Ken McKechnie is a geologist, ex-gold miner, novelist and accomplished speaker. He spent 40 years exploring the remotest regions of the developing world, mining metals, gold and diamonds in some of the industry's most extreme locations - from Canada's frozen north to the rain forests of Brazil and Borneo via the deserts of Africa, the Middle East and Australia. His talks capture the colourful characters, adventure and frontier spirit of mining exploration before mass travel and instant global communications. His talks are informed not only by his extraordinary professional life, but also by his research for his novels which range from the story of a boy miner in mid-19th Cornwall, gold prospectors in South Australia, diamond miners in the Congo and gold mining in the remote jungles of Sumatra. He now lives in Devon, England.