The ISEE Conference Program Committee is issuing an industry wide Call for Papers to be presented at the 44th Annual Conference and published in the Conference Proceedings. Here’s your chance to share your techniques, strategies, solutions, product innovations, and research discoveries with your peers.

Ideas should be submitted in the form of a 200-400 word abstract (summary) highlighting the major points of your 8-10 page paper. Papers may not be commercial in nature. It should be written so that it makes sense standing on its own and should cover the work done, recommendations made, conclusions drawn as a result of the project, case or study.

Abstracts must be submitted using this submission site by May 12, 2017. Chapter sponsored papers must be submitted by the deadline.

The SEE Education Foundation will award $73,000 to students pursuing degrees related to the explosives industry. Each year the Scholarship Committee receives, reviews and scores more than 70 applications.

This year there will be an award of $7,500 given to one well-qualified student! To be eligible, students must be pursuing a technical, undergraduate, master’s or doctorate degree in fields of study related to the commercial explosives industry. Students will be assessed on their academic and professional achievements, goals related to the industry, personal challenges and financial need.

The application deadline is May 5, 2017. Download your application today.

The Ohio Drilling and Blasting Conference was held from March 29-30, 2017, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Columbus, Ohio. The conference was sponsored by the International Society of Explosives Engineers (ISEE), the Ohio Aggregates & Industrial Minerals Association (OAIMA) and Ohio Coal Association and endorsed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mineral Resources Management.

More than 150 attendees participated in the event that featured 16 exhibit booths and a full day of presentations from explosives industry experts. This year’s program began with opening remarks from ISEE Past President John Capers and included topics covering regulatory updates, blasting project case history, cap rock reduction in a limestone quarry, blasting basics, driller and blaster communication, applying UAV technology to blasting economics and how to improve coal extraction using signature hole analysis. Attendees qualified for blasters training recertification hours from several states.

The Australian mining industry is on the verge of a new mining boom based around so-called tech metals.

And as the race cranks up across the nation to find new deposits of rare earths and other metals, industry itself is calling for the development of a value-adding component.

Australia's two largest mineral commodities, iron ore and coal, are shipped offshore in bulk form where other countries, most notably China, value add by using them to manufacture many different products.

The latest report by the International Copper Study Group which includes full year 2016 estimates shows world mine copper production jumped by 5.3%, or 1 million tonnes last year to 20.16 million tonnes.

According to the report the increase was mainly due to a 38% (650,000 tonnes copper) rise in Peruvian concentrate output that benefited from new and expanded capacity brought on stream in the last two years; a recovery in production levels in Canada, Indonesia and the US, and expanded capacity in Mexico, and low frequency of supply disruptions due to strikes, accidents or adverse weather conditions.

Canada’s Nautilus Minerals (TSX:NUS), one of the world's first seafloor miners, is on track to start operations at its Solwara 1 gold, copper and silver project off the coast of Papua Guinea in early 2019.

The Toronto-based company, which also is developing another underwater project, off the coast of Mexico, expects to have all its undersea mining tools ready to go by mid-next year, so it can kick-off operations at the Bismarck Sea-based project shortly after, chief executive Mike Johnston told Seeker.com.

In winter it gets so cold that metal snaps. When the weather is warmer people make a living sifting the earth for fragments of gold in the Oymyakon district of Russia's far eastern Yakutia region.

But the unusually rich deposits of the alluvial gold near the surface are running out and producers have had to switch to the more expensive process of digging mines to extract gold ore.

Production at the first two mines to be opened in the area since the fall of the Soviet Union will start soon. One is being launched by GV Gold, with U.S. fund BlackRock and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development among its shareholders, and another by the locally-owned Yantar group.

Did you know the ISEE has an online career center that offers discounts to members looking to post jobs? Whether you’re a student looking for an internship or a business looking for a seasoned professional in the explosives industry, the ISEE job board, located at the ISEE website, is a great way to get noticed.

And one of the best parts is that it’s free for job seekers. Upload your resume today to get the attention of job posters or browse the job board for the latest openings. Visit the career center now.

Visit the ISEE Bookstore, and save an additional 50% on any item in the clearance section. Supplies are limited. Visit the clearance section, and start saving today. Be sure to use the coupon code isee50 at check out to redeem your discount. Standard shipping rates apply. The sale ends April 28, 2017.

April 19-21, 2017
Spearfish, S.D.

April 22, 2017
Northborough, Mass.

May 10-12, 2017
Helsinki, Findland
Email Dean Nichols at dnichols@apt-research.com for more information.

May 11-12, 2017
Birmingham, Ala.
Email suzanne@nomis.com for more information.