Thank you to the sponsors and donors who made2026 our best year on record

When the bidding closed on the Richard E. Gertsch Memorial Silent Auction on Feb. 25 in Salt Lake City, UT, the Mining & Exploration (M&E) Division had recorded our strongest fundraising year since we began tracking in 2011. Sponsorships and auction proceeds together came to $62,700, more than half again the previous best of $40,800 set in 2025. That great result belongs to the people who wrote the checks and cleaned out their offices, garages and display cases to fill the auction tables. This article is a thank you to them. The auction The Gertsch auction raised $8,200 across 78 lots donated by 25 individuals and companies. That is the strongest auction result since 2014 and nearly four times the 2024 total of $2,100. Doubling two years running is not luck; it is the product of more donors, great items and a room that showed up ready to bid. Our 2026 luncheon sponsors Sponsorships totaled $54,500, the highest in our 16 years of records, and up 50 percent over 2025. Thanks to: Our title sponsors: Arnold Machinery Co., Barr Engineering, Empire Southwest LLC, Hecla Mining Co., Rio Tinto Kennecott and South32. Our supporting sponsors: AECOM, Burns & McDonnell, Freeport-McMoRan and Victaulic. Our silent-auction sponsors: Burns & McDonnell, Deswik, Mine Vision Systems and Wenco. Burns & McDonnell supported the Division at two levels this year, and Wenco, Deswik and Mine Vision Systems all stepped up with matching commitments that helped drive the auction total higher. Our 2026 auction donors Thank you to the following individuals and businesses who donated items for the auction: Bob Cunningham (Kiewit), Bob and Pam Washnock, David McLane (Burns & McDonnell), Deborah Johnston, Denise Levitan (USGS), Deswik, Deuce Brown (Cementation), Gerry Austin (Rio Tinto), Jay Gillon (Deswik), Katie Robertson (Rio Tinto), Keith Jones (Small Mine Development), Mila Armer (Epiroc), Milton Gere Jr., Olivia Spilker (Costmine), Pete Haarala (Coeur Mining), Ralph Noyes, Ralph Sacrison, Richard Diaz (Deswik), Sean Stenson (Hycroft Mining), Steve Winkelmann, Tim Arnold, Will and Pam Wilkinson, Zoe Scopa (Cargill) and an anonymous donor. Thanks also to the members who hand-carried donations to Salt Lake City on behalf of colleagues who could not attend. It is a small thing that makes a real difference in what ends up on the tables. Where the money goes All proceeds go to the M&E General Scholarship Fund, which distributes tens of thousands of dollars annually to students in mining and exploration programs, including the Henry DeWitt Smith Graduate Scholarship, the Eugene P. Pfleider Memorial Scholarship, the Steven C. Potter Scholarship and the Stewart R. Wallace Memorial Scholarship. Since 2016, we have awarded more than $129,000 in scholarships. Looking further back, the auction has raised roughly $96,600 since 2011, and sponsorships and auction proceeds together have brought in approximately $354,600 over those 16 years. We have been doing this quietly and consistently for a long time, and the students on the receiving end are now working across our industry. Looking ahead to 2027 The luncheon remains one of the highlights of MINEXCHANGE, combining the Jackling lecture, the division awards ceremony and the Gertsch auction into two hours that manage to be both a celebration and a fundraiser. We will be back next year, and we will need items and sponsors again. One donor who bid successfully on several lots is redonating the Epiroc Pit Viper drill model for the 2027 auction. That is exactly the spirit of the thing. If you liked it, so will your colleagues. We will publish a full call for donations later this year with shipping details and deadlines. In the meantime, if you have something set aside, or if your organization is considering a sponsorship, reach out to me at mblattman@hecla.com or to Emma Li Salditt at salditt@smenet.org. To everyone who gave, bid, carried a box across the country or simply talked a colleague into raising a paddle: Thank you. You made 2026 our best year on record, and the scholarship fund is better for it.

Thank you to the sponsors and donors who made2026 our best year on record

Authored by: Matt Blattman

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