- MARCH JOINT DINNER MEETING -
For our March meeting, the SME Tucson Section will be hosting a joint meeting with our friends from the ASCE Geo-Institute Arizona Chapter. Make sure to select your meal when making your reservation. Reservation deadline is Friday, March 21st.
Program:
The Stibnite Gold Project, located in Valley County, Idaho is in the final stages of local, state and federal permitting for mine development. The project is situated in a major WWII era Brownfields Site. The former mines were the largest lode gold producers in Idaho for most of their operational periods. Historic exploration, development, and mining operations occurred over a nearly 100-year time frame in two main operational eras between the 1920s through the mid-1950s and again in the late 1970s through the late 1990s. It was the site of the Nation’s first Strategic Minerals Project under the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act of 1939.
Remnant environmental and resulting ecological impacts from the WWII efforts, which occurred before any local, state or federal operational or reclamation standards or laws were in effect have been long lasting and led to extensive litigation, protracted delays in site cleanup and hesitancy of industry to take on exploration and redevelopment of the site, despite significant metal endowment. Fish passage through the historic Yellow Pine pit has been blocked since 1938, topsoil loss has been extensive, with associated long-term degradation of waterways, impacting water quality and fish habitat and metal leaching from extensive unlined and capped waste piles throughout the several thousand-acre site. The result after closure, reclamation and restoration will be bigger and better wetlands, improved riparian areas and increased fish habitat including the first fish passage into the headwaters of the East Fork of the South Fork of the Salmon River in ~90 years.
The efforts over the past 15 years have included a range of geological, geophysical, geochemical, metallurgical, environmental, engineering, economic and social studies progressing from initial Mineral Resource estimates in 2010, through a PEA in 2012, PFS in 2014, and a positive Feasibility Study in 2021. This presentation will discuss project history and the progression of the project from inception to the finish line - which is now in sight.
Venue and Beverage Sponsor:
Meeting Sponsors:
Speaker:
Christopher Dail, CPG - Perpetua Resources, Land and Exploration Manager
Christopher Dail is an exploration geologist with over 35 years of industry experience, primarily in exploration in grass roots and brownfields projects in North America, and with a smattering of overseas assignments. He has served in various field grunt, mine geology and technical positions in exploration and operations and held various executive roles and is currently the Land and Exploration Manager for Perpetua, a company (formerly Midas Gold) he helped found in 2009. He is a former trustee of AEMA and cochairs the Critical Minerals Committee and is also a member of SME, SEG, AIPG, GSA, GSN, AMEBC, and PDAC. He is the proud owner of a large, very beautiful, and very cash-consuming historic wooden sailboat, moored in northern Idaho’s Lake Coeur d’Alene, and founder of the Frequent Sanders and Sailors Club (sand a day, sail a day).
Agenda:
- 6:00pm - 7:00pm Social Hour
- 7:00pm - 7:45pm Dinner
- 7:45pm - 8:00pm Announcements
- 8:00pm - 8:30pm Program
- 8:30pm - 8:45pm Q&A
Location:
HEXAGON, 40 E Congress St #300, Tucson, AZ 85701. CLICK FOR MAP.
Costs:
- $55 for SME Tucson members
- $65 for non-members
- Free for UA SME Student Chapter members
Payable at the door by cash, credit card, or check payable to SME Tucson.
Cancellations and No Shows:
Please call or email by the registration deadline to cancel. If you do not cancel your reservation by the deadline, SME is still required to pay for your dinner, and you will in turn be billed. Thank you.
Thank you to all our 2024 Scholarship Fundraiser Sponsors:
| Mother Lode |
Hexagon Mining, AMES Construction, ASARCO, South32 |
| Bonanza |
Freeport-McMoRan Sierrita Operations, Stantec |
| Big Nugget |
Granite, M3 Engineering, Southwest Exploration Services, WSP |
Pay Dirt |
Ausenco, Call & Nicholas, Florence Copper, GroundProbe, Independent Geomechanics, Independent Mining Consultants, KE&G, McCraren Compliance, Meridian Engineering, Montgomery & Associates, Piteau Associates, Tetra Tech |
| Prospect |
Darling Geomatics, Faraday Copper, Hatch, SRK Consulting |
| Supporters |
Cori Hoag, Mayes Consulting, Ray Valenzuela |
