Topic 1: Overview of Energy Mineral Mining (William Warfield)
A Colorado School of Mines (CSM) graduate of 1975, Mr. Warfield has been quite active even after his retirement. He has taught short courses at his alma mater for nearly a decade. He has worked in various mining operations directly related to the energy resource minerals, for example, nickel mines in Canada and Bolivia, silver mines in the U.S. and Mexico, and copper mines in Peru and Chile. In addition, he has work experience in many other operations mining gold, salt, uranium, aggregates, boron, halides, etc.
Topic 2: Mining Data Acquisition and Management (Javad Sattarvand)
Dr. Sattarvand is an Associate Professor and the Chair of Mackay School’s Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). He has over 20 years of experience in the mining academia and industry. Before joining UNR, he was an associate professor at the Sahand University of Technology in Iran and an adjunct faculty at RWTH Aachen University in Germany and the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands. Dr. Sattarvand’s expertise is in mine planning and optimization as well as mine automation and artificial intelligence applications in mines.
Topic 3: Mine Reclamation and Environmental Management (Behrooz “Bruce” Abbasi)
Dr. Abbasi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering at UNR. He has over eight years of mining experience, including involvement in over 20 domestic and international projects. His related research focuses on mining health and safety, sustainable mining, mine reclamation and closure, and techno-economic analysis. He has worked on several projects in coal, gold, copper, and aggregates mines and assisted them in health and safety-related areas. He teaches a course on Mining and Sustainable Development regularly.
Topic 4: Mine Workforce Development (Michael Iannacchione)
Mr. Iannacchione is an Independent Consultant and SRK Consulting Associate. He is a University of Nevada Reno graduate of 1982 in Mining Engineering and has an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. He has more than 35 years of industry experience in various capacities. During his initial years, he worked as a Mine Manager in multiple gold mines in Nevada and Montana. He has been a Vice President/General Manager for over 20 years for various operations, including Round Mountain Gold, General Moly Inc., and Americas Gold & Silver Relief Canyon Mine in Nevada. He is a known expert in strategic planning, feasibility studies for disclosure reporting, due diligence, and workforce development.
Topic 5: Fiscal Terms and Contracts (Ralston Pedersen)
Mr. Pedersen is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering at the Mackay School. He has received an MS Degree and Mining Engineering and an MBA from the University of Nevada, Reno. His in-depth industry experience in consulting has led him to some of the most significant mining operations in the Western United States. A licensed professional mining engineer, his success on complex and critical projects has garnered strong industry connections and a reputation for outstanding and functional designs. Mr. Pedersen’s passion for the mining industry runs deep, and he is always advocating for mining, its sustainability and educating others on mining’s necessity in the modern world.
Topic 6.1: Mineral Leasing and Licensing (Ralston Pedersen)
Mr. Pedersen is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering at the Mackay School. Mr. Pedersen has received an MS Degree and Mining Engineering and an MBA from the University of Nevada, Reno. His in-depth industry experience in consulting has led him to some of the most significant mining operations in the Western United States. A licensed professional mining engineer, his success on complex and critical projects has garnered strong industry connections and a reputation for outstanding and functional designs. Mr. Pedersen’s passion for the mining industry runs deep, and he is always advocating for mining, its sustainability and educating others on mining’s necessity in the modern world.
Topic 6.2: International Standards for Resource and Reserve Reporting (Abani Samal)
Dr. Samal, the Principal, and Owner of GeoGlobal LLC, is a graduate of Imperial College, London. His Ph.D. in Energy and Mineral Resources appears to be a perfect fit for this topical area. After gaining nearly ten years of experience with Rio Tinto and Pincock, Dr. Samal started his own consulting company, GeoGlobal, about seven years ago. He regularly offers short courses/workshops at the SME Annual Meeting sites and many more professional venues. Almost a year ago, his last short course offered in Reno was well attended. He is regularly consulted for detailed technical analyses related to mineral resource estimation, geostatistics, resource reporting, strategic advice in mineral exploration, including leasing & permitting issues, and development & implementation of best international reporting guidelines for exploration results and mineral resources, and reserves.
