46th International Conference on Ground Control in Mining

The conference focuses on mining-related technologies and methods. Abstract topic areas include reclamation, mine operations, and water treatment. Attendees are eligible for Professional Development Hours based on class time.

The technical program covers mining research and operational innovation, including AI, robotics and automation; advanced process control and digital twins; mineral processing, metallurgy and critical minerals; and bulk material handling, transfer-chute engineering and dust mitigation. Presentations address rare-earth extractant modeling, nickel leaching, copper flotation, sensor drift in AI systems, and coal mining beneath water bodies. The program includes the Robert E. Murray Innovation Award Lecture and the Dreyer Lecture. Conference registration includes technical sessions, keynote sessions, poster sessions, digital technical preprints, and access to the Western Mining Summit and the expo.

The program’s technical sessions cover environmental issues, geotechnical engineering, mineral processing, mining, Mexico-focused projects, geology, and new projects. Topics include Arizona’s WOTUS status; machine-learning-based representative sample selection; open-pit slope stabilization; alkaline-flush treatment of metals-impacted water; numerical mine modeling, geotechnical monitoring, and tailings-storage-facility stability; flotation technologies, ADR processes, and SAG mill sizing; mine-permitting timelines, pump failures, electrical maintenance, water treatment, and autonomous operations; and mineral resources, drilling confidence, tailings water balances, and mine-project development. Featured presentations address Resolution Copper’s next chapter and large-load electrical growth in Arizona. New-project updates cover the Santa Cruz Ivanhoe Mine, Florence Copper, Faraday Copper’s Redhawk Complex, and Hudbay CopperWorld. The program also includes a student poster session and a student pitch session. Pre-conference programming includes a course on proposed NI 43-101 disclosure changes and a Women in Mining workshop on boundary-setting skills.

The technical program examines Great Basin geology and mineral deposits, including their strategic importance to U.S. mineral independence. It includes technical talks, keynote presentations, exhibits, professional and student posters, core shacks, field trips, and short courses. Technical sessions cover Mesozoic geology and ore deposits; exploration technology; Paleocene-to-late-Eocene geology and Carlin-type deposits; copper; epithermal deposits in Nevada and the Walker Lane; carbonate replacement deposits; ghost mineral districts and exploration blind spots; lithium; critical minerals; and the Western Cordillera. Field-trip subjects include hydrothermal gold systems, Walker Lane epithermal deposits, Yerington copper, Nevada lithium, Carlin-type deposits, the Comstock gold and silver district, and Lake Tahoe’s volcanic origins. Short courses address ore and alteration features in epithermal-to-porphyry systems and mineral resource estimation for public reporting, including geostatistics, data QA/QC, variogram analysis, interpolation, resource classification, and reporting under S-K 1300, NI 43-101, or JORC. All attendees are welcome, including nonmembers.

The program addresses safe, efficient, and responsible coal use, with sessions on emergency preparedness, procurement, reliability, AI-ready coal assets, unit-operation costs, workforce recruitment and knowledge retention, maintenance prioritization, combustible-dust hazards, ash use and marketability, heat-rate degradation, fire protection, and contractor safety. Roundtable themes include safety and health, boiler and combustion, coal handling, emergency response, incident prevention, uses for ash, and AI applications.

Programming is organized around Learn and Connect tracks. Learn covers legal, regulatory, innovation, and economic forces shaping mining and minerals, including mining law, permitting, litigation trends affecting critical mineral exploration and development, executive strategy, risk management, workforce development, geopolitical pressures, legislation, and energy security. Connect includes an exhibit hall spanning engineering and consulting, legal and financial services, environmental and ESG advising, recruitment, technology, equipment, and exploration and development. Its Business Development Forum offers one-on-one company meetings focused on opportunities and potential partnerships.

URTeC and the Offshore Technology Conference will be co-located while retaining distinct technical focuses. URTeC centers on unconventional resource development, with shared industry priorities that include capital efficiency, digital transformation, emissions reduction, and operational performance. Technical themes include operator case studies integrating geology, geophysics, geomechanics, completions, and reservoir engineering across exploration, appraisal, pilot testing, and development; advanced formation evaluation using well logs, core and fluid characterization, digital rock technologies, and petrophysical interpretation; geological and geophysical methods for prospectivity, acreage assessment, seismic imaging, reservoir characterization, and produced-water management; and geomechanics in well design, hydraulic fracturing, production, and refracturing. Other themes address geochemistry and fluid-rock interactions, including applications to geothermal energy and critical minerals; AI and data science for subsurface characterization, reserves estimation, drilling, completions, and production forecasting; enhanced recovery and restimulation, including gas and CO₂ injection, chemical agents, simulation, and field surveillance; and reserves estimation and production forecasting. Clean-energy topics include methane monitoring and mitigation, electrification, flaring reduction, geothermal development, infrastructure repurposing, helium and hydrogen, critical-mineral extraction, and produced-water treatment, reuse, and mineral recovery. Well-level interventions include remediation, sidetracks, artificial lift, diagnostics, and intervention economics.

The workshop focuses on practical well integrity solutions across barrier design, remediation, qualification, and lifecycle risk management, emphasizing applications, new technologies, and process methodologies. Field lessons, technical perspectives, and interactive discussion connect engineering principles with real-world deployment challenges. Session topics include cement as a barrier, including establishing cement barriers in a complex onshore U.S. exploration well with a narrow pore-pressure/fracture-gradient window, cementing best practices, and wellbore cementing. Another session covers production-casing integrity risk management, detecting fluid- and cement-driven casing defects through the production life cycle, and artificial-lift decisions under wellbore constraints. An interactive case study has teams solve well integrity challenges and exchange lessons learned and best practices. Further topics include barrier qualification and P&A operations; rigless well integrity remediation; surveillance technology; integrated monitoring for CCS well integrity; corrosion and materials challenges in CCUS Class VI wells; thermal heavy-oil well design; quantitative risk analysis; DHSV strategies in subsea wells; FEP risk assessment using individual barrier evaluation; alternative barrier materials for conventional Australian well abandonments; Permian well integrity solutions; and sealants for flow through narrow pathways.

Conference content centers on issues affecting the Midwest minerals market, including ESG, processing innovation, plant maintenance optimization, safety, technology, market trends, and operational advancements. Technical sessions address mining-sector challenges and opportunities; an exhibit hall features products, services, and integrated solutions for mining operations.