Immerse yourself in learning

The MINEXCHANGE 2024 SME Annual Conference & Expo is set for Feb. 25- 28, 2024 in Phoenix, AZ, and savvy mining professionals continue to come back to inperson conferences. It is truly an unparalleled and lasting experience to connect with people, learn and grow your business and industry, and network in person. SME is finding its conferences are now surpassing previous records of attendance, and is thrilled that members find these gatherings vital and valuable to their careers. MINEXCHANGE 2024 is packed with relevant and timely information for members … and if you’re not a SME member or need to renew your membership, be sure and stop by the membership booth. The Expo at MINEXCHANGE The Expo at MINEXCHANGE features some of the biggest names in the mining industry. Explore the new products, comprehensive services and integrated solutions that make your job smarter, easier and safer — all from industry vendors who understand what drives your needs today is the solution for tomorrow. According to Justin Courtney, exhibits specialist with SME, as of Dec. 8, the team has sold 810 booths to 577 companies. They also have 114 new exhibitors who have bought space to showcase their capabilities at the 2024 conference. “We sold out for the first time in November this year,” said Courtney. Courtney said the Expo is designed for attendees to exchange ideas and brainstorm with industry leaders from around the globe, cultivate professional relationships, and to simply enjoy one another’s colleagues at events celebrating the industry and everyone’s efforts. Discover the resources, knowledge and people to take you to the next level at MINEXCHANGE 2024. Join leaders from around the industry where you’ll learn the latest on today’s critical topics from innovation to responsible mining. Changes to the SME Awards celebration In an effort to allow more individuals to participate, the SME Awards Dinner will transition to a celebration and reception for all MINEXCHANGE attendees in 2024. All MINEXCHANGE registrants are invited to attend the awards reception at the Sheraton Phoenix Hotel on Feb. 28 from 5 to 7:30 pm. There is no additional cost. During the registration process, attendees will be asked to check a box if they plan to attend and they will receive a drink ticket for the reception that will follow the Awards Ceremony on Wednesday. “As an award winner, you will be provided with a set time prior to the celebration to have your photo taken. Additionally, SME will reserve you a seat during the awards presentation along with other award winners to help facilitate your acceptance on stage,” said Cori Knasinski, SME director of meetings. (Note that guests and spouses of award winners will not be seated with award winners.) “Immediately following the awards presentation, award winners will be stationed throughout the reception area at tables where your award will be prominently displayed. Your guests are invited to join you there and attendees will be encouraged to network with all winners during the 90-minute reception that immediately follows the award presentation,” said Knasinski. After the reception, SME staff will be available to assist winners with packing up awards for shipping. Note that shipping costs are only covered for preapproved awards. Winners are responsible to arrange for shipment of their awards. It’s Fiesta Time … SME Foundation Gala set for Feb. 25 The SME Foundation will be hosting its annual Gala event on Feb. 25 at MINEXCHANGE 2024. The event brings the SME community together with a night of entertainment, local music and food to celebrate what the SME Foundation (SMEF) makes possible — an inspired generation creating a better world. Proceeds will support the SMEF’s core mission: to attract and leverage resources for a sustainable mining industry through education and outreach. So dig out your party dress (or best fiesta wear) and meet your colleagues at the cocktail reception. Shop the Silent Auction items, make a bid or three, and then step into the fiesta-style dinner where members will be serenaded by mariachis while celebrating the SMEF’s generous donors and scholarship winners. After the dinner, join your colleagues in the cantina for cocktails, desserts and live entertainment. Genny Homyack, SME Board relations administrator and executive assistant to the chief executive officer interviewed Steven C. Holmes, SMEF Past President and he shared his thoughts about the upcoming 2024 event: Homyack: What is special about the Gala? Attendees at a division luncheon in 2023. Holmes: The 2024 SME Foundation Gala Dinner and Awards celebration has a fiesta theme, which is appropriate for holding the conference in Phoenix, AZ. It is a guaranteed great time and sure to sell out, similar to in years past. This includes mariachis, photo booths, a terrific band, the silent auction and much more. Holmes: Supporting the Foundation and the SME Foundation Gala Dinner and Silent Auction helps the SMEF provide critical scholarship funding to support the next generation of mining professors and professionals. This support allows many to become mining’s leaders of the future. As the green energy economy grows, so does the need for minerals and metals, and the