Renowned porphyry copper expert Spencer Titley to be honored for 50+ years

The University of Arizona's department of geosciences is holding a dinner on Tuesday, Nov. 17, in honor of Spencer Titley, our local economic geologist internationally renowned for his work on the origin of porphyry copper deposits. Spence officially retired from the department this summer but is still actively teaching and researching.

[Right, Spencer Titley points out the copper veinlet in a piece of porphyry copper from Arizona's San Manuel Mine. Credit: Mari N. Jensen, UA College of Science]

UA listed his numerous honors and awards including, the Medal of Merit from the American Mining Hall of Fame, the Penrose Gold Medal from the Society of Economic Geologists, the D.C. Jackling Award from the Society of Mining Metallurgy and Exploration, the Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Mineral Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, the Career Distinguished Teaching Award from UA's College of Science, the Creative Teaching Award from the UA Foundation, the Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Distinguished Faculty Member Award from UA's department of geosciences advisory board.

[taken in part from the UA news release]

Statewide aerial photo scheduled moved up a year

The North American Imagery Program (NAIP) is going to fly Arizona in 2o10, a year ahead of schedule, because the Dept. of Agriculture got extra budget money and flew the 2010 scheduled states this year. State and local officials are looking at the possibilities of upgrading the photo acquisition to include an IR band or half meter resolution coverage.

I was at the annual conference of the Arizona Geographic Information Council (AGIC) in Tucson for part of the day as a Board member, and to give a presentation on our rapidly expanding Geoscience Information Network (GIN).

At the Board meeting we got the update on NAIP. Arizona has an option to contract directly with the vendor rather than going through the Dept. of Ag, and get the added or higher resolution data at a significantly lower cost. The group is going to poll the community for possible interest and financial support.

11,445 geologic postcards

The Association of American State Geologists (AASG) handed out 11,445 geologic postcards at the recent Geological Society of America annual meeting in Portland, Oregon, including a stack of our Arizona Rocks postcard.

AASG puts up an exhibit booth each year at GSA and a few other meetings, to highlight the role of state geological surveys and present topics that are important to us.

But for a lot of folks, the AASG booth is where you can find geologic map postcards from almost all of the state surveys. Students in particular are eager collectors, as well as teachers who use them in classroom activities.

ASU hiring faculty and postdocs

The School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) at ASU announced that "over the next two years, the School will be hiring a large number of faculty – at a variety of ranks – in order to build its capacity for transdisciplinary research and education in earth and space science and engineering" including Astrobiology, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Earth and Space Education, Geology, Geophysics, Engineering, and Planetary Science.

Among the positions now open in SESE are:

Atmospheric and Climate Sciences
Environmental Sensor Networks
Extrasolar Planet Studies
Molecular Geobiology
Planetary Atmospheres
Planetary Surface Processes
Observational Cosmology
Instrumentation Development
Planetary Geology postdoctoral fellow

This is a phenomenal investment in growing this program.

AZGS web site temporarily offline

The Arizona Geological Survey website (www.azgs.az.gov) cannot be accessed for a short period while the state internet service converts over to our new IP address.

We have been having increasing problems with our email at AZGS with a number of service providers blacklisting us as possible spammers. So, we moved to a new IP over the weekend but the state system needs up to a day to register it.

We apologize to anyone who was inconvenienced but it should be resolved pretty quickly.

Future of Dept of Mines & Mineral Resources to be discussed

The Arizona Legislature's Ad Hoc Committee on Mining Regulations is holding their first meeting tomorrow (Monday), Nov 2 in Phoenix, and on the agenda is an item described as "Discussion concerning the Mining Department and Mining Museum and whether they need to be separate entities, continue under a different model or remain the same."

ADMMR has been disproportionately affected by state budget cuts because more than 60% of their state appropriation goes to cover the rent and building costs of the Mining and Mineral Museum [right], according to the Director, Dr. Madan Singh.

Gov. Brewer opposes northern Arizona mineral withdrawal

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has called on Sec. of Interior Ken Salazar to halt efforts to impose a 20 year withdrawal of nearly 1 million acres of federal lands in northern Arizona from hard rock mineral exploration and mining [right, outlined in red. Credit BLM] . In a letter sent to the Secretary on Friday, the Governor noted that federal and state laws heavily regulate mining in Arizona and the proposed restrictions are unnecessary and "will adversely impact the State of Arizona."

BLM is engaged in a two-year EIS process to determine if the federal lands should be withdrawn from exploration and mining activities for up to 20 years.

Gov. Brewer noted that "existing Federal law requires mining operations to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Federal Land Policy and Management Act, Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and various rules regulations and policies" established by US BLM and Forest Service.

She said that the proposed uranium mining in Northern Arizona will be from breccia pipes, which are typically dry and situated hundreds of feet above any aquifers. Coupled with state requirements for Aquifer Protection Permits, this will ensure there are no adverse impacts on underlying aquifers.

The Governor also argued that exploration activities do not involve extraction or transportation of uranium ore for processing and the small areas affected will be completely reclaimed.

Echoing recent statements made by Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Udall of Colorado, Gov. Brewer about environmental concerns from the legacy of early uranium mining and processing in the region, she pointed out that the problems occurred with different types of activities that those being proposed now and before the wide array of protective measures and procedures were put in place.

The 4-page letter described the national security concerns of the US continuing to import over 90% of this critical energy resource, while the Arizona Strip holds 42% of the nation's undiscovered uranium according to the USGS.

She concluded by urging the Secretary to recognize the "overwelming evidence that responsible uranium mining can be both safe for public health and the environment and compatible with teh Grand Canyon region and its watershed."

"The withdrawal proposal is overly broad and unnecessary because of the protections offered by state and federal laws that will ensure mining operations will be protective of the Grand Canyon region and the Colorado River."