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COLORADO SECTION OFFICERS
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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 firms focused on business development in mining industry and has been involved in almost every aspect of the mine’s life cycle ranging from production, engineering, operations, crushing and conveyance, ventilation, and energy. He also operates an interior design firm with his lovely and talented wife. Jon has been active in SME since 2006.
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Vice Chair: Susana Orellana
susana.orellana@wsp.com
Susana is a geotechnical engineer and currently works for WSP on the Mine Waste team. Her work experience focuses on the design, geotechnical site investigation, and construction of tailings storage facilities, heap leach pads, and waste dam deposits. This term, she will be filling the role of vice-chair for the SME CO Section leadership.
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Secretary: Claire Kincaid
clairek@jdsmining.ca
Claire is a mining engineer with 5 years' experience. She currently splits time between Denver, Vancouver, and San Francisco, and works for JDS Mining & Energy as a mining engineering consultant. She has conducted research on diversity and inclusion in mining, integrated mine design for novel technology, and on applications of novel battery electric and hybrid drivetrains in underground LHDs.
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Treasurer: Nick Gow
nick.gow@patersoncooke.com
Nick is a metallurgical consultant 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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Publicity: Juan Carlos Ayes-Zamudio
juancarlos.ayes@wsp.com 
Juan Carlos is a civil - geotechnical engineer, having graduated from IPN and UNAM both from Mexico. He currently works at WSP Denver as part of the US Mine Waste team. His primary expertise lies in the design and management of slurry upstream tailings storage facilities (TSF), as well as filtered TSF. He serves as a senior engineer, supporting several facilities in Mexico and in the USA.
His goal is to promote tailings engineering as a challenging and exciting career from a civil and geotechnical perspective, while emphasizing the importance of proper management of TSFs.
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Programs: Kevin Moran
Kevin.moran@fleet.space
Kevin is a Mining Engineering Colorado School of Mines graduate and is a Sales Executive for Fleet Space in Golden, CO. He currently focuses on exploration technologies within the USA and Canada. Before joining the Colorado Section of SME, Kevin held roles as the Chair of the Northern California and St. Louis Local Chapters of SME. SME has greatly impacted his life, and he wishes to continue his payback to others by staying involved.
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Golf Tournament: Brendan Fetter
bfetter@fortedynamics.com
Brendan is a professional civil engineer and mechanical engineer with over ten years of experience in specialty modeling analyses, design and construction of mining processing facilities, water infrastructure, 43-101 and JORC compliant studies and reporting. Work experience includes application of various hydrologic and kinetic models, predominately related to metal recovery, solution management, and project economic evaluations. He has provided design and construction quality assurance for various processing facilities with specific emphasis on heap leach facilities and operational enhancements. Brendan has worked on projects across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Turkey, Chile, Argentina, Uzbekistan, and Russia.
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| DIRECTORS |
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Past Chair: Melissa Meyer
mchalona@enganalytics.com
Melissa Chalona is an Environmental Engineer with Engineering Analytics in Fort Collins, specializing in regulatory compliance and permitting for mining reclamation and industrial sites in the United States and Canada. Melissa served on the Larimer County Environment Advisory Board and the Colorado Governor's Air Quality Control Commission. She has been part of Colorado SME for six years as secretary and vice-chair. She enjoys dancing, camping, and rock climbing.
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Minerals Education Coalition (MEC): Dick Beach
dickbeach@mines.edu
https://mineralseducationcoalition.org
Chair of the SME Colorado MEC subcommittee, graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a professional degree in geological engineering. Dick then served two years in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Virginia and Vietnam. Dick worked as a geologist and physical scientist for the U.S. Bureau of Mines from 1972 until retirement in 1994. At the Bureau of Mines, Dick assessed mineral resources on Federal and Indian lands, and analyzed restraints on mineral exploration and development, applying them to statewide studies of Federal mineral lands in several Rocky Mountain States.
Since retirement, Dick has continued to be actively involved professionally. Dick makes presentations in Denver Metro area classrooms and at other venues about mining and minerals, works with Scouts earning the Mining in Society merit badge, and judges science fair projects.
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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): Justine Harlan (interim)
jharlan@fmi.com
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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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Director-at-Large: Ramsey Fowler
Ramsey.Fowler@hdrinc.com
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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (non-voting)
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Director-at-Large Pro Tem: Richard Schwering
rschwering@hardrock-consulting.com
Richard is a Resource Geologist with Hard Rock Consulting, LLC. This term he will serving as the Programs Chair for the Colorado Section. He has previously served as the Program Chair, Vice Chair, Chair, and Past Chair for the Colorado Section of SME.
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AFFILIATE (non-voting)
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Extractive Metallurgy Chapter of Denver (EMCD):
Dan Witkowsky
danwitkowsky@gmail.com
Dan Witkowsky has served as the Liaison between the Colorado SME Section and the Extractive Metallurgy Chapter of Denver for many years.
He is a 1966 Colorado School of Mines (CSM) Metallurgical Engineering (Extractive) graduate and a 1972 Denver University graduate with an M.S. in Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science. He spent 23 years with the U.S. Bureau of Mines in metallurgical and environmental research and mine and mill feasibility analyses until the Bureau was closed by Congress in 1996. That year he served as the Executive Director of the CSM Alumni Association while also beginning 17 years as the Course Coordinator of the four-week, All About Mining course for K-12 teachers, sponsored by the Colorado Mining Association.
He was the recipient of the 2014 Environmental Education Award for Excellence for Outstanding Retired Educator by the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education. He received his 50-Year SME Member Award in 2018.
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STUDENT CHAPTERS (non-voting)
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CSM Chapter President: Kendall Helbig
khelbig@mines.edu
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CSU Chapter President: Kaylee Romero
Kaylee.Romero@colostate.edu
Kaylee Romero García is a junior pursuing an engineering degree at Colorado State University (CSU). Kaylee previously served as the Administrative Officer for the CSU SME chapter and is now the elected president. Kaylee is a student researcher at CSU, helping graduate students with their ongoing research projects. Kaylee’s career interests consist of pursuing a career in geotechnical engineering related to the mining industry. She plans to attend graduate school after completing her bachelor’s degree.
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