The Black Hills and Northern Plains ISEE chapters hosted an exciting Best in the West Drill and Blast Conference in Spearfish, South Dakota, in April 2022. Attendees, exhibitors, speakers and sponsors came together to create a successful conference with valuable training and networking.
Three pre-conference events were held on sunny morning: the Crazy Horse Mountain Tour, Paul Muehl Scholarship Trap Shoot, and the Bob Martin Scholarship Golf Tournament. The conference included a regulatory session and panel discussion, active exhibit hall, exceptional speakers covering a range of topics, welcome back party, scholarship presentations, awards banquet and live auction.
Proceeds from the BITW Conference support explosives and mineral industry student scholarships, which promotes and perpetuates the mining and explosives industry. Over $12,000 was presented to students this year as a result of the conference and auction.
Make plans now to attend the 34th Annual Best in the West Drill and Blast Conference on April 19, 20 and 21, 2023, at the Spearfish Holiday Inn & Convention Center in Spearfish, South Dakota. See you there!
Visit the Best in the West Website
Spring is finally here at the ISEE offices. And the fresh air has sparked some spring cleaning over at our online store that ISEE members can take advantage of! For a limited time only, ISEE members can save 15% on select ISEE springtime apparel along with conference proceedings books and flash drives. Head on over to our online store and spring into savings today!
It was standing room only for the Ohio Drilling & Blasting Conference held March 16-17, 2022, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Columbus Ohio. More than 100 people were in attendance for a day packed full of presentations from some of the leading experts in the blasting community.
The event kicked off Wednesday evening with food and drinks where once again friends and colleagues were able to meet again in person during the welcome reception.
Thursday’s training program began with opening remarks from Mike Mann, Ohio Department of Natural Resources; and Steve Shivak, ISEE Executive Director. Speakers and topics included Tony Konya, Rock Breakage Theory and Why it Matters in Blast Design; Bob McClure and Eric Wesel, Underground Limestone Blast Optimization; Danny Conn and Keith Best, Kentucky Lock Project Challenges; Neal Lee, Often Overlooked Facets of Drilling and Blast Design; Jason Fort, An Urban Nightmare Blasting Project; Matt Pilz, Pathway to Success: Understanding Airblast and Ground Vibration Issues; and Evan Hagenlock, Quality Control of Bulk Product. Attendees qualified for blasters training recertification hours from several states.
The Ohio Drilling & Blasting Conference is a biennial event that serves as a platform for the exchange of the blasting community’s best practices. The event scheduled for 2021 was postponed until 2022.
The call for abstracts has ended. If you have submitted an abstract, please see below for important information and dates, and be sure to check back here for future conference updates.
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