MINING MENT ORS L arry Clark beg an his car eer as an under gr ound miner at the Henderson molybdenum mine in Color ado in 197 8 He gr aduat ed fr om the Color ado School of Mines in 1986 and af t er stint s working at a consult ancy and a mining sof t w a r e compan y Clark w as hir ed by N e wmont He w as ther e f o r 1 7 y ears f inishing as senior dir ect or of mining t echnology bef or e moving on t o J olimont Global Mining S y st ems as the N o rth American principal F r om Mar ch 2018 t o Mar ch 20 20 he w as COO of N e w t r ax T echnologies A lot has chang ed in the industry sinc e Clark f i rst went under gr ound in the 197 0 s particularly the t echnology used Wher eas electric equipment w as onc e scar c e companies ar e now adopting bat t ery power ed trucks not t o mention the use of smartphones at under gr ound mines But the challeng e said Clark is that the industry is still risk a v erse A c cor ding t o him the next g ener ation of miners will be the one t o over come the industry s t echnology a v ersion and push it f orw ar d CIM What is the most important quality that you look for in a young pr ofessional Clark It s the person s drive pas sion ener gy and self motiv a tion My view is that fr om a t echnical perspective a n y school is compet ent and can pr ovide y ou with a t echnical backgr ound What Im looking f or is work ethic Im looking f or the person who s eag er t o come in and solve pr oblems Im looking f o r y oung people who even without dir ection will run out g a ther some inf ormation come back and say Her e s wher e I think we should g o I gues s it s best captur ed as someone who s eag er t o learn all the time CIM What was the most dif ficult but worthwhile pr ofessional quality for you to cultivate Clark Developing the skill of active list ening I ha ve been in so man y meeting s wher e some people t a k e all the o x yg en in the r oom and other people don t g et a chanc e t o say a wor d Develop Passion temper ed with compassion leads to understanding Advice to young mining pr ofessionals fr om veteran mining executive Larry Clark By T om DiNar do Courtesy of Larry Clark 26 CIM Magazine V ol 15 No 3