Tensions grown between U.S. and Canada over tariffs

John Jechura, professor of Practice, Chemical and Biological Engineering, is quoted in this story examining the implications of new tariff's being placed on petroleum products from Canada. Jechura said that the tariffs make it possible Coloradans ....
March 9, 2025

What to know about Ukraine’s critical minerals, and why Trump wants them

Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy at Mines, is quoted in this article on Ukraine's critical minerals and rare earth elements. “The media and even parts of the administration are using the term incorrectly,” Bazilian says, referring to rare earth elements. “The point is that rare earths are not really and should not be the focus of any Ukraine deal. The country itself, I don’t believe, has ever produced rare earth.”
March 7, 2025

Trump ‘playing into China’s hands’ with Ukraine minerals deal

Ian Lange, associate professor of Economics and Business, is quoted. When it comes to rare earths, for example, only China has the technology to separate and turn them into the metals the US seeks, said Lange. “The US does not have a separations facility,” he said. “So, I guess you could say this might be the first step along a path towards more independence from China, but there’s still a lot more to walk.”
March 6, 2025

Industry anticipates geothermal energy growth burst in the US

Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy at Mines, is quoted. Bazilian cautioned that competition is keen for next-generation experts, noting that 100% of its students get multiple job offers. “If we don’t find ways to make [geothermal] exciting … we will fail to train the workforce of the future we need,” he said.
March 6, 2025

Natural gas is having a moment, but more pipelines may be needed

Ian Lange, an associate professor of economics and business at Mines, is interviewed for this National Public Radio program.“People have called (gas) a bridge fuel, because it (has a) lower CO2 content than coal. It’s pretty flexible in terms of its operations,” Lange said.
March 4, 2025

School of Mines students search for graves in Templeton Cemetery

On the hunt for burial sites in Templeton Cemetery in Woodland Park, four students from the Mines applied 21st century technology to uncover 19th century graves. With ground penetrating radar, electromagnetic device and a GPS system, the students found clues to graves of the city’s pioneers who contributed to the development of Woodland Park. “We are seeing if the soil is disturbed; over here we can already see some indentations,” said Anna Nichols, who with Mia Jungman, Alexis Herr and Jim Gabriel spent two days at the cemetery.
March 3, 2025

Colorado School of Mines project hopes to warm houses, lower bills in mobile home communities

The goal of the three-year program is to bring energy efficiency to low-income families and communities. “It’s a big difference,” one resident says. Paulo Tabares-Velasco, Mines associate professor of mechanical engineering and the project’s lead researcher, is quoted.
March 3, 2025

Ukraine’s minerals won’t solve U.S. supply chain problems

Morgan Bazilian, director of the Mines Payne Institute for Public Policy, co-authored this article outlining the challenges associated with a minerals deal being negotiated with Ukraine. The agreement would obligate Ukraine to pay 50 percent of the proceeds from the “future monetization of all relevant Ukrainian Government-owned natural resource assets” to a fund that the two countries would co-own.
March 3, 2025

Colorado School of Mines students host annual blood stem cell donor registration drive

The blood drive is conducted to honor Jennifer Rotramel-Ronhovde, a member of the Sigma Kappa Zeta Pi chapter who died from leukemia. The drive, now in its 12th year, is done to raise awareness about leukemia and help those like Rotramel-Ronhovde find donors.
March 1, 2025

Mines sorority registers people for stem cell donation in effort to fight blood cancers

Mines' Sigma Kappa Zeta Pi chapter's stem cell donation drive is profiled. The drive is conducted in honor of Mines alumna Jennifer Rotramel-Ronhovde, who was diagnosed with leukemia in 2011. The annual drive is done to raise awareness about leukemia and help those like Rotramel-Ronhovde find donors.
March 1, 2025

What are Ukraine's critical minerals actually worth? No one knows.

Rod Eggert, deputy director of the Critical Materials Innovation Hub at Mines, is quoted in this article examining Ukraine's critical minerals. “Ukraine has significant mineral potential, but how large that potential is, we simply don’t know,” said Eggert,
February 28, 2025

Trump’s chaotic agenda has a critical through line

Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy at Mines, is quoted. This “is one of the only areas of sort of rough bipartisan agreement—that is that these minerals and metals are crucial for energy, but also national security and consumer goods and the overall economy,” said Bazilian. “They feature heavily in the economic war between China and the United States.”
February 26, 2025