I was recently honored to speak at the 6th Annual Current Trends in Mining Finance (CTMF) Conference, hosted by the New York Section of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. (SME). As a panel speaker with three peers I greatly respect, it was a neat opportunity to speak to attendees about reporting of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, and pending regulation from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). From left to right, the panel speakers are Dr. Harry Parker, Dr. Abani Samal, Peter Christensen, and myself.
This was the first time I have attended this conference, and it won’t be the last! Kudos to Mr. Tim Alch for assembling and coordinating such a great program. The venue, the Shearman and Sterling Building and offices, was absolutely perfect for such a conference. And, coming from Kentucky as I did, getting around the Big Apple was not so difficult as I had imagined.
The topic we spoke on was Implementing Mineral Resource & Mineral Reserve Definitions & Classification, and my specific subject was a discussion on Current Trends and Practices in Coal, Industrial Minerals, and Aggregates. So much of what we depend on in modern society is based on a strong industrial minerals sector, which without we would not have good roads, bridges, crop nutrition, food, paints, and many other basic necessities that we take for granted. Many of these basic necessities are manufactured from supply contracts, some of which last a decade or more. Ensuring all of the proper Modifying Factors to a Reserve Estimate have been accounted for is necessary to ensuring your estimate has the confidence needed to guarantee sufficient Reserves for the duration of these long-term contracts.