Earn Professional Development Hours through the ethics course at the SME Minnesota Conference.

Tuesday, April 16, 2024
8:30 am – 9:30 am

DR. GEORGE J. HUDAK, P. GEO., P.G.
Geological Consultant, George Hudak Geoscience

How Scandals Have Shaped Ethics in the Minerals Industry

Ethical management practices involving data acquisition, data interpretation, and data reporting are required to insure proper scientific, regulatory, financial, and social license components related to mineral projects. In recent years, numerous regulations have been developed worldwide to address the reporting of exploration data to ensure investor knowledge and confidence when evaluating and investing in mineral projects. Such regulatory instruments such as NI 43-101 (Canada), JORC (Australia), SAMREC (South Africa), and U.S. Security Exchange Commission 17 CFR Parts 229, 2230, 239, and 249 were developed in response to a number of mineral scandals that involved unethical practices related to mineral project data releases to the public. This presentation will investigate these scandals and the resulting regulatory instruments that require ethical practices when reporting mineral project-related data to the public.

About the speaker: George Hudak is a Geological Consultant with George Hudak Geoscience. He recently retired as the Geology and Mineral Opportunities Strategic Research Group manager at the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI). This applied research lab is part of the University of Minnesota system research enterprise. In that role, he guided the overall strategic research plan for this research group and for NRRI’s Minerals and Metallurgy applied research platform. Hudak is an economic geologist/applied volcanologist with specific expertise in exploration for Precambrian volcanic- and structurally-hosted base- and precious metal mineral deposits and their associated hydrothermal and mineralizing systems. While at the NRRI, he worked on a wide variety of projects encompassing mineral potential in Minnesota, renewable energy storage, health-related mineralogy, hydrometallurgical processing of critical metals-bearing mineral deposits, and water treatment. Development of higher-value products and more efficient utilization of mineral resources have been key components of the research he has contributed to at the NRRI. 

Before arriving at NRRI in 2009, Hudak spent eleven years as an Assistant/Associate Professor of Geology at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UWO), where he focused his government- and minerals industry-funded research and consulting on volcanic and structurally-associated precious and base metal mineral deposits within Precambrian terranes across North America. This included well-known mining camps in the Wabigoon and Wawa-Abitibi terranes of the Superior Province and prospects in the Vermilion District of northeastern Minnesota. He taught a wide variety of courses at UWO, including Introductory Geology, Mineralogy, Lithology, Mineral Deposits, Advanced Mineralogy, Volcanology, and a field course investigating volcanism and hydrothermal alteration at Yellowstone National Park and Craters of the Moon National Monument. Since arriving at NRRI, Hudak has also taught several courses at the University of Minnesota Duluth, including the Precambrian Research Center geology field camp, Mineralogy and Economic Geology.

Hudak is a Registered Professional Geologist (P.G.) in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and holds a Professional Geoscientist License (P.Geo.) in Ontario. He is a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists and also serves as a Mentor for the Society. Hudak currently serves as a Director for the Minnesota Center for Minerals Resource Education (MCMRE). He received his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Geology from Carleton College, the University of Minnesota Duluth, and the University of Minnesota, respectively.