MINEXCHANGE 2023: SME Annual Conference & Exhibition and CMA 125th National Western Mining Conference
We’re just a few weeks away from CMA’s 125th National Western Mining Conference and Exhibition. Both CMA and SME are offering outstanding programs covering a wide variety of topics. We encourage all CMA members to register and attend!
CMA thanks all the conference sponsors, including overall conference sponsor Newmont, for making this event possible.
Please plan to attend CMA’s Reclamation & Safety Awards Luncheon on the final day of the conference, March 1, where we will present the joint CMA/DRMS Reclamation and Safety Awards. We will also be presenting several awards to those deserving recognition by CMA for their leadership in the Association.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27
2:00-2:30pm | CMA Annual Membership Meeting
2:45-4:15pm | The Outlook for Commodities in the Current Global, Geopolitical and Economic Environment
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28
9:00-10:00am | Environmental Justice
10:10-10:40am | Global Renewable Diesel and Carbon Offsets
10:50-11:20am | What is Human Performance; Why Does it Matter
1:30-2:30pm | PFAS/PFOA—What is it? Where is it? What Standards or limits? Legal Implications? Treatment?
2:40-3:10pm | Bringing Diversity into the Boardroom and C-Suite. A Fireside Chat with Gary Goldberg, Former Chairman and CEO of Newmont Corporation
3:20-3:50pm | Opportunities to Use Natural Language Processing to Improve Maintenance Management on Mine Sites
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1
9:00-11:00am | CMA Policy Updates
12:00-2:00pm | Reclamation & Safety Awards Luncheon (extra ticketed event)
Luncheon may be added as part of your conference registration or as a stand-alone event under the “Event Ticket Only” section on the Registration page.
CMA Staff Changes
Please welcome Susan Raplee, CMA’s new Administrative & Membership Coordinator, to the CMA staff. Susan brings to CMA a unique set of skills geared at assisting the CMA membership in all aspects of CMA’s programs and events.
Susan comes to CMA as the former Deputy Chief of Staff for the Colorado House of Representatives minority caucus (Republicans). Though not a “membership” organization, the members of any political caucus are supported by staff members who possess excellent organizational skills and support of legislators in conducting their work. Susan comes to CMA well prepared to handle the demands of working on multiple assignments with ease and we look forward to her meeting our members.
I would also like to acknowledge Stephanie Shark’s six years of service to CMA. Though we’re sad to see Stephanie leave, we’re very pleased that she’s become the Executive Director of her own trade association, the Reprographic Services Association.
Stephanie joined CMA in 2017 as the Director of Marketing and quickly worked to help CMA modernize its operations, revamp our imaging, and implement a management database and digital marketing program to increase membership and event attendance.
Stephanie organized CMA’s conferences, taking on many of the tasks necessary to market and manage our conferences. Last year’s successful 2022 CMA conference in Grand Junction highlighted Stephanie’s outstanding organizational skills in conducting our first in-person conference since 2018.
Finally, Stephanie was an outstanding colleague who not only built strong relationships with member companies, supporters of CMA and partner organizations such as SME. I want to thank Stephanie for working on a part-time basis in the transition, assisting Susan in learning all the aspects of CMA’s business operations.
I will be honoring Stephanie at the CMA Awards luncheon on March 1 as a part of our conference. Please plan to attend the awards luncheon.
Legislative Reception
Thanks to all members who sponsored and attended the CMA 2023 Legislative Reception! We had a number of both new and returning legislators along with the leadership of the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety. The reception provides both members and legislators a unique opportunity to meet and discuss Colorado’s mining industry.
A new legislator we were thrilled to meet was Eliza Hamerick (D-Aurora), a graduate of the CMA Education Foundation’s All About Mining course some years ago as a teacher. The All About Mining course was created by the Foundation to educate K-12 teachers and related faculty on the current activities and involvement of the U.S. mining industry. We look forward to working with newly elected Representative Hamerick.
CMA Office Furniture
CMA will be closing its Denver office this summer with the expiration of our office lease, and will operate its administrative operations virtually, something we have been working toward for the last two and a half years. Though CMA has maintained a Denver office for decades, our experience these last few years has taught us that we can operate more efficiently without a costly downtown office.
Though we still prefer to meet in person whenever possible, such as for our CMA Board meetings, many members prefer the convenience of meeting virtually, particularly those concerned about traveling to Denver because of weather or to avoid some of downtown’s less desirable features.
As we close the office, we are looking to find a new home or office for our office furniture. Knowing the market for office furniture is depressed due to other companies reducing office space, we are looking to sell or donate our office furniture to a non-profit or business. We have conference tables, chairs, stand-up desks, and some bookshelves and shelving. If you are aware of an organization needing office furniture and can make arrangements to pick up at our Denver office, please let me know. We will need to coordinate with our building management any move of the furniture which will require a certificate of insurance of the entity moving the furniture.
