Copper 201 Presenters

Keynote

Tuesday, May 8

8 - 8:45 am

Red Conger, President and COO, Americas, Freeport-McMoRan

Harry M. (Red) Conger is president and chief operating officer - Americas, and is
responsible for management of the company’s North and South America copper
mining operations, and Climax Molybdenum Co. This includes nine mining operations
in North America, two in South America, and the associated downstream processing
facilities. These operations employ more than 18,000 people and have annual copper
production of 2.8 billion pounds and annual molybdenum production of 91 million
pounds from mines operated by Freeport-McMoRan. He also has environmental and
corporate social leadership responsibilities in North and South America.
Mr. Conger has 40 years of mining industry experience with Freeport-McMoRan and
its predecessors and is considered a leader in safety, change management and
production efficiency.

 

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Drone Technology

Tuesday, May 8

9 - 9:45 am

Andrew Carey, Senior Engineer - Drone Technology, Kennecott Utah Copper

 

Andrew Carey is a Mining Engineer at Rio Tinto Kennecott Utah Copper. He is currently the Director of Drone Operations at Rio Tinto Kennecott. He has worked at Kennecott for 5 years in various roles in Short and Medium Range Mine Planning, Surveying and Mine Operations. Prior to working at Kennecott, Andrew worked in the underground coal industry as well as the mineral processing industry. Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, Andrew began his mining career with a bachelor’s degree in Mining Engineering from the University of Utah. Andrew enjoys the sport of kiteboarding as well as attending University of Utah sporting events with his wife Jessica.

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Copper Outlook

Tuesday, May 8

10 - 10:45 am

Edward Meir, Independent Commodity Consultant, INTL FCStone

Mr. Meir has been in the commodities business for more than 30 years. After getting his BA in Economics from McGill University and his M.B.A from New York University, Mr. Meir started his career as a research analyst with Drexel Burnham Lambert, covering the tropical commodities. He spent the next nine years trading aluminum, tin and steel for Trans-World Metals and after leaving them, formed his own company involved in physical agency business and research services. In 2011, after being with MF Global’s base metals and energy team for eight years, he moved his consultancy to INTL FCStone, where he continues to provide award-winning research on the LME markets. Metal Bulletin ranked Mr. Meir as the #1 overall base metals analyst in terms of forecast accuracy in 2011, 2014 and 2015, assigned him a #2 ranking in 2013 and a #3 ranking last r.

 

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U.S. Education in Mining Engineering

Tuesday, May 8

10:45 - 11 am 

 Dr. Priscilla Nelson, Department Head, Mining Engineering, Colorado School of Mines

Dr. Priscilla P. Nelson is Professor and Head of Mining Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.  She previously was Provost at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), program director and senior advisor at the US National Science Foundation (NSF), and Professor in Civil Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. She has an international reputation in geological and rock engineering, and has been involved in the underground construction industry for over 35 years. She worked for the US DOE and the State of Texas on the Superconducting Super Collider project, and she has served two terms on the U. S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, appointed by President Clinton.
 
Dr. Nelson has published more than 150 technical and scientific publications, and she is a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), former president of the Geo-Institute of ASCE, a lifetime member and first president and Fellow of the American Rock Mechanics Association, and Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Nelson has received many honors and awards, including election to The Moles (1995) and induction into Tau Beta Pi as an Eminent Engineer (2007). In 2008 she received the Kenneth Andrew Roe Award from the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES), and she was the 2011 recipient of the ASCE Henry L. Michel Award. In 2015 she was identified as one of the 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining (by WIM/UK), and also was appointed to the Committee on Geological and Geotechnical Engineering of the National Academies. In 2016 she was appointed Chair of the Mine Safety and Health Research Advisory Committee of NIOSH/CDC.
 
She received her BS degree in geology from the University of Rochester (1970) and two master’s degrees in geology (Indiana University, 1976) and structural engineering (University of Oklahoma, 1979). In 1983, she received her PhD degree from Cornell University.  And she survived the tenure process a long time ago by enrolling in acting classes, has always loved Shakespeare, and was a hippie-chick back in the day, and she still is one now in her heart of hearts.

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Economic Outlook

Wednesday, May 9

8:30 - 9:15 am

Alison Felix, VP & Denver Branch Executive, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Alison Felix is vice president and Denver Branch executive at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. In this role, she serves as the Bank's regional economist and representative in the states of Colorado, Wyoming and northern New Mexico. Felix also recruits and works closely with the Branch’s board of directors and is responsible for briefing the Kansas City Fed’s president—a member of the Federal Open Market Committee—on economic and business activity in the Denver region's states. Felix’s research focuses on public finance and labor issues, with an emphasis on tax policy, state and local government finance and the economics of education.

Felix joined the Federal Reserve in 2007 as an economist in the Regional Affairs Department in Kansas City. She was appointed Denver Branch Executive in 2012. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in mathematics and economics from Kansas State University.

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China Scrap Issues

Wednesday, May 9

9:15 - 10 am

Andy Home, Metals Columnist, Reuters

Andy Home has been writing about the metal markets and other commodity sectors since 1987. He started at Metals Week, progressing to Knight-Ridder Financial and then to Bridge over the course of the 1990s. In 2002 he co-founded Metals Insider, which was acquired by Thomson Reuters in 2008. Since then he has been a regular Reuters columnist, writing across the industrial metals spectrum.

He is the author of “Siberian Dreams”, published in 2007, a book about the Russian mining city of Norilsk. The journey also featured on BBC Radio 4 and was the subject of a lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in London. 

 

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Electric Vehicle and Charging Stations 

Wednesday, May 9 

10:15 - 11:00 am 

Lisa Jerram, Consultant, Navigant Research (research commissioned by the International Copper Association)

Lisa Jerram is a principal research analyst at Navigant Research, where she heads up the Transportation Efficiencies research service. She analyzes emerging markets for new vehicle technologies for cars, trucks and buses; electric vehicle charging equipment; innovative urban mobility solutions such as on-demand mobility; and fuel cells and hydrogen infrastructure.

Lisa has over 20 years of experience analyzing the market potential of advanced transportation technologies, with her work being used by governments and the private sector to determine market potential, barriers and drivers across a range of new technologies.

 

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Freight Issues 

Wednesday, May 9 

11- 11:45 am

Robert Stachura, COO, Western Express

 

Robert joined Western Express in 2006 and was named COO in 2012. He previously served as VP of Operations an VP of Sales for National Accounts. He’s held various operating roles within Ozburn-Hessey Logistics & Southeastern Freight. He has served in the U.S. Army and has a combined 23 years of industry experience.