July 4, 2023, Reno, Nevada
A group of five New Caledonian delegates successfully completed attending the ERGI Academy and returned to their home country. I mentioned them in my last update on June 19, 2023. Let me identify them wearing the ERGI Academy polos and standing in front of the legendary John Mackay statue below. From our left, Mr. France Jewine, Mr. Willy Foucher, Ms. Lauretta Devaux, Mr. Remy Desbordes, and finally Mr. Alphonse Pujapujane to our extreme right.
It was a hectic two weeks for them; they covered the shortened versions of all ten short courses and visited Nevada Goldmine’s Twin Creek Openpit Operation. They also visited the historic mine site in Virginia City where Mr. John Mackay et al., started mining silver and gold in the 1850s. They also got to visit the National Auto Museum in Reno and took pictures with many classic cars including the 1908’s Ford Model T. They also visited Lake Tahoe on a Sunday. We all had a lot of fun with the group; hope they enjoyed their stay in Reno. We will update this website in August and share a lot more fun experiences that we had with the New Caledonian delegates. It was a true privilege and honor having to spend a couple of weeks with them in the ERGI Academy at UNR.
Prof. Manoj Mohanty, ERGI Academy Director
June 19, 2023, Reno, Nevada
The ERGI Academy at UNR is active again; we will invite three teams of delegates, respectively from New Caledonia, Vietnam, and Ecuador this summer. The first team of five delegates just arrived and their program will continue from today, June 19 until July 1, 2023. New Caledonia is a French territory comprising dozens of islands in the South Pacific. The word “Caledonian” is used by the French and others who have settled in the islands. The term “Kanak” is used to designate native residents of this south pacific archipelago and their culture. New Caledonia is rich in multiple critical energy mineral resources, including nickel, cobalt, manganese, etc.
The New Caledonian delegates include Mr. France, the finance and banking advisor to the President of the Government of New Caledonia; Ms. Lauretta, the foreign trade researcher in charge of nickel diplomacy; Mr. Alphonse, the secretary general and representative of the Loyalty Islands province; Mr. Willy, mineral resource geologist; and Mr. Remy, the Inspector of Mines and Quarries. The delegates have been accommodated in a different hotel this year, a little bit away from the campus, but very well located with a great lake view, walking track, and also the shining Sierra mountain to view. We hope they enjoy their time to the fullest and also learn many new things from our many expert instructors and mine site visits. I will come back with a new blog right after the completion of their visit;. We will add a whole new section highlighting their experience at UNR’s ERGI Academy as soon as possible.
Prof. Manoj Mohanty, ERGI Academy Director
July 24, 2022, Reno, Nevada
The last round of delegates for the 2022 summer, from Indonesia, is here now attending the ERGI Academy at UNR. Some ranking Indonesian delegates include a Deputy Minister and a couple of Assistant Deputy Ministers. Based on their interest, we have arranged a field trip to the Silver Peak Lithium Brine Operation.
It has been an exhaustive summer for the Team-UNR and all the expert instructors having to cater to the professional and personal needs of the delegations from four different countries, Colombia, Brazil, the Philippines, and Indonesia, one after the other. I am immensely grateful to all Team-UNR members, including many who operate behind the scene, for their tireless efforts. I am also thankful to the ERGI Countries and their delegates. They have taken the first step toward developing a sustainable supply chain of critical energy minerals well into the future.
Prof. Manoj Mohanty, ERGI Academy Director
July 12, 2022, Reno, Nevada
The first group of delegates attending the ERGI Academy was from Colombia. They were with us from May 13 until May 27. This was the most accommodating group we had this summer. The ERGI academy felt like the ERGI family; we had a lot of fun with them. Despite the difficulty with simultaneous Spanish interpretation services through Zoom, they never complained. I will not forget Camilo, Cristine, Nelson, and Martin, actually all of them. Ader was the bravest in the group; he took a dip in Lake Tahoe when the water temperature was barely 50 degrees F. Please look him up in the picture gallery of the Colombia section. I know I will be visiting them in the near future.
