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The meeting was called to order by the President, Mr. B. J. Matteson, in Dining Room No. I of the Albany Hotel, at 10 a. in., with thirty members present. After an address of welcome by the President, the Convention proceeded to business. First on the program was the reading of the minutes of the' previous meeting, by" the Secretary.' There being no alterations or amendments they were approved as read. A motion was regularly moved and carried that the Secretary provide membership cards to be mailed, or presented, to the members upon payment of dues in lieu of the receipt which has heretofore been used since the organization of the Institute. Mr. R. A. McAllister then presented his paper, the subject, being: "Mine Haulage." Mr. Robert A. Marshall had prepared a paper upon the subject of "Efficiency in Shot Firing," but as he was unavoidably absent, it was read by Mr. Sam Andrews. At the conclusion of the reading of Mr. Marshall's paper, Mr. Andrews presented his own *paper: "Some Facts About Coal Mining." As Mr. George A. Brown was unable to be present, the President requested Mr. R. S. Morton to read his paper, subject: "Flexoid Tubing and Its Application to Coal Mines as a Means of Temporary Ventilation." There being no further business 'the meeting adjourned.

Jan 1, 1921

The 68th Regular Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute convened in Manor Vail Lodge, Vail, Colorado, and was in session at 10:00 a.m. The meeting was called to order by Past President Max A. Robb, Vice President and General Manager, U.S. Fuel Company, Hiawatha, Utah. Mr. Robb welcomed the members and guests and was pleased with the large attendance. He then introduced President Joseph E. Ward, former District Man- ager, Denver Office, Coal Division, Joy Manufacturing Co. (Retired). A brief biography follows: Mr. Ward is a transplanted Westerner, having spent the greater part of his life in the Eastern and Southern areas of this country. In 1927, he graduated from what was then the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pa., with a B.S. degree in Mining Engineering. He dropped out of school for a period between his Junior and Senior years and worked in the coal mines in order to obtain sufficient money to complete his education. Practically all his adult life since graduation, has been spent in or around the coal mines in this country. After graduation, he worked the next 15 years of his life as an underground supervisor, first for the Hudson Coal Co., in Scranton, Pa. and later for the U.S. Steel Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama. He then went into sales, selling basically to the coal mine industry and other mining operations. The last 13 years of his business career were spent as a district manager for Joy Manufacturing CO., 10 years of which were in the Coal Division of their Denver office, covering the Rocky Mountain area. He retired in August 1970 but still retains an active interest in the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute and the Rocky Mountain Coal Industry it supports. He is a widower, his wife, Thelma having died in July 1970. He has two children and six grandchildren.

