SEG - Society of Economic Geologists

6 SEG NEWSLETTER No 90 • JULY 2012
PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVE
See you in Lima! Nos vemos en Lima!
The next SEG Conference takes place in
Lima, Peru, from September 23 to 26, in
conjunction with the XVI Congreso
Peruano de Geología, a conference organized
by the Sociedad Geológica del
Perú (online registration for events is
available at http://www.lima2012.com).
More than 160 contributions that
cover the Andes as well as explora tion
and research involving the rest of the
world will be presented during the SEG
segment of the Confer ence. Three plenary
speeches (F. Camus, R. Sillitoe, and
D. Wood), one day of invited talks that
update major porphyry discoveries in
the Andes, organized by R. Sillitoe, J.
Perelló, and R. Baumgartner, plus an
additional 39 talks will make up the
oral session. Professionals and students
plan to exhibit more than 110 posters.
To ensure good interaction between
authors and attendees, a total of over
five hours of formal poster sessions are
planned for the midafternoons, during
the period prior to the final plenary talk
of each day. More than 70 research students
from around the world, benefiting
from various levels of corporate
sponsorship, will give oral and poster
presentations. In addition, a group of
sponsored Peruvian undergraduate students
will attend.
Also on the agenda are pre- and
post-conference field trips (four in Peru,
and one each to Chile and Colombia)
and short courses. As I write these lines,
more than three months before the
Conference, some of the activities are
already fully booked. It is essential to
reserve a place soon to avoid disappointment!
The high number of early
registrations suggests a very good attendance
for the SEG 2012 Conference in
South America.
Peru and the SEG
There are good reasons to hold this meeting
in South America, especially in Peru.
The ties that the Society of Economic
Geologists has with Peru are deep and
long. Waldemar Lindgren, Alan Mara
Bateman, and Louis Cary Graton, three
of the founders of the Society, worked
and published seminal studies on the
extraordinary ore deposits of the Peru -
vian Andes during the first third of the
20th century. Peru also has provided
many distinguished SEG members, in -
cluding a President (1988), a Penrose
Gold Medalist (2000), and a Brian
Skinner awardee (2010). At the beginning
of 2012, Peru, with 359 members,
ranked fourth in its SEG member count,
just behind the United States, Canada,
and Australia.
The phenomenal economic growth of
Peru in the last decade is clearly driven
by the mining sector. The outlook for
the future is also excellent, as investments
totaling several tens of billions of
US dollars are foreseen and the potential
for new discoveries in Peru is high.
Education and research in geology:
Additional effort is needed
A potential and probable benefit of holding
the SEG 2012 Conference in Peru will
be the increase in international research
groups working on the fascinating geology
and mineral resources of the Central
Andes. Perhaps more young geologists
will join the several dozens of Peruvian
geologists carrying out graduate education
overseas and elsewhere in Latin
America. Al though
this is very important
for the
future, it will not
be enough. The
results of a study
that were presented
at the
LLUÍS FONTBOTÉ
SEG President 2012
PROEXPLO meeting
in February
2011 showed that there is a serious
need in Peru for solid educational programs
and research groups in economic
geology and also in geology in general.
A panel at the meeting concluded that
only with high quality education and
research can the profession meet future
challenges, including changing the perception
of exploration and mining
activities within Peruvian society. SEG,
with its recently established education
and training curricula and ongoing support
of research in the field of ore
deposit geology, can play an important
role in such local initiatives. 1
ONGOING COMMUNICATIONS AND NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
Going digital for the journal and newsletter of any scientific, professional society has
many advantages. In our case, this step is even more beneficial than in many, given
the important percentage of membership that works in places where mail/postal
services are not reliable. Thus, it is not surprising that an ever-increasing number
of our members have chosen to receive our publications in electronic format.
We knew before going digital, however, that some “glitches” would appear
and, indeed, they have. One of these glitches concerns receiving e-mail alerts. To
take the place of the excitement of thumbing through the pages of a new issue of
the journal, e-mail alerts for publications have been established as a way to keep
you connected to all the activities in SEG publishing and education so that you
won’t miss key benefits of your membership.
Of course, consulting the SEG website on a regular basis is also an important
way to ensure that you, as a member, remain aware of all the initiatives that we
do not have space to cover in the Newsletter. In addition, for those of you who
are avid Internet users, stay tuned and you will soon discover that we are building
a social networking presence. This will provide further timely notices and
announcements on a variety of topics close to the heart of an economic geologist,
wherever you may be!