The second group of delegations was from Brazil, arriving a week after the Colombian delegates left. Originally eight of them were supposed to be attending the academy, but we ended up receiving only six of them. Due to ill health, one of them had to cancel his trip. But the seventh delegate, Mauricio, could not travel because he tested positive for Covid a day before his travel date. Seeing his strong interest in the program, we rebooked his flight for a week later. But his Covid report remained positive, so he could not join us. But from the beginning, we had arranged for him to join the lectures synchronously through Zoom, and he continued doing it until the end and answered all the questionnaires. Fernando was quite an interesting guy in this group and very fun to be with and talk with. Due to a family emergency, I had to rush to India for two weeks, so I did not get to spend much time with my Brazilian friend. The delegates went back on June 19.
The delegates from the Philippines arrived in Reno with a lot of difficulties due to multiple flight delays. When they missed their Reno flight from San Francisco, it was past midnight, and the airlines could not even find a hotel for them, with all good intentions. Fortunately, the ERGI-Philippines WhatsApp group was already functional. At 2 AM, I found a hotel in San Francisco. Director Wilfredo, having vast experience, was very interactive in the classroom. Marcial was a fun guy; look him up. Vernie was the youngest and strongest and usually my point of contact. It seems Whatsapp is not very popular in the Philippines, but Vernie had it on his phone. When I asked Vernie to form a Whatsapp group, he literally loaded the app on five other phones and helped me form the group. They went back on July 10.
The Team-UNR is eagerly waiting to welcome the last batch of the delegation this summer from Indonesia on July 17, 2022.
ERGI Academy Website (ergiacademy.org) is now partly live; the Team-UNR is still working on several sections. It is complete for the delegates from the Philippines. Please send your comments to manojmohanty.unr@gmail.com
Prof. Manoj Mohanty, ERGI Academy Director
July 5, 2022, Reno Nevada
Welcome to the website of ERGI Academy, which is still under construction but will be ready before the end of this month.
I take great pleasure in acknowledging the financial support received from the US Department of State’s Bureau of Energy (ENR), as well as the Australian Government for the ERGI Academy, established at the University of Nevada, Reno. I express my sincere gratitude, in particular, to Ms. Jenna Shroeder of ENR and Mr. Lachlan Scully of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for their constant support and guidance. The Team-UNR greatly appreciated the personal visits from Mr. Evan McGlauhin, Ms. Bibb Kristy of the US Depart of State, and Mr. Scully of DFAT, to Reno for the welcome receptions of the delegations from Colombia, Brazil, and the Philippines, respectively.
Finally, I express my great appreciation for the Mackay School faculty colleagues and the independent consultants from the industry who have served as the expert instructors for the short courses offered in ten different topical areas at the ERGI Academy. All of them are listed with their bios on this website. I also want to take this opportunity to Mr. Jeff Parshley for his initial enthusiasm and moral support to our Mackay School’s alumni, Mr. John Gates and Ms. Jenessa Haarala, for being a part of the grant proposal submitted to the US DOS back in 2020. They could not continue with the project due to their hectic schedule; however, I will be ever grateful to them for their timely support when I needed it the most while preparing the grant proposal. Last but not least is my special appreciation for my new faculty colleague, Mr. Ralston Pedersen. After losing a couple of original subject matter experts, I reached out to Mr. Pedersen, and in a matter for a few months, he was ready with the course material for one entire topic and half of another topic, which I greatly appreciated.
Translating all the course materials to Spanish and Portuguese for our delegates from Colombia and Brazil was the most arduous and time-taking ordeal. I truly appreciate the help received from my team member, Mr. Elmer Flores, not just with Spanish translation but the way he has supported the visiting delegates from all four countries. I am thankful for the help from Mr. Iuri Ramos and my colleague, Dr. Behrooz Abbasi, especially for the delegates from Brazil. It is interesting that while preparing for this program, I learned the difference between simultaneous and consecutive interpretations. I greatly appreciate the simultaneous interpretation service over zoom that our delegates from Colombia and Brazil received from Bridging the Gap Interpreting, LLC, located in Kansas City, KS. Their interpreters were top-notch. I would certainly return to them when we need an interpreting service again in the future.
Prof. Manoj Mohanty, ERGI Academy Director