The ISEE board of directors election is now underway. Eligible voters, all members in good standing with the exception of student members, can cast votes until Dec. 1, 2014.

All eligible voters with an email on file received a message with step-by-step instructions for casting a vote online. Print ballots and candidate bios were also mailed to members who don’t have an email address on file.

Elected officers and directors for 2015 will take office at the annual membership meeting at the 41st Annual Conference on Explosives and Blasting Technique, to be held Feb. 1-4, 2015, at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana

Your opinion matters. Take part in this year’s election.

Bradley Richard Langner, 65, passed away in Mission Viejo, California, on Friday Oct. 24, 2014, with friends and family beside him, after bravely battling cancer for a number of years.

A celebration of Brad’s life will be held at 1 p.m. Dec. 13, 2014, at the Winchester Country Club, in Meadow Vista, California.

For those wishing to send thoughts and messages, please do so care of

Alpha Explosives
P.O. Box 310
Lincoln, CA 95648
916.645.3377

Donations can also be made to the American Cancer Society.

After two and a half years in decline, the mining equipment market turned up slightly in the third quarter. Unit deliveries were more than 12% higher than 2Q though the increase on a value-weighted basis was less than half a percent.

As can be surmised, shipments of the very largest machines continued downward for the most part with growth coming from the smaller products and size classes. Larger equipment classes typically lag some months behind in the cycle so increasing value as well as unit volume could characterize coming quarterly deliveries.

Bridgestone Corp. commissioned its new 1.5-million-sq-ft facility in Aiken County, GA on Nov. 18.

The nearly $1 billion giant tire plant is the largest manufacturing investment in corporate history and will be the first Bridgestone facility to produce 49 in. to 63 in. tires for mining and quarry operations.

Gary Garfield, the chief executive officer for Bridgestone Americas said the move to build the mining tires in America was a strategic move by the corporation to be more nimble to changes in customer demand. It should also improve the global supply system.

Stay warm this winter season with your purchase of an ISEE hoodie and a 40th anniversary mug combo for only $32. That's a savings of 20%. Visit the ISEE bookstore, and click on the sale section to add the special merchandise combo to your shopping cart. Offer expires November 30, 2014. Standard shipping rates apply.

Make your plans now to attend ISEE's 41st Annual Conference on Explosives & Blasting Technique and register before November 30 to receive discounted early bird rates. Register online today, where conference information is accessible 24 hours a day.

Make an instant impact in the blasting industry by donating items for the Society of Explosives Engineers Education Foundation annual auction. The money raised from this event will provide scholarships to industry college students. The auction will take place during the awards banquet at the 41st Annual Conference on Explosives and Blasting Technique. To donate, email spena@isee.org or hawkins@isee.org or call 440.349.4400. Items will be accepted through Dec. 19, 2014.

Do you have a knack for photography and some great shots of a recent job you’d like to share? Submit them to our 22nd annual photo contest, sponsored by Instantel, for a chance to win a $500 gift certificate to the ISEE Blasters' Library.

The winner will be announced during our 41st Annual Conference on Explosives and Blasting Technique held Feb. 1 to Feb. 4, 2015, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

This popular and highly regarded one day seminar will take place on Saturday, Jan. 31. It was designed and presented for blasters by the best in the business to help plan and execute efficient blast designs, hear updates on regulations and safety and more. The seminar is included as part of the Blasters Weekend Package or sign up separately. The topics and speakers include:

Blasters training registration fee includes lunch, coffee breaks and course materials. The seminar runs from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Registration opens Friday from 3-5 p.m. and Saturday morning starting at 7 a.m. A certificate of attendance will be issued. The states of Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming have accepted retraining credit hours in the past. Check with your state officials for more information.

The Institute of Makers of Explosives Safety Analysis for Risk (IMESAFR) v2.0 training will be offered January 29-31 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel three days before the ISEE Conference.

IMESAFR v2.0 is the product of years of collaborative effort between the Institute of Makers of Explosives (IME) and A-P-T Research (APT) and is the most recent version of the versatile and dynamic IMESAFR risk assessment tool the explosives community has been using for years. IMESAFR has always been a powerful tool for calculating individual and group risk associated with explosives facilities using detailed information such as donor structure and activity, the structure of exposed sites and the duration of exposures for personnel. Now the 2.0 version of IMESAFR has a graphics oriented Geographic Information System (GIS) based interface that permits many graphical options for risk visualization, a Metric Engine option to perform site risk analysis in metric units, and a Quantity Distance (QD) feature that draws arcs referencing the American Table of Distances (ATD) or other QD regulations.

Other IMESAFR v2.0 features that were added at the request of those using earlier 1.x versions:
Visual output of debris density and overpressure/impulse as a function of range and bearing
Improved debris hazard models
Additional user options to customize a scenario

For more details, please contact APT directly by phone or by e-mail. You can also visit their website where you will find registration forms, course logistics and cost details. IMESAFR v2.0 is significantly different from earlier versions of IMESAFR, therefore the IME requires students trained in 1.x versions to attend the IMESAFR v2.0 training before obtaining the new software.

Nov. 21, 2014
Event starts at 9 a.m. For more information contact Errett Howard at ehoward@explosivecontractorsinc.com or John Bowling a tjbowling@whiteseis.com.

Dec. 5, 2014
Social hour begins at 6 p.m.; meeting to follow at 7 p.m.

Dec. 11-12, 2014
Visit, www.kyblastingconference.com for more information.