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COLORADO SECTION OFFICERS
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Chair: Sean Stevenson
sean_stevenson@mines.edu
Sean Stevenson has been a practicing geologist for 9 years now in various areas of the country. He has been in the mining industry for 4.5 years in Alaska and Colorado. Spending 2 years underground at Greens Creek with Hecla and 2.5 years at Climax Mine with Freeport McMoRan here in Colorado. Before serving as the chair of the Colorado Section, Sean served as the chair of the Rocky Mountain SME Chapter.
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Vice Chair: Nick Gow
nick.gow@patersoncooke.com
Nick is Sr. Study Lead and Sr. Laboratory Manager with Paterson and Cooke, focusing on early-stage project development and late-stage/brownfield process optimization. He also serves as a MMSA Qualified Professional for Mineral Processing, ABET program evaluator, CN code auditor, and research associate at the Colorado School of Mines.
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Secretary: Katie Chehowy
kathryn_chehowy@mines.edu
Katie is a geologist from Calgary, Alberta, with experience in both mineral exploration and energy resources. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Calgary in 2023 and has worked on gold and silver vein-hosted systems as well as oil and gas projects throughout northern Alberta. In 2025, she began pursuing a Master of Science in Geology at Colorado School of Mines. Katie is particularly passionate about structural geology and its application to understanding mineralization, fluid flow, and resource distribution.
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Treasurer: Ramsey Fowler
ramsey.fowler@hdrinc.com
At HDR, Ramsey develops project scopes and teams to solve our client's cradle to grave energy, material, and waste challenges. He's created the Pipeline CMS project tracking platform to help pipeline contractors build trust and save time communicating with their customers. He got his BBA in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin and a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. He has experience oilfield construction and manufacturing, operations, and project engineering. He joined the professional services / engineering consulting world doing Project Management and Engineering. He enjoys fly fishing for trout, hiking, and enjoying the outdoors.
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Publicity & Programs: Richard Schwering
rschwering@hardrock-consulting.com
Richard is a consulting geologist with specialties in geologic modeling and mineral resource estimation. He is a Registered Member SME as well as a Professional Geologist licensed by the National Association of State Boards of Geology in the State of Wyoming. He is an active member of the SME Colorado Section and served as Chair from July of 2018 to July 2020. He is committed to public education and outreach about mining and geosciences and is currently serving as chair of the Minerals Education Coalition, Colorado Section.
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Golf Tournament: Brendan Fetter
bfetter@fortedynamics.com
Brendan is a Registered Professional Civil Engineer and SME Qualified Person with over 13 years of experience supporting NI 43-101, SK-1300, and JORC-compliant studies. Extensive expert-level specialization in heap leach facility design, metallurgical recovery modeling, site-wide water balance development, economic evaluation, and project optimization. Experienced technical lead supporting feasibility studies, permitting, operational optimization, and technical review.
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| DIRECTORS |
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Past Chair: Jon Pianetti
jon.pianetti@gmail.com
Jon Grew up the Pittsburgh coal seam and graduated from Virginia Tech’s mining engineering department. He has worked with several forms focused on business development in the mining industry and has been involved in almost every aspect of the mine’s life cycle from production, engineering, operations, crushing and conveyance, ventilation, and energy. He also operates an interior design firm with his lovely and talented wife. He has been active in SME since 2006
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Director-at-Large: Heather Lammers
hlammers@mines.edu
Heather is a geological and mining engineer, currently serving as a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Mining Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines and as a Senior Engineer at Hatch Ltd. Her goal with SME is to promote professional development, networking, and knowledge sharing opportunities for students, young professionals, and mining industry experts.
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Mineral Processing Division (MPD): Alex Holtzapple
alex@metsim.com
SME Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division
Alex currently serves as the President of Metsim International, LLC, based in Denver, Colorado, owners of the METSIM® software, where his focus remains on process simulation primarily for hydrometallurgical processing. He first joined the METSIM® team in early 2008, spending his first 10 years primarily in Brazil, though working on numerous projects around the globe, including base and precious metals, PGMs, rare earths, salt and potash, and finally some iron ore projects as well. Alex rejoined SME in 2019 upon moving back to Denver and immediately took on roles within the SME Colorado and MPD committees, on which both he remains active today.
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Colorado Rocky Mountain (CRM): Sloan Dworian
nadiasloan45@gmail.com
Sloan is an Economic Geologist with experience in mining geology, exploration, and structural analysis. Sloan has key experience modeling using ArcGIS, MineSite, and Leapfrog. Sloan has a Masters and Bachelor's degrees in Geology from the University of Wyoming. Sloan is currently pursuing a MS in Project Management from CTU.
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Minerals Education Coalition (MEC): Richard Schwering
rschwering@hardrock-consulting.com
https://mineralseducationcoalition.org
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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (non-voting)
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Pro Tem: Jordan Kengue
jordan.k@xplarion.com
Jordan is a geological engineer and mineral economist with a strong passion for mining and metals, focused on transforming how we discover and secure critical minerals. His work sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence, mineral exploration and economics.
He co‑founded Xplarion, an AI‑driven mineral exploration platform that uses geological analogs and multi‑source data to identify high‑value deposits in both data-rich and data‑scarce across North-America, Africa, Asia, South America. The company helps junior and mid‑tier miners cut reconnaissance time and drilling waste while increasing discovery rates.
He's interested in connecting with investors, mining executives, and researchers working on critical minerals and AI in geoscience.
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Pro Tem: Kathy Adams
Kathy.Adams@patersoncooke.com
Kathy is a Process Engineering Manager with 18+ years of experience in the mining and energy industries, specializing in metallurgy, process design, and project development from early studies through to detailed design. Over the course of hercareer, shes's had the privilege of working with talented teams to tackle complex technical challenges and deliver solutions that make a real difference.
As a Professional Engineer (Canada & U.S.) and Project Management Professional (PMP), she combines technical depth with a strong focus on collaboration and project delivery. She enjoys bringing together cross-functional teams and helping projects move from concept to successful completion.
She is most passionate about strategic, collaborative, and future-focused leadership that supports both technical excellence and organizational resilience.
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AFFILIATE (non-voting)
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Extractive Metallurgy Chapter of Denver (EMCD):
Kim Mills
kimills@srk.com
Kimberly Mills is a Principal Consultant (Metallurgy) at SRK Consulting in Denver, Colorado. Kim is a process engineer and metallurgist with 20 years of experience in the mining and manufacturing industries, specializing in hydrometallurgy and the development and implementation of new technologies. She has broad expertise and has been involved in all aspects of process engineering from R&D, scoping through FS studies, engineering design, commissioning, and optimization. She has worked internationally across rare earths, base, precious, battery/energy metals, and industrial minerals. Kim is an MMSA Qualified Professional in Metallurgy/Processing and is an affiliate faculty member of the Kroll Institute for Extractive Metallurgy and member of the Mining Engineering Department Industry Advisory Council at Colorado School of Mines. Kim has served SME in many capacities at the national level through the MPD Executive Committee, Council of Education, Student Member Affairs, scholarship and award committees, and chaired the international Extraction 2025 conference. She also received the 2025 SME President’s Individual Citation Award and 2014 SME MPD Outstanding Young Engineer Award.
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STUDENT CHAPTERS (non-voting)
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CSM Chapter President: Forest Olsen
forest_olsen@mines.edu
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CSU Chapter President:
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