The Nevada Mining Association always has been about promoting safety procedures over production when it comes to its people, new community engagement manager Becky Hall said.
She wants the message known among investors, businesses and people who might be interested in mining as a career path.
“We serve 17 counties and mines all across the state,” Hall said. “We’re trying to share with the communities what mining is and how it can improve with education. We’re teaching teachers how they can encourage earth science classes in their classroom and workforce development mid-career.”
Hall has a background in geology and paleontology. She served as the secretary of the Southern Nevada chapter of the Geological Society of Nevada. Recently with the Children’s Museum of Northern Nevada, she assisted in setting up a geology and fossil lab that offered a glimpse of the oldest Triassic bones in the state from Eureka, an important collection site in Nevada. She and her husband Josh Bonde discovered and named a species unique to the state called the Nevadadromeus Schmitti.
But in meeting with NVMA President Amanda Hilton for the community engagement position when it opened, Hall said it felt like a fit.
She’ll help with professional development, build community partnerships and encourage public support for the association.
“(The message is) safety is number one as operators and to share how careers in mining are very safe because there is that stigma that it’s historic, not modern mining,” she said. “Mining is mostly run under the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), but the mining industry has its own separate health and safety agency, the MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration).”
Mining is a major industry in Nevada. Auto company General Motors announced its $650 million investment in the Thacker Pass lithium project in Humboldt County near the Oregon line to produce 66,000 tons on a yearly basis once at fully capacity. Advocates for the extraction of lithium would like to see it used for electric vehicle batteries and to be invested into grid storage of electricity from solar or wind power.
Hall looks forward to emboldening young women to enter multiple paths mining has to offer in a trade that often is considered male dominated.
“That’s definitely my key role: to educate, and there’s different ways to educate,” she said.
NVMA’s board, currently all female, will be welcoming a male in a communications position, but it speaks to the representation of more women interested in the field.
“I’m speaking with students or organizing events like with the Girl Scouts,” she said. “I get to reach out to the teachers who are teaching career readiness and development and education.”
Hall said Nevada remains the fifth largest mining producer in the country through companies using modern equipment.
“We compete on a global scale,” she said. “We’re really high-tech.”