February summary: Denver and thoughts on social media

It's been a quiet February in Cornwall, and a wet and cold one, with temperatures dipping below freezing, unusual for this sub-tropical county.

A week in Denver has been the highlight of my month and I leave there today after attending MINEXCHANGE 2025. My report on this will be published on Monday.

Talking to people in Denver, it was evident that there is increasing disillusionment towards mainstream social media platforms, particularly Twitter (X) which is full of many dubious and malicious political posts and spam adverts, and many think that LinkedIn may be going this way.

I have to agree with the thoughts on X. I'm not sure how many people in our industry use it these days, as there is very little interaction compared with that on LinkedIn, but the increasing number of adverts on LinkedIn is also causing concern with some people, although I fully understand that they are necessary to maintain this huge and vibrant platform.

In comparison with X and LinkedIn, the MEI blog is a very small social media platform and it is free of advertising. Its primary aim remains to provide an archival history of 21st century mineral processing, with news and opinions not solely based on mineral processing, but of areas of interest to all in the minerals industry, such as social and environmental issues, climate change, energy, critical minerals etc.

But it is people who are my primary interest, and the growing band of friends that I make during my travels around the world, with MEI conferences and other major events, such as this week's meeting in Denver. It is people that make our industry and I am always humbled to hear of the high esteem that many hold for MEI and our activities. 

I particularly appreciate hearing from the hundreds of supporters of the blog, who send me comments and suggestions via my weekly email updates. My data base for supporters continues to grow, and if you would like to be included in the updates database, just let me know by messaging on LinkedIn with your email address, or contact me directly at bwills@min-eng.com. And as the blog is archival, I strongly encourage and welcome interaction directly to the blog postings via the comments section. All comments are moderated to keep them spam-free.

I made a point of not mentioning the T-word while in the USA, particularly in relation to the US President's policy on Gaza and Ukraine and his shameful comments on President Zelensky. Trump suggested that Ukraine hands critical mineral wealth worth $500 billion to the US in return for American military support, while negotiating directly with Putin to end the war.  

Source: The Times, February 15th

But questions around the impact of his proposed trade tariffs have emerged in relation to natural resource extraction. Trump has made clear his priority of fossil fuel expansion, opting out of the Paris Agreement, but he has been applauded by some for elevating to the top levels of the government a focus on accelerating mining and processing of minerals, from rare earths to coal and uranium, in an order declaring a national energy emergency, In another executive order, Trump called on the heads of all agencies to identify and scrap all agency actions that impose "undue burden" on domestic mining and processing of non-fuel minerals.  

I return to Falmouth today, but in four weeks' time will be back at Heathrow for the flight to Cape Town and to Comminution '25. I hope to see some of you there.