Clinton Birch has been employed at the University of the Witwatersrand since 2011 as a Senior Lecturer presenting lectures on Mineral Resource Management and Mine Financial Valuation to BSc and MSc students. He also presents programs in Business Planning Principles and Geological Modelling.
Before entering academia, Clinton worked as a Resource Geologist in Angola with a focus on phosphate deposits. He was previously employed in the gold mining sector as a Senior Mine Geologist and later as an Ore Resource Manager (Harmony Gold Mine). He has consulted with the mining industry and has working experience in gold, platinum, phosphate, chromium, and base metal exploration as well as mining.
Clinton has published 18 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers. To date, he has supervised 12 MSc projects. His PhD research (University of the Witwatersrand) was focused on the interplay between the different South African gold tax regimes and the optimisation of cut-off grades in narrow tabular gold deposits taking these into account.
Clinton is registered with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) and is a member of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM).