Minerals, Mines and Environment in Human Life

K.K. Chatterjee was born in January, 1944 in Burdwan, West Bengal, the author's school and early college education was completed in Burdwan and Kolkata. Then he studied in Indian School of Mines, dhanbad and obtained his postgraduate degree in Applied Geology from Ranchi University and also the Associateship of Indian School of Mines (AISM diploma) in 1966. He carried out research work in the field of Coal Geology in Indian School of Mines and was awarded Ph.D. degree by the same Institute in 1969. For a period of about 3 years, he served as an Instructor in the Department of Applied Geology in that Institute before joining Indian Bureau of Mines as Assistant Mineral Economist in 1972, from where he retired in 2004, as Chief Mineral Economist and Head of the Mineral Economics Division. During his professional career in the field of mineral economics spanning over three decades, he had to interact with hundreds of industries and organizations in India and outside; and he was also associated with a number of committees and expert groups constituted from time to time by the Government of India, as member or as chairman. Besides many technical papers, he has earlier authored two books-one on mineral economics and the other on management. He is a recognized guide of the Nagpur University for doctoral research, and has guided one scholar leading to Ph.D. degree. He has widely travelled India as well as abroad.