Jan 1, 1972

The Annual Business Meeting of the members of The Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute held during he 84th Regular Meeting of the Institute was called to order by the president, H. Dean Jacot at 11:30 a.m Tuesday, June 28. 1988 in Peak Room 5 of Beaver Run Resort at Breckenridge, Colorado. Twenty three were present and a quorum was established. The president stated the purpose of the annual meeting is to inform members of the status of the affairs and activities of the corporation during the year. It was moved by Loren Linville, seconded and carried to approve the minutes of the previous meeting as published in the 1987 Proceedings. The chair called for reports of the various com¬mittees and these reports will he placed on file in the RMCMI office. Bylaws and Resolutions. Chairman Loren V. Linville reported there were no bylaws revisions. He further reported that the Board had adopted two resolutions: (I) Noting the passing of members since the last convention-Richard T. Brownrigg. Don A Dewey, John T. Maulshy. Hugh D. Nyquist and Mike Zakotnik. (2) Recognizing the superior skills of J. Brett Harvey. RMCMI Vice President of Utah. For recruiting 26 new members from the State of Utah and named him as #1 Recruiter in the Institute?s 1988 membership drive. Linville further commended the Executive Secretary officers, chairmen and committees loran excellent job in planning the 84th Regular Meeting and convention. Membership. In the absence of chairman Ed Sullivan. the secretary reported there are currently 718 active or dues paying members, 51 Life Members and 250 delinquent in dues payment. In the 1988 membership drive. 132 new members have been recruited and 74 of them attended this convention making up 27V, of the total attendance. Patrons of the Institute. This report was given by the secretary for chairman Ira McKeever. A total of 124 plaques has been prepared during the low year life of the program. It has been culled to 119 possible donors as some firms have gone out of business or consolidated. Of this number 46 renewed their annual $100 donation and three new Patrons have joined prior to the convention for a total of 49. During the convention. four new Patrons donated $100 each. tour former Patrons pledged $100 each and seven would be-new Patrons pledged $100 each for a total of 15. This would bring the grand total to 64 if all pledges are received prior to the close of this fiscal year as opposed to 59 renewals in 1987. Program. Co-Chairman Pete Nielsen announced the convention program theme "Broadening OUR Horizons" was well received despite the loss of three speakers during the final days prior to convention. Because the remarks of the Monday luncheon keynote speaker ran over the first time-to-be-tried Monday afternoon Poster Session was delayed almost an hour in beginning. This well thought out feature will he run again next year but in a different time frame. Nielsen thanked his co-chairmen, Bill Balaz and the Poster Session chairman Marcie Greenberg. Publicity. Chairman Tom Egan reported three newsletters including the convention newspaper were sent members during the year. He and Bob Jacob of Bob Jacob Public Relations were at registration daily to secure business card ads and to solicit advertising for the Proceedings. Scholarship. Chairman Keith McGinnis reported that six of the seven scholarship recipients were present at the convention. The University of Arizona at Tucson was added this year and it was the only university visited this year by the chairman. Each scholarship recipient was introduced to the membership at the Monday morning Welcome Session, presented a plaque and responded. The input Iron each winner was most favorable to the program. Each was appreciative of the many contacts made and the educational seminars and programs. McGinnis noted that the mining engineering department at the University of Wyoming may be dropped during the coming year. Joe Dunlap suggested that every member rally support of this department. Scholarship Award Winners: (top) Christine Gorrell-WY, Brian Memmott-UT and Andrew Kuchera-ND. (bottom) Anthony Bowler-AZ, LaVerne West-NM and Steve Newman-MT. Convention Committees Arrangements. Doris Finnie presented the following report: "In addition to the usual arrangements for this or any convention, there were others made for Special Events which included a Sunday historical tour and luncheon for 40, a Monday morning fashion show attended by 70 women. an afternoon scarf tying program for 47 with RMCMI red

Jan 1, 1988

By Wm. H. Woodhead

Improved methods of mining have accompanied the introduction of mechanical loading, of which there are a great many varieties, but this multiplicity of mining brings new problems and greatly increases the importance of managing over a few years ago. Few mines operating today have been opened with the intention of mechanizing throughout. The problem of mechanization is to change over a mine heretofore operated by hand methods and to select machinery that will fit the old system with the least number of changes, the aim being not to disrupt or to completely change the original plan. The organization of mechanical and electrical forces is a problem in mechanical loading, and each individual mine presents its own problems. Plans which may succeed in one mine may fail in another and upon the management rests the responsibility of deciding the best method in each case.

Jan 1, 1930

[Participating Scholarship Colleges and Universities 136 Big Sky Coal Company 111 Canyon Fuel Company LLC 97 Coal Age Magazine 109 Commercial Testing & Eng. Co 99 Continental Conveyor & Equip. Co 103 Copper Mountain Resort 128 Dakota Coal Co 100 DBT America Inc 117 Empire Machinery 101 Energy West Mining Co 102]

Jan 1, 2001

Pictured on these pages are the eight RMCMI Scholarship Award Winners for the 1989-1990 year followed by a brief profile. All winners, except Emmet Roache from New Mexico, were present as guests of the Institute at the June convention in Steamboat Springs, Colorado to receive recognition at the Welcome Session Monday, June 25, 1990. Each state vice president served as the host for the collegiate winner. In addition to receiving a plaque from the Scholarship Chairman, Dr. Donald Gentry, each winner receives $750 tuition credit for the coming academic year. As this is a continuing award, the winners from the previous year will receive another $750 for tuition credit in their senior year if they have maintained good academic standing and are recommended by their university. Criteria for these awards to be made in the spring annually is (1) That the award be made to a sophomore student and used as tuition during the junior year. (2) That the recipient be both a U.S. citizen and a resident of the state involved. (3) That the recipient have good academic standing, be pursuing a degree in a mining related field and have an expressed interest in Western coal as a possible career path. The scholarship program includes curricula other than those in the mining departments, but in the engineering disciplines, such as geology, mineral processing and metallurgy. Contributions to this worthy project are tax deductible to each individual RMCMI member or his firm. Through annual donations of $100 or more, the Patrons of the Institute fund the scholarship program, and the various vice presidents contribute the travel expenses to conventions for these outstanding young collegiates. Donations to this worthwhile program may be made payable to RMCMI Scholarship and mailed to the RMCMI Office, 3000 Youngfield Street, Suite 324, Lakewood, CO 80215. Profiles of the 1990 Scholarship Winners follow. [ ] Mildred Benally University of Arizona Tuscan, Arizona Mildred has attended San Juan College in New Mexico, and will graduate from the University of Arizona in May, 1991. Upon completion of her, schooling she hopes to pursue a career in the coal mining industry. In preparation for her goal, her work experience includes being a lab technician, a mining engineer intern, and a lab technician assistant; she also is very skilled in various computer applications. She has been a member of SME-AIME, and secretary to the U of A Student Chapter, and recipient of the SME Coal Division Scholarship and past recipient of the Navajo Tribal Scholarship. [ ] Joshua Olmsted Colorado School of Mines Golden, Colorado Josh is a sophomore majoring in mining engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. He is an outstanding student as well as an accomplished athlete. Josh was on the Academic Honor Roll 1988-1989 and has been awarded an athletic scholarship. He plays varsity soccer and intramural basketball.

