The 2010 SME Arizona conference in Tucson today attracted 380+ attendees, at least 10% more than last year and Saturday's Mining Foundation of the Southwest annual awards banquet drew an amazing 500. There is a renewed optimism in the Arizona mining community, with numerous large projects moving forward but many reports of larger reserves that previously reported. Companies also routinely talked about the investments they are making in the local economy and the jobs they are creating.
I hope to blog about individual presentations from the SME meeting over the next few days but a few things jump out - the possibility of an additional undiscovered deposit near the Resolution copper deposit, the progress of the Florence in situ recovery copper project, the incredible increase in resources at Freeport's Tenke-Fungurume complex in Democratic Republic of Congo.