Alexander (Sacha) Borthwick 19.12.71 to 19.7.07

There are few people who leave a mark on those around them, but Sacha was one of the few. Last Thursday there was a sense of great loss when he died at St Bartholomews Hospital, not only throughout London’s mining community, but much further afield as Sacha had visited some 50 countries in his career as a geologist and mining analyst.

This was a man who was first diagnosed with cancer back in 1992 when he was reading geology at Bristol University. He lived life to the full for the next 15 years with this hanging over his head and it never affected his sense of humour or his love of life. In a way it may have enhanced it.  In October  2003  he arrived slightly late for a day’s shooting on the Boughton Estate in Northamptonshire as he had just started treatment after being re-diagnosed with cancer that summer.  As he walked between drives he asked his friend Andrew Ferguson for a cigarette. Andrew was horrified, but Sacha laughed and said, “What’s it going to do, give me cancer?”

Sacha was born in Tenterden, Kent, but moved with his mother to Llanwenarth House, just outside Abergavenny at the age of  six when his parents divorced. He went to prep school at Hawtreys in Wiltshire and then on to Harrow where he featured as school captain of athletics and cross country running. Most of his gap year was spent as a groom in a hunting yard in the Grafton Country, and he hunted whenever he could near the family home which was on the Welsh borders. He also spent several months of his gap year leading  a reconnaissance trip to Java and Sumatra.

Maybe this lay the ground work for the 2:1 degree in geology he achieved at Bristol in 1995 after his initial bout of cancer went into remission. Whilst there he had captained the Bristol Academicals rugby team and lead a very full life as an undergraduate as his contemporaries will testify. The following year he worked for a geotechnical engineering firm based in Cardiff and then successfully completed an MSc at the Royal School of Mines.  After that came a summer of work experience with Rothschilds before starting a job as mining analyst with David Williamson Associates.

Sacha never wavered from his determination to live life to the full despite being aware that the cancer could return at any moment.  While with DWA he was given a business class fare for a trip to Brazil which he swapped for two economies so that a certain Lucy Booth could fly out to join him. Out there he proposed on one knee on Copacabana Beach and they married in July 1999 in Wales. Lucy was a marvellous wife who was always aware of the black cloud hanging over his head and was still prepared to laugh at his joke about the cigarette.

A move to Societe Generale followed in 2000 where he worked as a mining analyst and later did a period of consultancy with Endeavor Group (Canada) which involved the takeover by Thistle Mining of President Steyn Mines and  work for Oxus Gold. But the important thing in his life during this period was the birth of Olivia Borthwick in December 2002.

2003 was not such a good year as he was re-diagnosed with cancer just as he got a  new job with brokers Seymour Pierce which he was unable to take up. He looked on this as  a temporary setback, however, and he was right as the following year he started work with Jamie Strauss at Hargreave Hale.  At this stage Jamie will contribute his account of the following four years.

“I met Sacha in 2003 and he immediately struck me as no ordinary person. Above all he showed an enormous amount of dedication and enthusiasm to the mining sector, something that was in short supply! He and I bonded immediately with mutual respect for each other’s ability. I saw in him an exceptional analyst who went beyond the level of simple analysis and he saw in me someone who needed help with spreadsheets, so we immediately grew to become close friends.

Three days before Sacha joined the team in early 2004 I rang him up and asked whether he knew anything about Uranium, the short answer was "not a lot"! Within two days he had researched the industry fully and put together the financial world's first presentation on this soon- to- emerge sector. We presented this to a client on his first day in the office and it set the scene for the next few years. Sacha's profound understanding of the sector, combined with his ability to lead the industry in valuation techniques, won praise and admiration from leading mining companies and fund managers alike.

