The National Summit of Mining Communities was created in 2006 in recognition that many mining communities experience the economic pitfalls associated with the boom and bust cycles of mining. The Summit will focus on sharing experiences in order to help communities avert or reduce the severe economic cycles associated with changes in company presence. Ultimately, the Summit will benefit communities around the country by showing them how to adjust their priorities to increase the probability of higher paying jobs, tax revenue, private sector investment, and most importantly, economic sustainability. The Summit began as a grassroots gathering of people from mining towns with the emphasis on “communities talking to communities.” The discussions are not only about current issues and challenges, but also about past success stories that arose from adversity. The synergy of sharing achievements and solutions to these common issues that face every mining community will make all our communities stronger and will help mining communities turn challenges into opportunities, and adversity into success stories.

The conference format is a series of presenters and panels from mining communities who will talk about how they have dealt with such issues as environmental remediation, preservation of mining heritage, economic impacts, recreational tourism, and regulatory impacts. During the sessions there will be time for comments and questions.