Dylan McFarlane obituary
My friend and former colleague Dylan McFarlane, who has died aged 35, was a whip-smart mining engineer who was passionate about improving the lives of artisanal and small-scale miners, and health and safety in the industry. He was an outdoors aficionado and a devoted and adventurous father.
Dylan, known to some by his middle name, Elek, was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, the younger son of Ditsi (nee Dominick), who worked in a post office and library, and Alexander McFarlane, a teacher. He held a profound and enduring love for the woods of interior Alaska, the setting of his childhood.
A bright and curious child, after attending Lathrop high school, Fairbanks, Dylan was awarded a scholarship to study at the United World College in Montezuma, New Mexico. There he made many lifelong friends through his affable nature, athleticism, and leadership qualities. He subsequently took up scholarships at the University of St Andrews, where he was awarded first-class honours for a master’s degree in human geography and sustainable development, and finally at Camborne School of Mines, a Cornwall campus of the University of Exeter, where he obtained a master’s in mining engineering.
Having unearthed a passion for gold exploration in Alaska, between 2007 and 2012 Dylan worked as a mining consultant in Alaska, Chile, Colombia and Tanzania.
In 2013 he joined the staff at Camborne to help develop the professional mining programme. He was instrumental in writing the course materials and led its first international residential trip to Alaska. He went on to undertake other research roles in the department before project managing an EU-funded programme to develop sustainable exploration methods for hi-tech raw materials.
In 2017 Dylan joined the Mines to Markets programme of the international NGO Pact, where his unique blend of social science and engineering expertise saw him work to better the lives of impoverished artisanal and small-scale mining communities worldwide, including projects in Burundi, Myanmar, Rwanda, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. He supported miners in some of the poorest communities in the world to work more safely, responsibly, and to be treated and remunerated more fairly. He published multiple reports, delivered captivating presentations, and led diverse teams with his infectious enthusiasm and warmth, always looking to create opportunities for others.
Dylan, meaning son of the sea, spent the last years of his life by the coast near Redruth, Cornwall. He swam in the sea at any opportunity, walked several miles of the south-west coastal path each week with his youngest daughter dozing on his back, and relished the county’s rich and ancient mining history. He always had a calm and easy manner and was the kind of friend who would bring enough picnic to share, would rig up a rope swing in the woods for his girls and leave it for others to enjoy, who would listen without judgment and dare you to be braver.
After a long struggle with mental ill health, the extent of which he concealed to many of us close to him, Dylan took his own life. Despite his suffering, during his last months he spent much of his time outdoors and exploring Cornwall with his daughters, documented in bright and happy photos of them together.
He is survived by his daughters, Olive and Corin, from his marriage to Deborah Johnson; by his partner, Rosemarie Corlett, his parents and his sister, Cayanne.