Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. Annual Conference 2024

The Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. (SME) held their annual conference the week before last in Phoenix, AZ. SME is the international professional society for the mining industry. It promotes best practices in all aspects of the mining industry, including mine safety, mining history, prospecting, exploration, mine development and operations, mineral processing, and environmental reclamation and closure. New Mexico Tech (including the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, NMBGMR) generally sends staff and students annually. This year, New Mexico Tech sent 28 students and six professors and staff, many of whom work on NMBGMR-sponsored projects.

Three students presented posters in the Environmental Division Student Poster Competition: 1) Geochemistry of critical minerals in mine wastes at Hillsboro and Steeple Rock, New Mexico by Abena Acheampong-Mensah and Virginia McLemore; 2) Geochemistry of critical minerals in Black Hawk District, Grant County, New Mexico by Zohreh Kazemi Motlagh and Virginia McLemore, and 3) Humates Used as a Filtering Medium for Uranium by Brianna Detsoia, Bonnie Frey, Virginia McLemore, Jeremy Jones, and Ranadla Tsosie. BRIANNA WON 2ND PLACE IN THE ENVIRONMENT DIVISION STUDENT POSTER COMPETITION, the only undergraduate to present posters at that session!

Two NMGBMR-funded students presented posters at the SME Graduate Student Competition session: 1) Petrography and Economic Potential of Banded Iron Formation of the Neoproterozoic-Age Buem Formation, Ghana by Ernest Brakohiapa and William Chávez Jr., and 2) Dynamic Rock Testing and Implications for Structural Design Improvements to Mitigate Blast-Induced Ground Vibration by Harriet Tetteh, Wenfeng Li, Virginia McLemore, and Alex Rinehart.

And, nine additional oral presentations were given by NMBGMR-funded students and staff at the conference. McLemore and Owen’s preprint paper titled Geochemistry of Critical Minerals in Mine Wastes in New Mexico won the Environmental Division’s Outstanding Paper. The abstracts are at https://smeannualconference.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2024/01/SME_MXC24_Annual_Conf_Onsite_Program_F2_low.pdf. Preprints and presentations are at https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/staff/mclemore/REEinCoalWeb.html.

Presentations and preprints given include:

• McLemore, V.T. and Owen, E., 2024, Geochemistry of Critical Minerals in Mine Wastes in New Mexico: SME Annual Conference, Environmental: ADTI-Critical Minerals in Mine Wastes, Preprint 24-043
• Motlagh, Z.K., McLemore, V., Newcomer, J., Griego, S. and Owen, E., 2024, Acid Mine Drainage and Critical Minerals in Black Hawk Mine Waste, Grant County, New Mexico: SME Annual Conference, Environmental: ADTI-Critical Minerals in Mine Wastes, Preprint 24-022
• Best, M.B., Jones, D.S., McLemore, 2024, Molecular assessment of metal-cycling microbial communities associated with critical mineral resources in historic mine waste: SME Annual Conference, Environmental: ADTI-Critical Minerals in Mine Wastes
• Serwah Acheampong-Mensah, A., and McLemore, V.T.,2024, Geochemistry of critical minerals in mine wastes at Hillsboro and Steeple Rock districts, New Mexico: SME Annual Conference, Environmental: ADTI-Critical Minerals in Mine Wastes, Preprint 24-042
• Newcomer, J. and McLemore, V.T., 2023, Comparative Mineralogy of the 5-Element Arsenide Vein Systems of the Black Hawk District, Grant County, New Mexico: SME Annual Conference, Industrial Minerals & Aggregates: Critical and Battery Minerals I, Preprint 24-019
• Stafford, K. and McLemore, V.T., 2023, Geochronology and Critical Mineral Potential of Selected Laramide Porphyry and Related Deposits in Southwest New Mexico: SME Annual Conference, Mining & Exploration: Geosciences: SME/AIPG: Geological Review of Critical Minerals, Preprint 24-044
• Shaver, D. and McLemore, V., 2024, Alteration and Geochemistry of Clinkers in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico: SME Annual Conference Coal & Energy: Rare Earth and Critical Mineral Assessments in the U.S. Coalfields, Preprint 24-008
• McLemore, V.T., Owen, E., Badonie, M., Shaver, D., and Newcomer, J., 2024, Rare Earth Elements (REE) and Other Critical Minerals in Late Cretaceous Coal and Related Strata in the San Juan and Raton Basins, New Mexico: Preliminary Observations: SME Annual Conference, Coal & Energy: Rare Earth and Critical Mineral Assessments in the U.S., Preprint 24-078
• Owen, E.J and McLemore, V.T., 2023, Mineralogy and geochemistry of heavy mineral beach-placer sandstones in New Mexico: SME Annual Conference, Preprint 24-060