Colorado Mining Association

The Colorado Mining Association (CMA), established in 1876 and incorporated in 1897, is a trade association whose membership, totaling 1,050 which includes 215 companies, is composed of both small and large enterprises engaged in the exploration for, production and refining of, metals, coal, oil shale, and industrial minerals; firms that manufacture and distribute mining and mineral processing equipment and supplies; and other institutions providing services and supplies to the mineral industry.

The CMA, headquartered in Denver, serves as a spokesman for the mining industry in Colorado. The Association works in cooperation with other state and national mining associations, keeping the industry informed on pending state and federal legislation and promulgating constructive programs and actions that will adequately recognize and serve mining’s special problems and needs. It serves the industry on a wide range of subjects through the expertise of its members and member companies on standing, ad hoc, and select committees.

At a recent gala, the State of Colorado and the Colorado Mining Association (CMA) recently honoured four companies and three individuals for their excellent safety practices last year.

The awards were given out at the 118th National Western Mining Conference & Exhibition in Denver. Stuart Sanderson, president of the CMA, handed out the awards. Mountain Coal Company LLC and its West Elk Mine, located in Gunnison County, earned the safety honour for the fourth consecutive year. This mine posted the lowest total for underground mine incidents in the state. The company reported just 0.77 incidents for every 200,000 man hours spent at the mine. This figure is based on a total of 781,726 man hours. In addition, Western Fuels Colorado LLC earned four different safety innovation awards. The company's two surface mines also earned outstanding safety-performance awards. The smallest coal mine safety honors were granted to Western Fuels-Colorado LLC's New Horizon Mine in Montrose County. The mine has not recorded any lost time due to an accident since September 2010.

Since the Colorado Mining Association's founding in 1876 - the year that Colorado achieved statehood - a diverse and vibrant mining industry has grown throughout the state.   Colorado is the nation's number one producer of molybdenum, the fourth leading producer of gold, the 11th ranking coal producer, and the only source of specialty minerals like pure sodium bicarbonate. Colorado's mining industry creates high paying jobs, such as those in coal mining that exceed $100,000 in annual wages and benefits.  The conference will provide updates on the latest opportunities in Colorado's diverse mining sector. Equally important, the conference will also feature Colorado's diverse infrastructure of Colorado based companies whose reach spans the entire globe, with Denver at its core.  Colorado based companies have figured in some of the most important corporate, merger and acquisition activities in the entire industry, which the conference will showcase. So mark your calendars for March 19-22, 2012 and make plans to stay in Denver, the center, the core, the nucleus and heart of worldwide mining, the Mile High Mining Hub.

Stuart Sanderson, who has served as president and COO of the Colorado Mining Association for nearly a quarter-century, plans to retire Sept. 30.Sanderson will continue on for six months as a consultant to the 140-year-old trade group for Colorado's mining industry. He also will offer consulting services to other clients. Sanderson, an attorney, became the CMA president in October 1994. In a statement, the group credited him with "leading the CMA through a challenging transition following his retention in 1994, boosting membership and improving the association’s financial condition. “It has been my honour to serve the hard working men and women of Colorado’s mining industry for more than two decades,” he said. The CMA has retained recruiting company Geopros Inc. to conduct a national search for a successor. Sanderson said he will participate in recruiting the group's next president. Mining has been one of Colorado's foremost industries since the birth of Denver and other Front Range cities as mining supply outposts. Today the state remains a top 10 producer of coal and gold and leads the nation in the production of molybdenum. Colorado mining revenue totals about $3 billion a year, says the CMA, which has some 900 members.  But the industry has faced new challenges in recent years, as clean-air laws, environmental regulations and market forces have led to a move from coal toward natural gas for utility power production, and last year's Gold King Mine wastewater spill has focused attention on the pollution threat from old mines. Sanderson has often been seen and heard as the face of Colorado mining in public forums and at the state Capitol, speaking out against laws and regulations that his association views as harmful to mining interests.(Here's a 2014 opinion piece he wrote for the Denver Business Journal defending coal production.)In a joint statement, CMA Chairman Fred Menzer, a consultant to Freeport Mc MoRan Copper & Gold; and incoming Chairman Jim Mattern, president of Trapper Mining Inc., thanked Sanderson for his service.