Meet the M&E Chair: Daniel Rosenbach

The 2026 Chair of the SME Mining & Exploration (M&E) Division is Daniel Rosenbach. He has been involved in the mining industry for 21 years and began his involvement in SME in 2005 as a freshman at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM). Although he initially believed he would pursue a degree in mechanical engineering, he very quickly declared mining engineering as his major after acceptance into CSM. Rosenbach grew up in Lubbock, TX with no real influence of the mining industry. With a passion for equipment and all things mechanical, he loved to learn how things worked, and at an early age began to disassemble anything that did not work to attempt to fix it. This led to a self-taught knowledge of small engines, and eventually vehicle engines during high school, where he took an automotive tech class his senior year. Rosenbach moved to Golden, CO, to start his freshman year, and quickly fell in love with the town and the campus. He began involvement with the local SME chapter that semester, encouraged by the mining department professors, specifically Hugh Miller. That SME involvement led to his first summer internship after being introduced to Joe Driscoll, who was mine manager of the Newmont Leeville Mine at the time. Rosenbach ended up with two consecutive summer internships at the Leeville gold mine in 2008 and 2009. At the end of summer 2009, he connected with Jess Kindler, who was the Elko store manager for Atlas Copco, and began discussions about the equipment side of the industry. This discussion led to a 2011 summer internship at the Commerce City, CO location of Atlas Copco, which led to full-time employment upon graduating in December that year. Rosenbach found himself in the company’s rock drilling tools division. Through his 10 years of working at Atlas Copco and Epiroc, he moved a total of seven times, living in locations including eastern Kentucky, Carlin, NV, Denver, CO, and the Iron Range of Minnesota, all the while specializing in drilling tools across the mining, construction and geotechnical industries. At MINEXCHANGE 2020, Rosenbach was approached to step onto the seven-year rotation of the M&E Division Executive Committee, which he accepted. At the same conference, he later found out that his company was downsizing and his direct sales position was affected. With the onset of COVID-19, the Rosenbachs decided to move closer to family and found themselves in Lubbock, TX. Rosenbach has since worked with different drilling supply companies, most recently exiting a company after building it for three years, with his wife selling her shares of equity, so they can focus on building an event venue they acquired in 2025. Today, Rosenbach resides with his wife, Megan, and their two daughters in Amarillo, TX. He continues to be an active member in SME and looks forward to the next year as the M&E Division Chair. As chair, Rosenbach plans to focus on continuing to streamline the division’s operations, increasing division scholarship opportunities, growing student involvement in programming and volunteer efforts, and increasing the retention of SME membership for students during the gap between college and their first employment.

Meet the M&E Chair: Daniel Rosenbach

Authored by: Staff

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Get your SME Foundation VIP Access Conference Pass to MINEXCHANGE 2027

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

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