Archives:The 1980’s—Hard Times with a Golden Lining

Intended as both an overview of the mining industry as well as a retrospective of SME’s role in in the 1980’s, the article examines the political and economic outlook of the mining industry in the early, mid, and late 1980’s. Between copper industry strikes, ever-tightening environmental regulation, and decreased mineral production, the early 80’s saw the mining industry beset by some of its hardest times since the Great Depression . The mid-80’s saw a slow return of the mining industry, and although SME membership numbers dwindled, the company saw its first publication of the still in print Minerals and Metallurgical Processing Journal. The article concludes its examination of the mining industry in the 1980’s by documenting the increase of metal prices and the production of gold and coal that led to the upturn of the mining industries once more.

Full Article

The 1980's-- Hard Times with a Golden Lining, by William R. Yernberg, associate ed. (pdf)