We are building the "Institute for Mineral Resources"—

a national center that bridges pure and applied science, engineering, business leadership, and responsible stewardship and that makes a difference globally.

Stimulated by the ongoing national collapse of mining-related education and research and the current University of Arizona "Focused Excellence" initiative, there is extraordinary and healthy opportunity to:

• resolve long-standing challenges at the U of A by building on many existing, but little-coordinated University resources, on Federal commitments to cooperative activities and positions, and on a wealth of industry and alumni connections,
• address regional, national and global issues related to the profitable and responsible discovery and production of mineral resources, as well as contribute to the broader understanding and wise public policy related to minerals issues,
• lead in research and in the education of future generations of industry, academic and government professionals; further, we can catalyze broader collaborations with other organizations and mining programs in the US and internationally.

To be successful, this requires strong proactive community and University commitments; however, it is one that can build on existing faculty, current departments and initiatives, and the attention of our outside constituencies. The difficulties have arisen in many quarters, but a key has been the lack of cross-campus and external commitments. The current situation is healthy in our view in that it lights a fire under all parties to look at their commitments and the long-term future. Given the need to act now, we are fortunate that many favorable factors have converged:

• recognition in industry and professional societies for first time in decades that there is a crisis in minerals education & research
• Federal concern in agencies, the National Research Council, and the Congress of workforce / academic infrastructure issues related to mineral resources
• a continuing and growing long-term commitment from the USGS to cooperative minerals research on campus
• advanced stages on a new Federal applied minerals grants program ($20M/year)
• large group of alumni and other individuals with UA interests
• strong relationships with and a favorable climate in industry with high prices in Cu, Mo, and Au and a new boom in exploration in AZ and the Southwest
• recent discovery near Superior of one the largest and highest grade porphyry copper deposits in the world, and the start of mining in a major district at Safford
• broad interest across campus from many groups notably tied to business, health and environmental themes
• current engagement of individuals from across the Colleges of Engineering, Science, Business, Agriculture and Public Health.

The University of Arizona has aproximately 37,000 students, is ranked by National Science Foundation funding at #12 among public research universities, and is ranked #19 overall [2003]. The challenge is to link minerals-related programs that are scattered across many parts of this large university. The following programs potentialls could contribute to the Institute of Mineral Resources. The number number of full-time positions currently involved are shown in parentheses.

Mark Barton
Head of the Center for Mineral Resources
barton@geo.arizona.edu

Eric Seedorff
Lowell Chair in Econimic Geology
seedorff@geo.arizona.edu

Mary Poulton
Department Head, Mining & Geological Engineering
mpoulton@email.arizona.edu