Jan 1, 1990

CHAIRMAN EMRICK: We have a very interesting program this morning, of a mechanical nature, and I am sure you will all be very much interested in it. At the conclusion of each paper there will be time given for discussion, and we will be glad to have all of you enter into the discussion. Before we start the program, I want to ask the men who have been appointed chairmen of committees to come and get these folios, which contain papers concerning their particular committees. The Nominations Committee, of which David Brown is chairman, has a folio here. It has been customary every year to have a photograph of those in attendance taken, and I presume it is the will of those in attendance this morning to have their pictures taken. We plan to do that about a quarter of twelve, approximately, this morning in the room instead of going outside as we have heretofore. Frank Miller has an interesting an¬nouncement to make. Frank, if you will just take about five minutes to tell your story.

Jan 1, 1934

PRESIDENT MARKS: This is a matter, I think, in which we are all very much interested, and I know We will have considerable discussion on the subject. MR. GIBSON: Wouldn't it be a fact, Mr. Trick, if a mine was laid off on the block system, it would require less ventilation, less cubic feet of air per minute, and therefore you would have that much better ventilation by

Jan 1, 1926

The 63rd Regular Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute convened at the Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado, and was in session at 10:00 a.m. The first session was called to order by Past President George A. Nugent, Vice President and General Manager, Big Horn Coal Company, Sheridan, Wyoming. He thanked and offered his congratulations to the Program Committee for a very wonderful job, namely, John Reeves, Chairman, E. G. Fox, Lee Jensen, O. F. Lewis, J. Peperakis, R. M. von Storch, J. E. Ward and R. R. Williams, Jr. He thanked the suppliers for a fine cocktail party the evening before. Mr. Nugent's Opening Address and introduction of President James Westfield, Assistant Director, U.S. Bureau of Mines, Washington, D.C., follows: It is a real privilege to call this 63rd Regular Meeting of The Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute to order and to say welcome.

Jan 1, 1967

The 74th Regular Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute convened at The Mark Conference Center, Lionshead Village, Vail, Colorado, and was in session at 10:00 a.m. Past President, Ralph Moore, Vice President, Operations, Westmoreland Resources, Hardin, Montana, called the meeting to order. The membership was asked to stand and pledge allegiance to the flag. He welcomed members and guests and thanked Park Lamborn, the Program Chairman, for the excellent speakers and program he engineered. He mentioned the cancellation of our golf tournament due to the conflicting dates with the Annual Jerry Ford Invitational Golf Tournament. He thanked all of the committees with a special "thank you" to Loren Linville and Gussie Whiteside. He introduced President, Shirl C. McArthur. President and General Manager, American Coal Company, Huntington, Utah. A biographical sketch follows: Mr. McArthur, a native of Huntington, Utah, began his coal mining career shortly after graduating from North Emery High School and worked his way up through the ranks, having worked at every job available underground. For example, he dug coal with a "banjo" at the Independent Coal and Coke Company in Kenilworth. In the summer of 1941, he worked at Straight Canyon Mine as a timberman and advanced to section foreman in four years. He was face boss for part of the time. In October 1946, he received a call from the LDS Church General Welfare Board (presided over then by Marion G. Romney) and took over as superintendent of the Church Mine. He operated in that capacity until the mine became privately owned in 1971. In 1961, Mr. McArthur formed Castle Valley Mining company, and in 1970, he organized American Coal Company, which he presently owns and operates.