demand to produce skilled, qualified mining, metallurgy and geoscientist professionals is growing rapidly and outpacing what our institutions can provide. The SMEF provides key support to make sure the future generations of mining professionals can meet these changes and growth. Individual dinner tickets are $150 each and tables of 10 are $3,500. New this year, the SMEF is offering Friend of the Foundation tickets for $250 each. These tickets will include premier seating at the Gala Dinner, access to the VIP reception, a special thank you in Mining Engineering magazine, and a listing in the dinner program as a Friend of the Foundation. Tickets and table sponsorships can be purchased online at smeannualconference.com. The SMEF welcomes silent-auction item donations valued over $100. Please contact holmes@smenet.org for more information. Relevant learning for today The MINEXCHANGE technical sessions focus on the topics and trends that matter most to members. A number of professional development opportunities are offered during the conference including short courses, workshops and technical sessions. Plus, you can earn professional development credit for attending. Technical programming Mining Engineering (ME) reached out to SME Division Chairs to get a preview of what they are planning for the conference. Dave Meadows, Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division (MPD) Chair said, “As we enter the year, we start our plans for the technical program of our division with lots of enthusiasm knowing we have new topics and the need to advance our industry with the changing trends and criticality of the energy transition demand, decarbonization, and providing more sustainable environmentally friendly solutions. Our program brings a wealth of knowledge across a range of topics and insights that allow us to continue to advance. We continue to strive for excellence in the program and grow each year.” Brad Dunn, Mining & Exploration (M&E) Division Chair said, “We are excited to have a large program with a wide variety of topics.” Dunn said Jenessa Haarala is the M&E Technical Program Chair for Phoenix. Details of the sessions were still being worked out (all program updates close Jan. 5, 2024) but Dunn reported the technical program area managers (PAMs) and programs include these leads and number of technical sessions: Jennifer Baar (Geosciences) — 10 sessions; Clay McNail (Operations) — six sessions; Line Audrey Nkule (Innovation and Technology) — four sessions and Kathleen Tew (Management) — six sessions. Julie Neilson, Jen Pepe and Annelia Tinklenberg reported out on the SME Environmental Division’s plans for the conference. Neilson said, “The SME Environmental Division (ED) is excited to host 13 sessions with close to 100 presentations on environmental issues associated with mining.” Attendees on a field trip in 2023 to the Argo Tunnel, a 6.69-km (4.16-mile) mine drainage and access tunnel with its portal in Idaho Springs, CO. Session topics range from innovative environmental solutions in mine waste management and reclamation to management practices associated with active operations. Mine closure topics will cover diverse concerns including ecosystem regeneration, tailings earthwork, habitat and social responsibilities. “Mine water management is another critical area of environmental concern,” said Neilson. Ground water touches all stages of the mine lifecycle from exploration to closure. Sessions will address the hydrogeology of ground water management, passive in situ systems that provide innovative solutions for treatment of surface waters, and water management during mine closure. Talks will address successes, lessons learned and challenges for the future. Additional ED sessions will address green mining strategies, abandoned mine lands (AML), and the potential to harvest critical minerals including rare earth elements from mine waste. The ADTI-Critical Mineral session will address solid and liquid mine waste from both coal and hard-rock mining as valuable, potential sources of critical mineral resources. AML is a continual problem for landowners and communities across the United States. An influx of funding is providing a resource to inventory AML, identify best practices for closure, and address challenges associated with their reclamation. The session on AML includes case studies and inventory approaches supported by this new funding. Sessions will also address compliance issues, environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures, and other sustainability issues associated with mining. “Finally, we invite everyone to the ED Student Poster Session to be held immediately prior to the ED luncheon. Come talk to our students and hear about the exciting research being conducted by graduate students across the country,” said Neilson. The Industrial Minerals & Aggregates Division (IM&AD) will present seven technical sessions. The sessions will touch on a number of the hot topics in the mining industry including critical minerals and processing of industrial minerals in relation to tailings and mining waste. Other sessions during MINEXCHANGE include; Critical battery minerals I and II; Digitalization and automation in industrial minerals and aggregates I and