What is the Colorado Mining Association? What do you do?

We’re the oldest mining association in the United States—founded in 1876, the same year as Colorado. As a trade industry association, Colorado Mining Association (CMA) represents Colorado’s mining industry across a broad range of commodities. What some people might not know is that more mining industry professionals work in Colorado than in any other state. Because of our state’s history of mining, going back before statehood, there’s a huge global nexus of mining companies headquartered in and around the Denver area. 

We represent the majority of those organizations. This includes the miners as well as the huge support system around them, which includes engineers, consultants, hydrologists, environmental scientists, attorneys, finance professionals, and more. As an association today, we engage in all levels of advocacy: legislative, regulatory, and legal. We also support our members in business development and networking opportunities.

What’s the history of the Association?

Colorado was founded as a mining state. The earliest industrial economic activity in Colorado was in the hard rock mining industry, dating back to the gold and silver rushes in the 1850s and 1860s. Colorado had, and still has, among the best and most diverse mineral endowments in the country. In the 1800s, Denver was the only city of any real size in the Rocky Mountain West and served as a natural convening hub for the mining industry. Many of the organizations mining throughout the West were often based out of Denver. This remains true today.

The Colorado Mining Association was founded in 1876, and it was foundational at that time because Colorado was just setting up its government. The CMA represented the industry’s needs in the new government, and really served as the first resource for best practices, including safety, efficiency, and mitigation of environmental impacts. 

CMA has represented the industry through many market fluctuations. Because Colorado is blessed with such a diverse endowment of resources, we’ve remained a major mining center even as different cycles and eras of industry have come and gone. Throughout this time, we have developed gold, silver, copper, molybdenum, coal, uranium, and other critical minerals and rare earth elements vital to national defense, energy, security, aerospace, and advanced technology.
 

What role has CMA had in Colorado’s history?

We’ve been a huge part of Colorado communities from the very beginning. Many of the institutions, cities, towns, and communities were started or funded in large part by mining. Colorado is home to a large number of mining communities, many of which have rich histories and continue to develop the resources we rely on every day. Leadville is a famous mining community that continues to lead the nation in molybdenum production, and Cripple Creek and Victor are historic gold-mining communities that continue to operate one of the largest gold mines in the United States.

There are also a large number of coal communities that provided the vast majority of our electric power for decades, and communities that developed uranium, copper, and silver and continue to do so today. The mining industry in these areas built communities, funded hospitals and schools, and more.
 

What does CMA do in Colorado today?

CMA has always been an advocacy organization, supporting public policy that allows for a healthy mining industry. Over the years new technology has allowed Colorado’s mining industry to advance, while at the same time technology itself has served as a catalyst for new mining. From gold and silver through molybdenum, uranium, and rare earth minerals, we’ve been a driving force for Colorado’s industrial and economic evolution. 

Those same mining companies that built Colorado are now providing the raw materials that feed our tech sector. Colorado is home to a large technology industry that relies heavily on secure, responsibly sourced mineral supplies. Our state has the largest aerospace employment hub in the US. Aerospace is reliant on responsibly sourced minerals that we’re proud to supply here. 

In addition to the contribution of mined minerals to Colorado’s larger economy, Colorado, and CMA in particular, continues to serve as a community hub not just for those working in and with the industry in Colorado, but for the mining industry nationwide. CMA also hosts the Western Mining Summit, the premier regional conference for mining professionals. This event draws not only our members but many other organizations in the industry and features opportunities for networking, learning, and working together for a productive and sustainable future for mining. At this year’s event on May 20, we’ll be celebrating our organization’s 150th anniversary at that summit, as Colorado celebrates this shared anniversary.
 

What is the future of mining in Colorado?

Today, Colorado has some of the richest reserves of critical minerals vital to the nation, to clean energy, as well as advanced tech, and aerospace. We have a responsibility to develop resources domestically for a variety of reasons. One, to do so in the most responsible and sustainable manner as we can, and two, to insulate ourselves from unreliable supply chains. Colorado, as a result of our mineral endowment and our massive mining-professional infrastructure, is at the forefront of supplying minerals to meet those needs.