More than 1,700 people from around the world met Jan. 28–31, 2018, in San Antonio, Texas, for the 44th Annual Conference on Explosives & Blasting Technique, the world’s largest conference on explosives engineering.

During the conference, keynote presenter and astronaut Mike Mullane spoke about the space shuttle Challenger disaster and emphasized the importance of safety. The new online SEE Education Foundation auction, which concluded Tuesday, Jan. 30, raised more than $11,000. Big-ticket items included rare vintage Atlas stamping plates, a lifetime ISEE membership and a helicopter tour in Alaska.

Did you get your picture taken at the Emerging Professional Social or Grand Finale Gala photo booths while you were at the conference? All the photo booth pictures are posted on our Flickr page. Check them out, to download yours today.

The Eastern PA Chapter is seeking industry focused images of safe blasting for one of its upcoming projects. If you have pictures that you would like to share, please contact Danny Leach at daniel.leach@epiroc.com. All images the chapter selects will receive proper photo credits.

On Jan. 19, 2018, a water truck operator and passenger were seriously injured when their truck overturned. The truck tank was three quarters full of water at the time of the accident and the roadway was slightly uneven. Both miners were wearing their seat belts.

The value of global mining and metals deals hit a four-year high in 2017, according to accountancy firm EY, boosted by a jump in money raised on stock exchanges to a six-year high.

Mining and metals deals totaled $51 billion last year, up 15% from 2016. Activity was dominated by coal and steel transactions. However, the volume of deals fell 6% as M&A focus in the sector started shifting from divestment to strategic acquisitions, EY said in a quarterly report on the sector, published on Monday.

The United States should boost domestic production of 35 critical minerals including uranium, cobalt and lithium, to reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers, the Interior Department said on Friday.

Aluminum and potash are also on Interior's draft list of 35 critical materials used in basic manufacturing, batteries and electronics. It was the department's first step to carry out a presidential order issued in December to break U.S. dependence on foreign minerals.

New for 2018: All ISEE members now have free access to the online research database OneMine. It’s home to more than 124,000 articles, technical papers, books in the explosives, mining, minerals and tunneling industries. Along with ISEE technical papers, members now have free access to papers from SME, NIOSH, AusIMM, CIM, SAIMM, TMS, IMPC, DFI and IIMP.

To access OneMine, ISEE members need to log in to the ISEE website first. Once in the members section, click on Research Papers and Proceedings. From there, members have two options to choose from. ISEE Explosives Reference Database Online contains only ISEE related papers and articles leading up to 2000. OneMine contains ISEE documents from 2001-2017 as well as all the 124,000 documents from other organizations.

If you have questions about your ISEE account or about any of our member benefits, please visit our website or contact us at isee@isee.org.

Did you know the ISEE has an online career center that offers discounts to members looking to post jobs? Whether you’re a student looking for an internship or a business looking for a seasoned professional in the explosives industry, the ISEE job board, located at the ISEE website, is a great way to get noticed.

And one of the best parts is that it’s free for job seekers. Upload your resume today to get the attention of job posters or browse the job board for the latest openings. Visit the career center now.

Feb. .21, 2018
Olathe, Kan.

Feb. 22-24, 2018
Branson, Mo.

Feb. 24, 2018
Lincoln, Calif.

Feb. 25-28, 2018
Minneapolis, Minn.

Feb. 28, 2018
New Britain, Conn.