He was deeply touched by the tribute of his fellow members of the Assocation of Mining Analysts who voted him Analyst of The Year, 2006 for his paper on the Uranium sector entitled "Too Hot to Handle, or Just Warming Up?" published in April 2006. Sacha was always insistent that the strategy that we had built over the past four years would continue regardless of his health. We had a wonderful meeting just two weeks before he died discussing the future as he had moved with me to BMO Nesbitt Burns where he had made an immediate impact.  He never gave up fighting and putting new goals in place and was insistent on contributing to many issues right up to the end.

I am proud to have worked with such a courageous and loveable person and we have been inundated with comments from people involved in the mining industry all over the world who have known him.”
 
"....He was was always calm and polite, never showed any temperament unlike many in the  broking industry, consequently was loved and respected by all of us"  Giles Hargreave, Chairman and CEO; Hargreave Hale
 
"...I really feel very proud of what I have learnt from Sacha and I fully intend to live into the legacy of  what he taught me.." Edward Sterck, Research Associate BMO Capital Markets

"...every so often in life we are privileged to meet someone who we know..Sacha was such a person. You felt his sincerity, his genuineness, kindness and honesty from the first few moments of meeting him" - Adonis Pouroulis, Executive Chairman, Petra Diamonds
 
"...he was at the forefront of the uranium renaissance and I think we should do something to remember this" - Neal Froneman. CEO, Uranium One
 
"I think Sacha was a person of great integrity, lots of potential and an all around great person; its really unfortunate for all that our industry lose such a valuable asset" - Ron Thiessen, President & CEO Hunter Dickinson
 
"a terrible waste of a fine young person... it is always good to look for the positive and I think in this case it can only be a positive if we all try to step up our own contribution to the world we live in, as one good person leaves it behind them" - Philip Richards - CEO RAB Capital
 
"...He was a great man" - Evy Hambro, Blackrock Resources
 
"It’s always very sad to lose someone as talented and enjoyable as him..." - Oliver Baring, Chairman Ridge Mining
 
"The news brings tears to my eyes....I suggest that  we should do something in his memory.." - George Read, Senior Vice President of Exploration and Development, Shore Gold
 
"..It is terribly sad...what a brave lad he was always taking a ‘glass half full  rather than half empty’ approach." - Justin Baring, Citibank. Director; Global Metals & Mining
 
"When we met a couple of months back I could see Sacha was very unwell and his courage and resilience in working at the time were a remarkable testament to his attitude. It’s a funny old business the mining sector and I have rarely met anyone as immediately likeable and sincere as Sacha. What a shame to lose him so young." - Matt Symes, Managing Director. Berkeley Resources

Gone but certainly not forgotten. The work he did and his beloved family will live on  and in the years ahead this may remind them of just what a funny, loveable, determined and  brave man was our Sacha. Lucy and Liv provided huge support in darker moments, but he never allowed anyone to think for a moment that he was an invalid. For the last two years  he has been on our panel of experts  at the Minesite Christmas Forum despite coming direct from hospital in December 2006.  This year there will be an empty chair as no-one can really follow him.


A Thanksgiving service will be held at 2.30 pm on Friday 14th September at St Lukes Church, Sydney Street, Chelsea
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We have been inundated by requests as to how people can make a donation to the family and charities of the family’s choosing. As an interim step, the Natan Foundation has kindly agreed to act as interim manager while the necessary steps are taken to establish a dedicated trust.

A number of senior mining industry directors, notably from Sacha's two favourite sectors, Diamonds and Uranium, have suggested a prize in his memory. A wonderful tribute and something that will be given significant thought with Lucy and the trustees in due course.

Accordingly, a bank account has been opened as follows and monies can be wired or cheques sent to:

Bank of Ireland
Bank of Ireland Private Banking
20 Berkeley Square 
London  W1J 6LL 

Account Name:   The Natan Foundation re: Sacha Borthwick
Account Number: 76141205
Sort Code:    30:16:07
BIC:  BOFIGB2B 

Kindly ensure that it is clear where donations are coming from.

Please note that these are not charitable donations and charitable exemptions do not apply to the contributions made.