Yesterday I wrapped up my busy week in DC with a meeting at the National Academy of Sciences with the Director of the Committee on Earth Resources and the presidents of NMA, NSSGA and IMA-NA. We held discussions that ranged from current respective industry hot-button issues to a review of the National Research Council's recent final report on emerging workforce trends in the energy and mining industry. Dave Kanagy said this is only the second time in his nine year tenure at SME that all four major mining groups have been assembled in one room. The give-and-take from from all industry sectors and the NRC on mining-specific topics was fun to be a part of as all groups respect one another's opinion and seek to increase the awareness of the importance of the mining industry's impact on the US economy.
L-R: Cy Butner (NRC), Dave Kanagy. Jessica Kogel, Mark Ellis (IMA-NA), Elizabeth Eide (NRC) and John Hayden. Not pictured Gus Edwards (NSSGA) and Hal Quinn (NMA).
I then had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with Mark Ellis and his staff at IMA-NA to review their priorities and discuss their input into SME's upcoming technical briefing paper devoted to the economic impact of industrial minerals on the US economy.
My week in DC concluded with a very positive meeting with Margaret O'Gorman, president of the Wildlife Habitat Council, and her senior staff at their offices in Silver Spring, MD. The WHC is dedicated to bringing together conservation and business interests to increase the quality and amount of wildlife habitat on corporate, private and public lands. This business concept seems reasonable for SME to consider pursuing a closer working relationship with the WHC and our members.
Jessica and Dave Kanagy meeting in Silver Spring, MD with Margaret O'Gorman, president, and Josiane Bonneau, director of field programs of the Wildlife Habitat Council.
My parting thoughts on this busy week in Washington, D.C. are to say that SME is working diligently to stay in front of national issues that affect the mining industry. These range from maintaining our presence on Capitol Hill as a fact-based, technical, non-partisan resource on a variety of issues regarding the mining industry to taking the initiative to start a dialogue with groups that the mining industry would not normally associate. Anyone that has been in the mining industry as long as I have should know that in order to advance in this industry, you need to take risks every once in awhile. We need to step outside our comfort zone and take the lead in areas that are not that familiar to us. SME has established a legitimate presence in Washington, D.C. - not just in this one week I have been here, but over time, step-by-step, we are being recognized as the legitimate, fact-based, technical resource that decision-makers, and even NGO's, see as an organization that is bridging the gap between rhetoric and fact and opinion versus science.