Robert Sticht was born in Hoboken, New Jersey to John H. Sticht of Brooklyn in 1856. He received training in Geology and mining engineering in the United States and Germany. He had worked in Colorado and Montana before he was appointed Manager of Mt Lyell Mining Company in 1895 to solve the difficult problem of smelting the low-grade ore of the West Coast. Here he designed and supervised the construction of a unique reduction works, using the comparatively new pyritic process of smelting, on which he became a world authority. He became General Manager of the company in 1897 and remained so until his death in 1922.