MEDIA RELEASE
National Mining Hall of Fame to Induct Five Individuals: First Modern Living Woman, Long-Time Champion of Responsible Mining, Builder of a Diversified Multi-Billion Dollar Company, Innovator in Coal Mining, and Leader in Historic Mining; as the 2023 Class of Inductees.
The 2023 Induction Gala will be October 28, 2023 at the Gaylord Rockies in Aurora, CO with M. Stephen Enders as Emcee.
For Immediate Release:
Leadville, CO: 2023 National Mining Hall of Fame Inductees – The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum (NMHFM) is pleased to announce the class of 2023 National Mining Hall of Fame inductees and the Prazen Living Legend of Mining Award.
2023 National Mining Hall of Fame Inductees:
Richard Adkerson: Chairman and CEO of Freeport-McMoRan, Richard Adkerson has been a long- time champion of responsible mining. As a founding member and past Chair of the International Council on Mining and Metals, he advanced initiatives to strengthen environmental and social performance in the mining sector. Today, all 12 of the company’s copper producing sites globally have achieved the Copper Mark, a comprehensive responsible production assurance framework, developed specifically for the copper industry.
Adkerson was the primary architect of the “dream come true” acquisition of Phelps Dodge Corporation in a $26 billion transaction that created one of the world’s largest publicly traded copper companies. More than 15 years later, he has continued to lead the company and champion its reputation as a responsible producer and leader in technological advances.
Freeport now supplies 9 percent of the world’s copper and 57 percent of U.S. production, which
is critical to enable technologies of the future and support the transition to a low-carbon
economy. Adkerson’s competitive spirit, deep understanding of the mining business and
common sense has allowed him to leverage the good times and sustain the company through
recessions, turbulent geopolitical situations, and a global pandemic. Promoting the safety and
the well-being of employees and their communities has been a top priority for Adkerson. His
commitment to transparency, ethics, and the ripple effect of his decisions on employees,
communities, and the environment has been the heart of his success.
Carolyn Loder: Carolyn Loder devoted her life to preserving mining viability and promoting fair treatment of native americans and local communities, while protecting access to mineral resources on public lands. Her dedication to the industry spans more than forty years, from early work in federal land management planning identifying the loss of federal lands to mineral entry in the 1970’s to defeating multiple anti-mining initiatives. Carolyn was honored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for her “Significant Contribution to the Nation’s Energy Program'' for “protecting access to our nation's mineral resources.” She served as President of Sonora Mining Corp. Jamestown Mine, the nation’s largest gold flotation facility and was the first woman elected to President of the California Mining Association in the 1990’s. She spent a decade initiating a landmark land exchange among two federally recognized Tribes in New Mexico and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which resulted in the resolution of a 400-year tribal land dispute thus allowing mining on tribal lands. She received awards from the Tribe and the industry for her innovative, transparent, and fair approach to her work. Loder was appointed to the BLM Resource Advisory Council for Arizona as the first woman to represent mining and energy. In her 9-year role as Chair of the Mining and Energy Working Group and Vice Chair of the Council, she obtained a landmark vote opposing the withdrawal of over a million acres from mineral entry in Arizona. Carolyn currently serves on the Board of Integra Resources. She serves on the Board of K2Gold and as Board Advisor to Kodiak Copper, both part of the Discovery Group. She has received international recognition for her pathfinder accomplishments. Carolyn gives generously through a University endowment that she established in her parent’s name.
E. Morgan Massey (1926-2021): Morgan Massey dedicated his life to improving coal mining technology and productivity while elevating the health and safety of miners. He was a highly successful Chief Executive Officer at A.T. Massey Coal Company, Asian American Coal, Asian American Gas, Inter-American Coal, Evan Energy Investments, and Minerals Refining Company. Massey was pivotal to the U.S. coal industry by developing Martin County Coal Company in 1969. After retiring from A.T. Massey in 1991, Massey was instrumental in developing world-class mines in Venezuela and China. He went on to co-found Minerals Refining Company (MRC), where he helped prove that ultrafine coals, usually discarded as waste, could be profitably recovered using a novel Hydrophobic-Hydrophilic Separation process. MRC is currently building its first commercial-scale plant in Alabama’s Black Warrior Basin. Massey gave generously throughout his life and his philanthropic legacy lives on through the Joan and Morgan Massey Foundation and the Massey Cancer Center at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine.
Albert Reynolds (1840-1921): A.E. Reynolds was a mining pioneer in Colorado, owning and operating numerous gold and silver mines between 1879 and 1921. A man of meager beginnings, he personified the American dream, becoming one of Colorado’s most successful mining magnates. Reynolds was an intensely private man, and in 1898, the Cripple Creek Citizen characterized him “The Biggest Mine Operator in the State is Almost the Least Known.” His story was memorialized in a 1995 biography Albert Eugene Reynolds, Colorado’s Mining King by Lee Scamehorn.
Dennis Washington: Dennis R. Washington is founder of The Washington Companies, an international group of companies with thousands of employees worldwide. Dennis is known throughout the industry as an efficient, safe, and innovative miner. Montana Resources, LLC, his open pit copper and molybdenum mine in the historic mining city of Butte, Montana, USA, produces high-quality metal concentrates for the global market. Nearly four decades from its start, the profitable operation boasts another 30-year mine life projection and has received national safety recognition, community, and state leadership awards. Dennis is a self-made success; he started with a leased bulldozer and a $30,000 loan in 1964 and went on to build a heavy construction business that diversified into multi-billion-dollar holdings in mining, rail and marine transportation, shipyards, environmental construction, heavy equipment sales, and aviation products. He attributes much of his success to exceptional people with perceptive, timely advice and a passion for the project. An ardent philanthropist, Dennis and his wife formed the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation in 1988, which has donated nearly a half billion dollars to regional non-profit entities focused on education, health and human services, arts and culture, and community service.
2022 Prazen Living Legend of Mining Award
Richard Beach: Born and raised in Connecticut, Dick Beach “came West” as a young man to study minerals and graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a professional degree in geological engineering. After serving in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Virginia and Vietnam, Dick worked as a geologist and physical scientist for the U.S. Bureau of Mines, assessing the mineral resources needed to sustain our economy and standard of life. Since retirement, Dick has continued to be actively involved in professional activities, especially with the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc.; as Chair of the SME Colorado Section Minerals Education Coalition. Dick makes presentations in Denver Metro area classrooms, and at other venues, about mining and minerals; works with Scouts earning the Mining In Society merit badge; and judges science fair projects.
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Since 1987, the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, located in Leadville, CO has been a
national monument to the men and women who champion the discovery, development, and processing of our nation’s natural resources, as well as a national institution educating the public about the undeniable relationship of mining to our daily lives.
The 36th annual Induction Gala will be held the evening of October 28, 2023 at the Gaylord Rockies in Aurora, CO. Visit www.MiningHallOfFame.org for updates.
Contact Elizabeth Dinschel, Executive Director, at director@mininghalloffame.org for questions and sponsorship opportunities. .