Jan 1, 1978

The Sixty-Second Regular Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute convening at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, was declared in session at 10 a.m. by Past President Oren F. Bridwell, Secretary, Northern Colorado Coals, Inc, Denver, Colorado. Mr. Bridwell thanked the Joy Manufacturing Company fer the very fine party of the previous evening. He also paid tribute to a very fine Committee - the Program Committee: O. F. Lewis, Chairman, Oren Bridwell, Edward G. Fox, Glen E. Sorensen, Joseph E. Ward, R. R. Williams, Jr., and John Peperakis. Mr. Bridwell then introduced George A. Nugent, Vice President and General Manager, Big Horn Coal Company, Sheridan, Wyoming, as follows: "It is my privilege and duty to call this 62nd Regular Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute to order and to extend to you all a cordial welcome.

Jan 1, 1966

[Page Minutes 5 Present Status of Petroleum Industry 9 F. M. Van Tuyl. Developments Along the Line of Low Heat, Carbonization 13 A. C. Watts. Uses for Fine and Pulverized Coal 14 C. A. Allen. Have Mining Engineers Accepted All That Developments in Machinery Apply? 16 R. Dawson Hall. Coal Mine , Accidents and State Mining Law 23 D. Harrington. Harmony and Co-Operation 26 H. F. Nash. Personal Dangers 28 John Bevan. Methods of Improving Safety and Health Conditions 29 C. A. Allen and A. L. Murray. The Economic Relation of Accidents and Preventable Diseases to the Coal Mining Industry 39 Recent Developments in the Use of Electricity in Mines 43 Graham Bright. Discussion of Graham Bright's Paper 48 Mine Safety Work at Dawson, N. M 49 W. F. Murray. Mine Safety Work 54 Eli Follett. Wire Rope in Mining Operations 56 James F. Howe. Discussion of F. E. Shepard's Address 69]

Jan 1, 1922

G. B. Southward, Mechanization Engineer of the American Mining Congress, Washington, D. C., presiding. PRESIDENT HERRES: If you will come to order, please, we will get started on this morning's program. This morning's program takes up the matter of mechanized mining, particularly mechanical loading. There has been considerable progress made in the West with mechanical loading, but we are interested particularly in what is being done in other fields. We are particularly fortunate in being able to have with us Mr. G. B. Southward, Mechanization Engineer of the American Mining Congress. Mr. Southward has devoted his time for the past several years entirely to a national study of mechanized mining. He is the author of the Year Book published by the American Mining Congress, which is the authority for progress and development on mechanical loading. Mr. Southward has come here from Washington, D. C., particularly for this meeting. We have asked him to speak on the national phases of mechanized mining, and particularly on what is being clone in the East, since we are familiar with what is being done in the western field. I take great pleasure in introducing Mr. Southward. (Applause.) MR. SOUTHWARD: Mr. President and Gentlemen: Before starting on this gaper, I would like to express to all of you and to your President my appreciation in being asked to come here. It is a privilege. This question of coal mine mechanization, as you all know, is a big one. It is too big a problem for any one company to handle and it is through such meetings as these, through the co-operation of the various companies throughout the United States, that we have been able to make the progress that we have made. As Mr. Herres has said, I am not going to try to tell you gentlemen anything that is going on out here, in the West. You already know that yourselves. But he has asked me to give a brief resume of the progress that mechanization has made in the eastern coal states.

Jan 1, 1929

The first session of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute was called to order by John T. Maulsby, Superintendent of Maintenance and Planning, Columbia-Geneva Steel Division, U. S. Steel Corporation, Dragerton, Utah, representing the past-president. W. K. Dennison, Jr., Superintendent. Koehler line. Kaiser Steel Corporation. Raton, New Mexico, who was unable to attend. Mr. Maulsby welcomed the members and guests, and introduced the President, A. Z. Dimitroff, Mining Electrical Engineer, Health and Safety, District 1-L, U. S. Bureau of Mines. Denver. Colorado. The text of President Dimitroff's address of welcome is as follows: The President's Remarks Guests and Members of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute: The distinct honor and privilege of officially welcoming you to this, the fifty-seventh regular meeting of the Institute, is indeed a pleasure. Your officers and committees have tried to provide a varied program which I am sure should have something of interest to all of us. The theme of this meeting, "Where Do We Go From here'?", appeared rather fitting for the In¬stitute this year because, as most of you know, until only two weeks ago we thought that this is the last time we will be able to meet at the Colorado Hotel, which has been the favorite spot of most members. Your officers and many of you were literally asking just that question.

