Summary of annual meeting of the Mining & Exploration Division

The Mining & Exploration (M&E) Division 2026 annual business meeting took place on Feb. 22, 2026, from 9 to 11:30 am during the MINEXCHANGE 2026 SME Annual Conference & Expo in Salt Lake City, UT. We had approximately 25 M&E members attend the meeting this year. This summary is taken from the unapproved meeting minutes. Following introductions by the current Executive Committee (EC) and nonvoting committee members, those in attendance were welcome to introduce themselves. The safety share by EC Chair, Jenessa Haarala, was a timely reminder to ensure proper hydration at altitude in Salt Lake City. The meeting then continued with a review of the minutes from the 2025 Midyear M&E business meeting held Sept. 14, 2025, in Denver, CO, and the April 2025 fourth-quarter virtual business meeting/coffee break. The M&E Executive Committee Report, as submitted for the annual SME Board of Directors meeting, was reviewed. The membership count and finances held within the M&E Division remain strong in SME’s largest division. Membership has decreased by 4 percent from 2025, while overall division financial accounts have increased approximately 17 percent since 2025. The financial accounts are utilized to fund donations to the SME Foundation, awards and scholarships. In 2026, more than 170 scholarship applications were received, with a total of $31,450 distributed to students. Luncheon and silent auction The 2026 M&E Division Luncheon was sponsored by title sponsors Hecla Mining Co., Rio Tinto, South 32, Barr Engineering Co., Arnold Machinery Co. and Empire CAT, and supporting sponsors Freeport-McMoRan, Burns & McDonnell, AECOM and Victaulic. Thank you to the 2026 luncheon sponsors. The Jackling Award lecture was on “Exploration for Porphyry Copper Deposits in Western North America: Emphasis on Brownfield Exploration Methods and Results,” presented by Ralph Stegen. The 2026 Richard Gertsch Memorial Silent Auction featured many donations including antiques, coins, die-cast models, mineral samples and mining reference books. This year’s auction sponsors included Burns & McDonnell, Wenco International Mining Systems, Mine Vision Systems and Deswik. Thank you to all those who donated and participated in the silent auction. The 2026 M&E technical program included 29 total sessions and four panel discussions with roughly 145 presentations delivered. Program area managers (PAMs) responsible for the 2026 program included: Jen Ellis Evans and Chad Williams, geosciences; Miguel Pugmire, management; Erika Fretheim, innovation and technology; and Kevin Toe, operations. Thank you to the 2026 PAMs and 2025 Program Chair, Daniel Rosenbach, for developing an engaging technical program. For the past three years, the M&E program chair and geosciences program area managers have made a concerted effort to grow the “exploration” side of the technical program and encourage greater geology participation. This has been a follow-up to a memorandum of understanding between SME and American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG). SME executive leadership, Mary Korpi (2026 President), Bill Hancock (2025 President), Dave Kanagy (Executive Director) and Melissa Russell (incoming Executive Director) provided an overall update on SME direction and vision to support the mining industry. The big topics of discussion while they were present at the meeting included artificial intelligence and impact on the industry, critical minerals and materials and impacts on day-to-day lives, and performing an update to SME’s strategic plan. There were several items that were discussed in the meeting. You can locate the M&E business meeting minutes on our SME Community page for additional information. If you have more questions, please reach out to a member of our EC. These items were discussed: Advancing a trade scholarship to support those who enter mining’s hourly workforce. Update of the M&E Division Bylaws in response to the SME Governance & Structure Committee. Review of content for M&E Rock in the Box submissions. Continued discussion for options for more efficient identification of award candidates for the Robert Peele Memorial Award. Additional committee updates were provided for the various committees in SME for which there are M&E members in volunteer roles. This has been a nice addition to communicate across committees what we are all doing for SME.For more information on the M&E Division, you can contact the 2026-2027 Chair, Daniel Rosenbach at daniel.rosenbach@gmail.com.

Summary of annual meeting of the Mining & Exploration Division

Authored by: Russell Sheets

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