Professor Hitch, new Director of the TalTech Department of Geology, came from Canada to Estonia in 2018 when he had won the international competition for the position of a mining professor.
From January 16th, the professor takes the helm of the Department of Geology with the ambition to continue making geology and mining studies more international. TalTech mining graduates have plenty of opportunities to work worldwide, several alumni are already employed in Finnish, Swedish and Australian mines. There will also be a high demand for mineral resource specialists as big and geologically challenging construction projects, such as the Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel and the Rail Baltic, get launched.
Professor Hitch specialises in sustainable mining and future mineral resources. He has previously opened mines in China, Peru, Lesotho, Russia and Mongolia and has worked as a geologist and mine manager for 190 countries. After those challenges he dedicated himself to his academic career at universities in Canada and Australia.
He considers it vital that TalTech informs the society of the importance of raw materials and that a professional career in this sector is secure as it uses future technologies such as automatisation, big data and machine learning. This contributes to the overall development of society and benefits our natural environment.