A new fund, the Dale Ramsey Memorial Scholarship Fund, was recently launched by the SEE Education Foundation under the guidance of Tom Watts, ISEE past president.

Dale Ramsey left a tremendous legacy in the industry and in explosives and engineering education after his passing on April 15, 2016. He helped establish ISEE chapters and regional training conferences. Dale was an ISEE past president, and for more than 40 years, he was the general manager at Senex Explosives, Inc. His commitment to the industry touched countless lives around the world.

This new scholarship will honor the drive and passion Dale showed for ISEE and for students pursuing college degrees in the industry.

ISEE recently added two new features to its website in its continued effort to provide ISEE members and industry experts with the latest tools and resources.

The first resource, Find a State Regulator section, is a free listing of state officials and regulators who help oversee the explosives industry rules and regulations in their state. The section is organization by state and available to both ISEE members and non-members.

The second resource titled ISEE Securing Explosives Materials: A Prime Responsibility of Industry, is an ISEE member exclusive presentation that outlines the latest best practices of securing explosive materials in the work place. The document can be downloaded in Handbook & Guides section of the Blasters’ Toolkit.

The ISEE is seeking videos and photographs for its Blasting Fundamentals Training development and other future projects unrelated to the annual conference and the video round up. These online and face-to-face training modules are based upon the 18th Edition Blasters’ Handbook chapters.

This is a great way to show off your work. All individuals or companies submitting videos/photographs chosen for use will be given acknowledgement in the presentations.

Mandalay Resources’ mine in Chile is now completely flooded, including a shelter rescuers were hoping two trapped miners had reached, the officer in charge of the search said.

General Fernando San Cristóbal, head of the rescue team, said the results of a drilling probe conducted to locate the two missing miners found water at level 55, which is where they were supposed to be at the time of the accident and where the emergency shelter is located, EFE news agency reported.

A waterproof camera is expected to reach the area where the miners are believed to have been working as well as the emergency shelter.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy will invest $6.9 million into two projects in its efforts to find ways to record rare-earth elements (REE) from coal sources.

The DOE has selected three projects that will receive about $3 million for research aimed at producing salable rare earth elements (REEs) from domestic coal and coal by-products. In addition, DOE has announced the availability of an additional $3.95 million for projects in three new topic areas to accelerate separation and extraction processes for REEs.

Caterpillar Inc. announced the retirement of three of its vice presidents — Paolo Fellin, Greg Folley, and George Taylor. The company also announced organizational changes that will create two new divisions to drive greater efficiencies and effectiveness in support of its customers, and the appointment of two new vice presidents with a search for a third.

Global copper production growth will be supported by key markets with low operating costs and strong project pipelines in the next four years, according to research firm BMI’s copper outlook report, released Monday. Global copper mine production, supported by markets and low operating costs, is forecast to increase by an average yearly rate of 4.1% between 2017 and 2021, as many major projects come online.

However, the research firm noted that a few developments will pose considerable risks to the copper mine outlook for 2017, namely labour unrest in Latin America and Freeport McMoRan's negotiations with the Indonesian government to resume copper exports from the Grasberg mine, which could result in lower-than-expected output.

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.

The EFEE 9th World Conference on Explosives & Blasting will be held Sept. 10-12, 2017, at the Brewery Conference Centre in Stockholm, Sweden. Highlights of the conference include technical presentations, an industry exhibition, educational workshops, welcome drinks reception, gala dinner and partner program.

Explosives users, manufacturers and drilling equipment operators as well as researchers and professionals involved in the construction and mining industry will be in attendance.

The technical sessions will be divided into key themes. Authors will present their papers in English to an audience in a lecture style format with some time for questions from the audience.

June 22, 2017
Grantville, Penn.

June 26, 2017
Kansas City, Mo.

July 8-13, 2017
Fort Collins, Colo.

July 9-14, 2017
Rapid City, S.D.

July 14, 2017
Fort Collins, Colo.

July 24, 2017

July 25-27, 2017
Huntsville, Ala.
Contact Dean Nichols at dnichols@apt-research.com for more information.