New attendance records were set when more than 4,600 mining professionals gathered at the Phoenix Civic Plaza for the 1996 annual meeting and exhibition of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME).
Fully paid attendance was higher than at any previous SME annual meeting, and non-member attendance was up 38% over the previous year.
The keynote session, “Measuring Environmental Performance in the Global Arena,” dealt with how mining companies are coping with environmental regulations throughout the world. The session took the form of a panel discussion among three participants: Marshall Koval, a principal at Hart Crowser; Ronald Cambre, president of Newmont Mining; and Henry Brehaut, senior vice-president, environment, for Placer Dome.
A highlight of the technical program was a series of presentations concerning various aspects of international mining. Topics included developing projects; international laws; operations and expansions; new technologies; and environmental impacts.
At the exhibit hall, suppliers and contractors set up almost 400 booths to show off their products to the mining community.
Short courses covered such areas as hydrology, tailings disposal; gold-copper systems in the Pacific Rim; and the Internet.
All this year’s field trips were sold out. They included a visit to Asarco’s Santa Cruz project, which is researching technologies for in situ leaching of copper, and a visit to the Pinto Valley mine and concentrator of BHP and Magma Copper Co. Both are in Arizona.
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