Every four years of the past 12, members of the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) and other geoscientists have gathered in Colorado for the Society’s flagship event. The conference title was chosen to reflect the broadening scope of the field of economic geology, which more than ever encompasses precious and base metals that form the traditional backbone of our exploration and research projects, infrastructure metals needed for the urbanization of our modern world, and technology and energy minerals and metals used in fast-developing industries and markets.

These themes will be the focus of technical sessions, bringing together both invited and submitted presentations and posters to update our community on the latest developments across the breadth of our discipline. The challenges of adapting to and predicting present and future trends, both for economic geologists and society as a whole, will be specific and, we hope, thought provoking session topics.

The technical program also will feature plenary sessions, again with both invited and submitted talks, focused on recent breakthroughs in economic geology, integration of multidisciplinary geoscience, and the crossover between petroleum and ore deposit geoscience as applied to sedimentary basins. Selected presentations will be published in a peer-reviewed SEG Special Publication that will be available for purchase at the conference.

Complementing the technical program are a wide range of high-quality pre- and post-conference workshops and field trips. These offer the opportunity to broaden and deepen exposure to important deposit types, technologies, and practical exploration tools.

Students and young professionals play a critical role as current innovators and future leaders in our society, and the conference will build on the SEG tradition of encouraging and sponsoring their participation with a series of integrated pre- and post-conference events. This group is encouraged to submit abstracts for oral and poster presentations. Industry sponsorship for these newer practitioners and for the conference is underway. Additional papers and sponsorship are welcome. The SEG 2018 Organizing Committee, SEG executives, and volunteers look forward to seeing you in the Colorado Rockies for what promises to be an exceptional conference!