A. The International Mining and Minerals Association.

Q. When was IMMa formed?

A. 1 January 2007.

Q. Why was IMMa formed?

A. When the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (IMM) merged with the
Institute of Materials in 2003 to form the Institute of Materials, Minerals
and Mining (IOM3), the former membership of the IMM was split into four
divisions: Applied Earth Science, Mineral Processing & Extractive
Metallurgy, Mining Technology and Petroleum & Drilling Engineering.  These
four new divisions joined the 12 other technical divisions that together
make up the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and this partition
of the membership led to a perceived loss of combined identity within the
enlarged organisation.  In order to  form a platform for future growth, the
minerals divisions worked together to create IMMa, whose function is to deal
with Institute business that is common to the four divisions and to improve
the  interface with  membership and the outside world.

Q. Is IMMa part of IOM3?

A. Yes. IMMa is an association within the IOM3 that embraces the four
minerals divisions. IMMa is the successor to the IMM and it provides the
focus for minerals and mining members under the federal structure of the
IOM3. 

Q. Will the minerals divisions continue to exist?

A. Yes, but the minerals divisions will in future deal mainly with technical
matters specific to their disciplines, such as conferences and publications,
while IMMa will deal with business that is common to all four divisions.

Q. Who is running IMMa?

A. IMMa is run by a committee that consists of the chairmen of the minerals
divisions, plus two other members from the board of each division, together
with representatives from other relevant IOM3 boards and committees. 

The current members of the IMMa committee are:

Brendan Breen (MTD)

Mike Cave (MPEMD)

Jan Cilliers (MPEMD)

Michael Forrest (Chairman, AESD)

Steve Henley (AESD)

Peter Huxtable (Professional Policy Board)

Jan Lewis (AESD)

John Monhemius (Chairman, MPEMD)

Bob Siddall (Chairman, MTD)

Rod Stace (MTD)

Frances Perry (IOM3 librarian) acts as secretary to the committee.

The chairmanship of the IMMa committee will rotate annually among the divisional chairmen. This year's IMMa chairman is John Monhemius.

Since being formed in January 2007, the main tasks of the IMMa committee have been concerned with getting itself organised, establishing a membership database and creating a "brand image".

Q. Is there an IMMa Membership Database?

A. Yes. Shortly after IMMa was established, many of you will have received one or more emails asking you to register your details on the IMMa membership database. Many thanks to those of you that have taken the trouble to do this. We currently have about 1000 names on the database. However there are over 4000 former IMM members who are members of IOM3 and hence who are eligible to join IMMa. If you have not yet registered your name on the IMMa database, we urge you to do so as soon as possible. The procedure is very simple and it can be done either on- or off-line. The fastest way to register is online at

http://www.vmine.net/imma/index.asp

Alternatively, you can obtain a registration form, which should be completed and returned by post to the IOM3 membership office in Stoke-on-Trent. Registration forms for IMMa are available either from the secretary of your local society, or directly from the IOM3 membership office (tel: 01782 221702)

Q. What can IMMa do for me?

A. IMMa is the home for minerals professionals in the UK and overseas. It will be your voice to industry, government, the academic world and the general public.

New and exciting benefits are available for IMMa members:

IMMAGE Online The IMMAGE database is the world's most important and comprehensive source of technical information for minerals professionals. Started by the IMM nearly 30 years ago, IMMAGE currently contains over 100,000 abstracts of technical papers from all important journals and conferences, covering the whole minerals field from exploration geology to metals production. Hitherto, access to IMMAGE was off-line and by subscription only, but now IMMAGE is available free online as a benefit for IMMa members. This brings a huge amount of easily searchable technical information directly to your computer, wherever you are in the world, providing you have web access.

Library Catalogue The former IMM library, a world-class collection of technical books and journals, was transferred to IOM3 when the merger took place. In order to improve the accessibility of this important resource, a project is under way to digitise the whole library catalogue. This formidable task will soon be completed and then the catalogue will be made available online as a further free benefit for IMMa members, to enable you to search the library at your desk for relevant books, journals, maps, etc. You can then have books posted to you, or papers and maps photocopied or scanned and sent to you.

CPD Records As a professional engineer, you should be keeping your technical knowledge up-to-date by regular attendance at conferences, short courses, technical meetings and other sources of continuous professional development (CPD). If you are a UK-registered chartered engineer, you are obliged to keep a record of your CPD activities, which should be available on request to the Engineering Council for auditing purposes. To help you with this task, software for CPD record is available online - if you log in to this website with your IOM3 username and PIN (see link top right) and then click My Profile, you will be able to access your CPD record.

Future Benefits We are in discussion with Mining Communications Ltd, publishers of a number of respected mining and minerals titles, including the Mining Journal and Mining Magazine. We hope shortly to conclude an arrangement with the publishers to make many of these titles available to IMMa members on a free or reduced subscription basis.

John Monhemius

IMMa Chairman

Royal School of Mines

London

October 2007