Opportunities to get involved in MPD: If you can spell 'MPD,' you might be an extractive metallurgist

摘要

Every six years, the SME Annual Conference & Expo (ACE) finds a venue outside of the usual hard-rock mining west — Denver, Salt Lake, Phoenix — and it is held somewhere else in the United States. In 2018, the SME ACE will be in Minneapolis, MN. There is no denying the importance of Minneapolis and the Great Lakes region. It was key to the development of North America. Native copper was mined on the shores of Lake Superior between 4,000 and 1,200 BC, followed by the mining of lead by indigenous communities from the 16th through the 19th centuries and the industrial expansion of those lead-zinc deposits. The development of iron and copper mining in the 19th and 20th centuries powered the Industrial Revolution and the American war effort in World War II. Now, the mining of rare earths, platinum-group metals and nickel have again added to the region's importance.