Topic 7: Geographic Information System (Scott Bassett)
Dr. Bassett is an Associate Professor in the Geography Department of the Mackay School in UNR’s College of Science. Dr. Bassett, having a Ph.D. from Harvard University, is a conservation biologist and geographic information systems (GIS) specialist with over 15 years of teaching/research experience. He teaches GIS and Advanced GIS courses regularly. His research interest includes environmental planning, spatial modeling, ecology, GIS, integrative modeling, and decision support systems.
Topic 8: Mine Health and Safety Standards (Lara Sims)
Ms. Sims is a visionary leader with 25+ years’ progressive experience managing health and safety strategies for large-scale mining operations across the US. She is devoted to preparing leaders, training teams, mitigating risk, solving problems, and preventing injury and loss, all with a Zero Harm philosophy. Ms. Sims started her career in mining as a summer student and, over the past 28 years, has been focused on growing into well-respected health and safety professional. As a full-time equipment operator, Ms. Sims was selected and made high-impact contributions that led to successfully obtaining ISO14001 & OHSAS18001 certifications. She created a comprehensive resource to systemize and organize training specialties and implemented a system to ensure that staff certifications were kept up to date. She has led multiple mine rescue teams, health and safety teams, and summer intern programs throughout her career. Ms. Sims has recently successfully owned and operated Sims 360 Health and Safety Solutions.
Topic 9: Social Licensing to Operate (Ann Carpenter)
Ms. Ann Carpenter, the CEO of Remote Energy Solutions and Consultant of SRK, is an accomplished mineral development professional with over thirty-five years of experience. She serves as the Chair Person of the Advisory Board of UNR’s College of Science and is a member of the Professional Advisory Board of Mackay’s School’s Mining and Metallurgical Engineering. She manages and mitigates risk to project development by integrating permitting feasibility studies and sustainability measures for successful project advancement. Additionally, her government and legislative affairs experience provide her with a diverse perspective of crucial development challenges regarding project development worldwide. She brings an applied technical understanding of global mineral development challenges and integrated sustainable development applications. Her current role as a Director for Ensign Gold includes sustainable development-focused strategies to help the company advance its mineral properties.
Topic 10: Mine Life Cycle Analysis (Ehsan Vahidi)
Dr. Vahidi is an Assistant Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has received a Ph.D. from Purdue University in Environmental and Ecological Engineering and a couple of years of relevant post-doctoral work experience at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His expertise includes life cycle assessment (LCA), recycling and reuse, and critical materials.
Academy Management & Site Visits
Dr. Manoj Mohanty, the Newmont Endowed Professor at the Mackay School of UNR, serves as the Director of the ERGI Academy. He recently completed his five-year stint as the Chairman of Mackay School’s Mining and Metallurgical Engineering Department. Prof. Mohanty’s area of expertise and interest is in mineral processing and critical energy minerals. Prof. Mohanty received nearly seven years of work experience in mining and related industries before beginning his academic career at his alma mater, Southern Illinois University (SIU), in the year 2000. After spending 17 ½ years at SIU, he moved to UNR as the Chair of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering. Prof. Mohanty, a registered member of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME) has published two books and more than 100 technical articles in international journals and conference proceedings. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Mining, Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, as well as a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Coal Preparation and Utilization and International Journal of Mining and Mineral Engineering. He received AIME/SME’s prestigious Mineral Industry Education Award in 2019. At SIU, Prof. Mohanty received the Outstanding Engineering Faculty Award in 2012, Outstanding Engineering Faculty Researcher as well as Outstanding Engineering Research Paper Awards in 2002.
Dr. John Muntean
Dr. Muntean is an Associate Professor in Economic Geology at the Mackay School. Dr. Muntean, having a Ph.D. from Stanford University, is the Director of the Center for Research in Economic Geology (CREG) under the jurisdiction of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG). NBMG is the state geological survey of Nevada. Dr. Muntean worked for 12 years in the mining companies exploring for gold, mainly in Nevada, including Santa Fe Pacific, Homestake, and Placer Dome. He has published extensively on epithermal, porphyry, and Carlin-type gold deposits in Nevada and Latin America. Appropriate laboratory analyses field-based back his research.
