Mine Design, Operations and Closure Conference Schedule

8:00 a.m. 

Registration opens

9:00 a.m.

Bus departs from the front entrance of Fairmont
Note: Please be sure to check in at the conference registration desk before boarding the bus.

Noon

Lunch (provided to all attendees)

3:00 p.m. 

Bus will stop at Smelter City Brewing in Anaconda
Note: Those not interested in going to the Brewery will be transported back to Fairmont. A bus will return to the Brewery for final pick up at 4:30 pm.

5:00 pm

Bus arrives back at Fairmont

7:00 a.m. 

Registration opens

8:00 a.m.

Welcome breakfast

Keynote/Breakfast Speaker

8:30 a.m. 

Matt Vincent, Rampart Solutions/Montana Mining Association

9:00 a.m. 

Break

On the Legal Side Session

9:30 a.m.

Caselaw & Statutory Federal Mining Law Trends: Past, Present …and Future?
Mike Burnside, retired, US Forest Service

10:00 a.m.

Overview of the Thacker Pass & Rosemont Court Rulings & Implications for Mine Permitting
Debra Struhsacker, Environmental Permitting & Government Relations Consultant

10:30 a.m.

Clean Water Act: Wetlands Update
Lara Guercio, Crowley Fleck

11:00 a.m. 

Mine Bankruptcy - tentative
Engels Tajeda, Holland and Hart LLP

Update Session

11:30 a.m. 

Lead Mining and Reclamation in Missouri: Past, Present and Future (Part II)
Gary Hazen, PE, PG, RG & Maxwell Hire, PG, CDM Smith, Inc.

Noon

Lunch (provided to all attendees)

1:00 p.m.

Extinguishing the Last Gold Mine on the Border of Yellowstone National Park
Joe Josephson, Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness Foundation

1:30 p.m.

Update on Mike Horse Mine
Steve Opp, US Forest Service, Dan Bowers, Montana DEQ, & Beau Downing, Tetra Tech

2:00 p.m.

Red Pine Mine
Bruce Cox, Geologist

2:30 p.m.

Break

3:00 p.m.

Status of Montana Tunnels: Is there a Light at the End of the “Tunnel”
Wayne Jepson, Montana DEQ

Mine Regulation Session

3:30 p.m.

Challenges and Solutions in Developing Multi-Agency Financial Assurance
Dan Kline, Perpetua Resources

4:00 p.m.

MDEQ Mining Bureau UAV Utilization: Increased Safety, Compliance, & Efficiency (PLUS: Drone Imagery Collection from Conference Field Trip)
Carly Russell and Tim Matthews, Montana Department of Environmental Quality

5:00 pm

Social (hosted by Tetra Tech)

7:30 a.m.

Registration opens and continental breakfast is available

Mine Closure Session

8:30 a.m. 

An Arsenic Research & Mitigation Journey at the Galena Mine
Hannah Brill, Americas Gold & Silver

9:00 a.m. 

Guiding Mine Closure, A Case Study: Distinguishing Anthropogenic versus Geogenic Sources of Heavy Metals in Residential Soils Potentially Impacted by Metal Smelting
Jenna V. Adams, Haley & Aldrich, Inc.

9:30 a.m.

Sitewide Monitoring for Mine Operation and Closure: Solutions using a Communication Network and the Internet of Things
Brooke Thompson, Arcadis

10:00 a.m.

Break

Strategic Metals Session

10:30 a.m.

From Waste to Treasure: Novel Processes for Recovering High Value Materials from Unconventional Sources
Teagan Leitzke, PhD & Jerry Downey, PhD, Montana Tech

11:00 a.m. 

Update on Ruby Graphite Project
John Childs, PhD, & Riley Leigh, Childs Geoscience, Inc.

11:30 a.m. 

DHS and Economic Security
Brian Dutz, US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Noon

EVs: Myths, Minerals, and Misperceptions
Dave Williams, retired, BLM

12:30 p.m. 

Lunch (provided to all attendees)

Water Session

1:30 p.m.

Water Doesn’t Have to be for Fighting
Greg Bryce, Hydrometrics, Inc.

2:00 p.m.

Strategies for Investigating Fate and Transport of Mercury at Mine Sites
Steve Dent, PhD, CDM Smith, Inc.

2:30 p.m.

Blacktail Creek Riparian Actions of the Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site
Drew Herrera, PE, & Kyle Poissen, HydroGeoLogic, Inc.

3:00 p.m.

Break

3:30 p.m.

Advances and Opportunities in Microbial Ecology of Mined Environments
Katharine Seipel, Enviromin, Inc.

4:00 p.m.

Use of Probabilistic Stability Models to Evaluate At-Risk Tailings Facilities
Sarah Garland, P.E., Tetra Tech

5:00 p.m.

Social (hosted by Pioneer Technical Services)

7:30 a.m. 

Registration opens and breakfast is available

Reclamation Session

8:30 a.m. 

Mining Methods Exert Differential Effects on Species Recruitment at Artisanal SmallScale Mining Sites in Ghana
Desmond Asare, Abosso GoldFields Limited – (pending Visa approval)

9:00 a.m. 

Open-cut Reclamation
Ken Stoeber, TMC, Inc.

9:30 a.m.

Reclamation: Soil Handling Options
Richard E. Spang, Westmoreland Rosebud Mining & Corey Baker, Westech Environmental Services, Inc

10:00 a.m.

Break

10:30 a.m.

Lessons From 20 Years Remediating and Revegetating a Riparian Superfund Site in Southwest Montana
Richard Prodgers, Bighorn Environmental

11:00 a.m. 

Creating Topographic Diversity in Reclamation to Manage Storm Water Runoff
Allen Wellborn, Navajo Transitional Energy Company

11:30 a.m.

Travels with an Esteemed Federal Partner (Geology and Scenery)
Warren McCullough, retired, Montana DEQ

Noon

Lunch (provided to all attendees)