II and Mine design in industrial minerals and aggregates. Featured Coal & Energy Division sessions include alternative land and energy solutions; the best of ground control; coal mine rock mechanics; coal to products; deployments of mine emissions reduction technologies – mine methane management; innovations in dust control and research; innovations in mining machines and automation; operations projects, developments, and innovations; rare earth and critical mineral assessments in U.S. coalfields; updates on industry research and development; uranium projects, exploration, assessments and innovations; and ventilation innovations. Conference attendees may be particularly interested in the Coal & Energy keynote session featuring Alex Epstein. He is the author of the new bestselling book Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas — Not Less. Get involved with the Health & Safety Division Emily Haas, chair of the Health and Safety (H&S) Division reported tha H&S continues to grow and contribute to the mission and priorities of SME. “We encourage attendees to check out and get involved with division activities during the annual conference,” said Haas. To kick off the conference, the division will host its annual Stride for Safety 5K run/walk that is sponsored by Rio Tinto at Martin Engineering on Monday morning, Feb. 26. The H&S division will also host its annual breakfast on Tuesday morning, Feb. 27. Conference participants may want to purchase a breakfast ticket to hear the featured speaker, Paul Marsh, Arizona’s state mine inspector. Haas said one session worth noting will be held on Monday afternoon. This technical session is dedicated to exploring the role of technology and innovation in advancing mine safety and health. The session title garnered considerable interest from authors. The session chair, Chenming Zhou, a general engineer from the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health’s (NIOSH) Pittsburgh Mining Research Division said, “We initially received 34 high-quality abstracts for this session and had to make tough decisions on what to accept. Nevertheless, the outcome is a compelling selection of seven high-quality topics that cover a wide spectrum of subjects related to mining safety such as machine learning-enhanced autonomous roof bolting, 3D laser scanning for mine site incident investigation, and text analytics for accident narrative analysis.” For more information about the activities of the Health & Safety Division see the Safety Share in SME News on page 54. Certified Mine Safety Professional (CMSP) The annual meeting is a great opportunity to learn more about the Certified Mine Safety Professional (CMSP) credentialing process and the benefits of becoming a CMSP. If prepping for the CMSP exam is already front-of-mind, there is a three-day CMSP review course Friday, Feb. 23 through Sunday, Feb. 25, running from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. For those who have already taken a review course or have been considering the exam, there is a CMSP certification test scheduled on Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can register for either the review course or certification test when registering for the annual conference or register separately on site in Phoenix. Division awards Awards recipients represent the highest level of professionalism and expertise in the mining and minerals industry. Awards are given for individual and group achievements. Celebrate excellence and extraordinary achievements in the mining and minerals industry with your colleagues. Join SME and AIME in recognizing the leaders, innovators and icons in our field — those who raise the bar a little higher and set milestones along the journey. You can find out more about the variety of awards presented by each SME Division at https://smeannualconference.org/awards/. Scotch Nightcap and MPD Student Poster Contest Other popular MPD events scheduled for MINEXCHANGE 2024 include the famous Scotch Nightcap scholarship fundraising event on Tuesday night, featuring MPD Chair Dave Meadows and the Bass Metals band, and the MPD Student Poster Contest on Wednesday morning, preceding the MPD Luncheon. Your participation in these events helps the MPD raise scholarship funds, and encourages and supports the future engineers and scientists within the mineral processing and extractive metallurgy field. Come join us for any or all of these events during MINEXCHANGE 2024. At MINEXCHANGE 2024 in Phoenix, the three-day CMSP review course will be held Feb. 23-25. Your community Grab this opportunity to mix and mingle with some of the leading educators, innovators and experts in the mining industry today. Expand your professional network and make new, lasting impressions at a variety of fun and engaging networking functions. To find out the latest details, watch the video, see the scheduleat- a-glance, read frequently asked questions and register for the conference, visit https:// smeannualconference.org/register/. Early-bird registration is available until Jan. 16, 2024.

Immerse yourself in learning

Authored by:
Nancy Profera

To view the past issues of the UCA magazine you must be a member of SME/UCA.

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