Northern California SME Section

For those of you new to this section let me give you some background.  Once upon a time, many mining companies and engineering firms were either headquartered or had significant offices in the Bay Area.  These included Homestake, Placer Dome, Marcona Corp., Davy McKee, Fluor, Utah Construction and Mining, BHP, Bechtel M & M to name a few.  The San Francisco SME Section had monthly meetings with 100 attendees. 

The rest of Northern Calif. was served by the Sierra Nevada Section.  There were mines operating in the Gold Belt, 16 to 1 in Allegany, FMC Gold in Copperopolis, Homestake's McLaughlin mine near Lower Lake and more.  In addition, there were many industrial mineral operations which were served by SME, These included, but were not limited to SMC-Lonestar, Granite Rock, Kaiser and many small operators. 

As you are now residing in California, you can see the state of the mineral industry.  It became obvious that N. California could no longer support 2 SME Sections.  In 2015 it was decided that we should combine the Sections into 1 serving all of Northern California.  I worked at writing new bylaws and at the Annual meeting in 2016, the Board of Directors approved the new N. California Section.

I have gone through all of the chairs in the SF Section and was Section Chair twice.  I was asked to become the Chair of the Sierra Nevada Section and when our capable treasurer moved away, I was the only Section officer.  I have been involved in SME for 50 years and in the N. California sections for over 30 years.  I have been the Chair of the N. California Section for several years and should have been termed out some time ago.  The Section has 240 listed members, a very capable Secretary/Treasurer in Andy Sass, a Program Chair in Chris Johnson and we have a treasury.  At one time, Shell Oil had a mining group. which they closed down. They bequeathed an endowment to the SF Section which was to be used for student scholarships.  This still has significant funds available, and we have been awarding scholarships over the years.   

I am asking that our younger members step forward and take a leadership role in the Section.  Without new members helping run the Section, I don't know what the future will be.  There are members who will help so you will not be alone.  SME has great resources to guide you and assist you.  I just want to be a regular member.  If you have read this far down the page, please let us know how you want to be involved.  SME is a great organization, but they need the local sections.  One of the requirements for becoming involved in the greater SME community is to have been involved in a local section.  This is one way of doing that.  

I am a relatively new SME member and have connected with Chris although not in person yet. I missed the field trip to Jackson and am hopeful Chris is able to setup more and to be able to attend. I appreciate his hard work he puts in to to get events planned. 

I am in the process of rehabbing a hard rock gold mine in El Dorado County and to my understanding the last one permitted in the county. I would be willing to open up for a field trip if it would be of interest. The mine is a 30 minute drive north from Placerville and 45 minutes from Auburn. While not yet back to operating, it's a typical 1950's mine with 1 tph mill and narrow gauge rail underground. 

Mr. Warfield, being so close to Roseville and traveling down that way often, if you're up for meeting in person I would love to buy you a cup of coffee and introduce myself. 

I look forward to doing what I can to get involved for the Northern California chapter. 

Dale

For those of you new to this section let me give you some background.  Once upon a time, many mining companies and engineering firms were either headquartered or had significant offices in the Bay Area.  These included Homestake, Placer Dome, Marcona Corp., Davy McKee, Fluor, Utah Construction and Mining, BHP, Bechtel M & M to name a few.  The San Francisco SME Section had monthly meetings with 100 attendees. 

The rest of Northern Calif. was served by the Sierra Nevada Section.  There were mines operating in the Gold Belt, 16 to 1 in Allegany, FMC Gold in Copperopolis, Homestake's McLaughlin mine near Lower Lake and more.  In addition, there were many industrial mineral operations which were served by SME, These included, but were not limited to SMC-Lonestar, Granite Rock, Kaiser and many small operators. 

As you are now residing in California, you can see the state of the mineral industry.  It became obvious that N. California could no longer support 2 SME Sections.  In 2015 it was decided that we should combine the Sections into 1 serving all of Northern California.  I worked at writing new bylaws and at the Annual meeting in 2016, the Board of Directors approved the new N. California Section.

I have gone through all of the chairs in the SF Section and was Section Chair twice.  I was asked to become the Chair of the Sierra Nevada Section and when our capable treasurer moved away, I was the only Section officer.  I have been involved in SME for 50 years and in the N. California sections for over 30 years.  I have been the Chair of the N. California Section for several years and should have been termed out some time ago.  The Section has 240 listed members, a very capable Secretary/Treasurer in Andy Sass, a Program Chair in Chris Johnson and we have a treasury.  At one time, Shell Oil had a mining group. which they closed down. They bequeathed an endowment to the SF Section which was to be used for student scholarships.  This still has significant funds available, and we have been awarding scholarships over the years.   

I am asking that our younger members step forward and take a leadership role in the Section.  Without new members helping run the Section, I don't know what the future will be.  There are members who will help so you will not be alone.  SME has great resources to guide you and assist you.  I just want to be a regular member.  If you have read this far down the page, please let us know how you want to be involved.  SME is a great organization, but they need the local sections.  One of the requirements for becoming involved in the greater SME community is to have been involved in a local section.  This is one way of doing that.