James Hedrick

James Hedrick is President of Hedrick Consultants, Inc, and is on the Advisory Boards of numerous rare earth and strategic metal companies in Australia, Canada, and the United States. He retired from his position as the rare-earth commodity specialist at the U.S. Geological Survey in 2010 after nearly 32 years in the U.S. Government. He has studied all aspects of the rare-earth elements for the U.S. Government since 1981. His past responsibilities were to prepare the U.S. Government’s reviews and publications on a variety of minerals and metals. He continues to write articles for the minerals industry and has chaired various sessions on rare earths and strategic and critical minerals in both the United States and Europe.

Jim started his U.S. Government career in Oregon in 1978 as an engineering geologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-civilian. A year later he transferred with the government to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to the U.S. Bureau of Mines to research strategic deposits, prepare cost feasibility studies, and review environmental impact statements for the Director of the Bureau of Mines. In 1981, he accepted a job with the U.S. Bureau of Mines at their headquarters in Washington, DC, as the rare-earth commodity specialist.  In addition to the rare earths, he was assigned an increasing number of mineral commodities including thorium, mica, hafnium, and zirconium.

Jim has published over 300 articles and professional papers on mineral commodities, including over 100 since he arrived at the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia, in 1996.  He is a graduate of James Madison University with B.S. degrees in Geology and General Science, and did graduate study at North Carolina State University.

Upon retirement from the U.S. Geological Survey, Jim founded Hedrick Consultants, Inc. in Burke, Virginia. He provides consulting expertise on all aspects of the metals and industrial mineral industries. His specialties are in rare earths, niobium, and tantalum related to carbonatites and laterites, heavy-mineral sands deposits with ilmenite, rutile, zircon, monazite, and xenotime, and pegmatite minerals including the mica group, feldspars, quartz, beryllium, tantalum, and gemstones.

Comments are closed.