Name Change For Northwest Mining Association

SPOKANE, WA - As the Co-Chairs of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Rebranding and Naming, Rich DeLong and Louie Cononelos reported to the membership that the Board of Trustees voted 28-1 on Friday, October 18, 2013, to approve the Ad-Hoc Committee's recommendation to change the Association's name from Northwest Mining Association to American Exploration & Mining Association, effective at the close of this year's Annual Meeting and Exposition in Reno, NV.

There is no question that today's Association differs greatly from 118 years ago when the Association represented a few northwestern states and provinces or 30 years ago when membership began to expand, or even 10 years ago when membership expanded even farther. As the membership map below demonstrates, Association members reside or work in 42 states, seven Canadian provinces and ten other countries, with the majority of membership in the western United States and British Columbia.

22 percent of members are in Nevada, 13 percent in Colorado, and Washington coming in third at 12 percent. The Association currently has more members in the 3 western states of Nevada, Colorado and Utah combined than in all of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and British Columbia. These seven states and one province account for 75 percent of membership. More than 60 percent of membership is outside the traditional northwest.