Jan 1, 1961

By N/A N

Jan 1, 1981

Jan 1, 2004

The Annual Business Meeting of the members of The Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute held during the 83rd Regular Meeting of the Institute was called to order by the president, Bernard Bernstrom at 2:50 p.m. Tuesday, June 30, 1987 in the Janss Auditorium of the Snowmass Conference Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado. Thirty-one were present and a quorum was established. The president outlined the purpose of the meeting was to inform the members of the status of the affairs and activities of the corporation during the preceding year. It was moved by Leon Jeannot, seconded and carried to approve the minutes as published in the 1986 Proceedings. The chair called for reports of the various committees and these reports will by placed on file in the RMCMI Office. Bylaws and Resolutions. Chairman Loren V. Linville reported there were no bylaws revisions. He further reported that the Board had adopted three resolutions: (1) Noting the passing of members since the last convention-Benton Boyd, E. A. Hare, E. S. Moran, Jr. and Edward Prostel. (2) Of appreciation to the Executive Secretary, officers, chairman, Diamond Jubilee chairman and committees and convention committees for an outstanding job in preparing for the 83rd Regular Meeting of the Institute. (3) To recommend to all RMCMI members that, on an individual basis, they each oppose replacing coal fired generation with natural gas generation. Membership. Chairman Leon Jeannot reported that at the beginning of the 1986 fiscal year, there were 881 active or dues-paying members. During the year, 219 members were dropped for a variety of reasons such as non-payment of dues, transfer, employed elsewhere, change of address. Ninety-six new members have been recruited for an active total of 758. In addition there are 55 Life Members, 20 senior members, six scholarship winners and seven supporters for a net total of 846. The budget of RMCMI calls for 1,000 active members and we must address and plan for those short-term prospects as they will certainly impact our membership. A full report is on file in the RMCMI office. Patrons of the Institute. Chairman Ira McKeever reported that only 59 Patrons renewed their support during 1986-87. Program. Chairman Bill Balaz announced that the convention program theme "This is OUR Life", as presented in "Past", "Present" and "Future" segments was very well received. He called for additional helpers another year and suggested that next year's program format be changed to a hard hitting one. Publicity. Chairman Tom Egan reported that of the three newsletters sent members during the year, that the most effective one was the newspaper format one and recommended its use next year. RMCMI hired Bob Jacob who heads his own public relations firm to solicit advertising for the Proceedings on a contract/ commission basis. He attended the convention for this purpose and to solicit business card ads. A full report is on file in the RMCMI office. Scholarship. Chairman Keith McGinnis reported that five of the six scholarship recipients were present at the convention. Each was introduced to the membership at the Tuesday morning Scholarship Breakfast, presented a plaque and responded. The input from each winner was most favorable to the program. Each was appreciative of the many contacts made and the educational seminars and programs. The selection process started in March and was completed in May, except for one university which had difficulty in providing a candidate. It is suggested that the initial contact with the institutions be made in December and completed by April 1. This year, for the first time, three of the six universities were visited for the purpose of interviewing the candidates. They were Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. A very positive feedback was received from these schools and it is recommended that the practice continue. CONVENTION COMMITTEES Convention Arrangements. Doris Finnie presented the following report: As a professional meeting planner, this Diamond Jubilee convention was indeed a great challenge. One meal was added to the package and thus increased the individual cost. Snowmass Resort Association is unique in that they utilize a conference coordinator who acts as the middle man between myself and the usual persons we deal with, like AV personnel, the chef, the banquet director, the steak fry personnel, the Sunday tour etc. so the office had to become creative. For instance, we learned early on we could not deal with the local florists. It cost us lots less to buy our flowers wholesale in Denver, have my husband drive them up and our West Virginia daughter to arrange them! But, finally her floral arrangement class at CSU paid off! This was truly a Finnie family orchestrated convention. Our Lakewood daughter acted as Scholar-

