsberg. As he describes in his book, The Conquest of Copper Mountain (Athenaeum, New York, 1981), although he had had extensive experience in exploration on mule back in the Andes, nothing he had undertaken resembled the overland hikes required to penetrate the New Guinea jungle. Wilson not only had to deal with unknown land, but also the threat of malaria and other diseases, the continuous bad weather, and the indigenous people who still practiced Stone-Age customs. On July 1, 1973 the Ertsberg became operational.

Subsequently, largely based on Wilson’s geologic interpretation of the region, in 1988 the Grasberg copper-gold deposit was located. Today the Grasberg/Ertsberg complex is the world’s lowest cost producer of copper.

Forbes Wilson received many honors during his career including the coveted Legion of Honor and the Daniel C. Jackling Award from the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers.

Mining Foundation of the Southwest
P.O. Box 42317
Tucson, Arizona 85733
Tel: 520-577-7519
Fax: 520-577-7073
E-mail: admin@miningfoundationsw.org