ConventionMore good reasons to go to the SME Annual Meeting & Exhibit in Denver next week: basically to meet with the people who constitute “the mining industry,” and remind oneself that the “industry” is not the faceless ogre that detractors try to paint, but rather that mines are groups of nice people striving in earnest to do good. First, I hope to connect with these folk with whom I have e-interacted but not met in person: 

Then I will seek out some of the folk I recall from last year’s SME:   

  • Arnie Weber, publisher of the Miners News & Aggregates Directory. He told me of the problems of compiling a newsletter for the mining industry without the support of a sophisticated computer and of his desire to avoid ever having to compile his newspaper electronically.
  • Paul Rollins, Business Development Manager of Willowstick. Only part of his display arrived so he was distracted but nevertheless spent a long time explaining their equipment that creates electrical currents used in mapping groundwater flow. He emphasized that the company is primarily a consulting company and the equipment (parts of which did not arrive) are but an adjunct to the primary business of conventional consulting.
  • Roger Sharp, Director, Geotechnical and Mining Services for United States Gypsum Company. They have gypsum mines in Iowa so I stopped by to chat and find out what they do. I almost finagled myself an invitation to visit one of their operations while I spend spring in Iowa.
  • Matt J. Blattman, Corporate Mining Manager, Cemex in Houston. They mine the materials and supply cement to the mining industry. He admitted they were at the show as much to interact with the industry as to recruit young engineers and geologists for their operations. I wonder if he succeeded. It must be fun to be a miner living in Houston, Texas.
  • Ulrich E. Sibilski, HSE & Services Manager, AngloGold Ashanti Geita Gold Mine, Tanzania. He encouraged young folk with a sense of adventure to go to Africa to mine, and proved his point that it can be fun by describing the successes he has achieved in reclaiming the Geita Mine. Maybe next time I am in Africa?
  • Lisa DePalma, BICO Braun International. I could not help but stop by to chat when I saw she hails from Burbank, California, another nice place to live as a miner. Her father founded the company that supplies small crushers to the mining and other industries, and she is taking over.
  • Corby G. Anderson, Director and Principal Process Engineer, Montana Tech. He assured me the science of global warming is so flawed that the United States should not sign the Koyoto Treaty, although he agreed with my point that United States’ technology and scientific prowess could meet any challenges posed by warming and rising sea levels, and that the mining industry would probably benefit from the demand for materials to meet
    the new challenges.

Just to end this piece on another positive note about the “face” of mining,  go and “meet” Donald L. Stevens at his website where he tells his stories and posts his pride and memories.  It is a lovely site and another testament to the inherent decency of folk.  Here he is with his daughter deep in Alaska where he is an exploration geologist.