Jan 1, 1987

By Dan Jackson

9:00 a.m., June 28, 1983 MR. MORTENSEN: Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Again, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to another session of the 79th meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute. The thing again that has always been impressive are the activities that we've had so far. The success in the meetings has been delightfully encouraging to all of our committee people. Please welcome the chairman of the session, Charlie Margolf. MR. MARGOLF: Thank you, Vernal. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It would be my privilege to serve as the session chairman this morning. To allow the maximum time for our speakers, I'll turn the microphone over to Bernie Bernstrom who will introduce our first speaker. MR. BERNSTROM: Thank you. As Vernal mentioned, Dan Jackson will be our first speaker. He is the Western Editor of Coal Age Magazine. Dan really doesn't need an introduction to this group. He's belonged to the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute about 25 years. Dan is a native of West Virginia and he's an ex-coal miner. He graduated form West Virginia University as an electrical engineer and worked for Amherst and West Bending Coal prior to employment by Coal Age Magazine. Back in 1972 Coal Age moved him to Denver from New York City. MR. JACKSON: When Vernal Mortensen asked me speak to the members of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute earlier this year I found it impossible to say no to the guy because of what he has contributed to western coal. Little did 1 know that the subject he had in mind would be entitled, "An Outsider's View of Western Coal." At first I asked myself-I've been associated with the coal industry for some 38 years, 12 years in national operations and 26 years reporting on it. You might say that I've been married to two industries, coal and the business press for 26 years, but today I'll put on my business press hat and try to make an impression of what an outsider might think of western coal. But at the outset, let's get one thing straight: When you say press, whether it's business press, the media or whatever, and you heard some comments yesterday as far as what the media has done .to this industry and there's been some definitions bandied around as to just what an editor is. One of the most recent ones has defined an editor as a person who can talk on any subject with an open mouth. Now that's not my case. Secondly, I don't give long talks. Several years ago I was giving a rather lengthy talk to a group similar to this and it was halfway through the talk when I noticed one guy on my right looking at his watch quite frequently. I didn't mind that too much because all of us do that once in a while, but when he looked at his watch, took it off and shook it, I thought, "My God, better cut short." But for more than a decade western coal has enjoyed substantial annual increases in production from some 30,000,000 tons in 1970 to some 264,000,000 tons in 1981, but 1982 was a different story. We lost about 6,000,000 tons of production in that year. In 1983 it's expected to be a little worse than '82. Coal historically doesn't rebound from a recession as quickly as other industries. It takes about eight to 10 months longer for us to really get moving again and I'm afraid that you'll still have to don your fighting helmets and flack jackets when you go out into the market to sell your product. Western coal, as you know, has problems and al l of them are not going away when the recession ends and they won't go away overnight. I'm sure most of you are aware of what those problems are. Carl Bagge and Jim Harris, along with other speakers, at this meeting have educated us well on those problems and I'm sure you'll hear more from Jim Watt at today's luncheon. If everyone in this room were asked to list three orfourof the most serious problems facing western coal, I'd make book that the total of the answers wouldn't vary by more than 3 to 5%, if that much. But coal is not the only mining segment in the U.S. with problems. Metal and non-metal mining has its share, too. I'd like to step back into the past for a few minutes, if I may, to a time when our problems were just beginning. Since 1979 a third of the nation's mines, including coal, metal and nonmetal have been shut down. The total volume of all mining in the U.S. in that year totaled some $24 billion. Today that figure has dropped some 21 %. The after tax rate on return for mining companies has fallen from 6'/% in 1980 to minus 3% in 1983. But that's really not where our problems began. They began 20 years ago when a profound change began taking place in the U.S. economy. Our economy had been growing at about 2'/-3% annually without exception except for the great depression. Our inflation rate was about I'/%, interest rates were running about 6%, and the federal budget was $77 billion, really great figures compared to today. From 1960 to 1980 the federal budget increased almost 1.000% and taxed paid by individual families increased by 700% during that same period. Despite the huge increases in taxes, the federal deficit kept getting larger and larger year after year and within this 20 year period the national debt climbed to a trillion dollars. Economic progress of this type can't continue indefinitely without some serious consequences. The result of that economy, well, you know what happened and there is a direct relationship of that

Jan 1, 1983

Mr. Robert H. Abel Frontier Truck Equip 7167 E 53rd PI Commerce City, CO 80022 Mr. Scott Aberle Western Energy Co POB 99 Colstrip, MT 59323 Mr. Ronald H. Achziger Midwest Rbr & Sply Co 6404 E 39th Ave Denver, CO 80207 Mr. Randy Acre Energy Fuels Coal Inc POB 449 Florence, CO 81226

Jan 1, 1995

Jan 1, 1942