Bill Hancock, 2025 SME President, speaks of benefits and challenges

Bill A. Hancock (P.E., BS Mineral Engineering 1977) is the 2025 President of the Society of Mining Engineers (SME). Hancock has been involved in SME since he was a student in CEGE and throughout his accomplished professional life. 

A few excerpts from an interview with Hancock in Mining Engineering (March 2025) highlight his views on the future of the industry and of SME.

“Because of the global movement to renewable energy and the attendant required dramatic increased production of a wide range of metals and minerals to meet the transition, I think the mining industry has an even more vital role in our economy, society, and a positive future.” 

"Plus, there's a push for more domestic mineral production from a national security standpoint. The primary challenges to meet the dramatically increased demand domestically are onerous and arduous permitting, where the average time from discovery to production now averages 27 years. There is also a financing challenge . . . But I think we will be seeing more mines being developed in the United States in the near future, with U.S. societal and government's increasing recognition that mining projects must be developed.

"The challenges, though, are not just political. We still need to find deposits, and we need to be able to develop these these mines in an economic and environmentally sustainable manner . . . There are also challenges such as decreasing ore grades, more difficult ores to process and attendant environmental considerations. Our future success will require much more innovation, which is an area where SME can play a role."

A key issue for his presidency will be recruiting more engineers and future leaders into mining and underground construction. 

In addition to his important service to SWE, Hancock is president of Zeroday Enterprises, LLC, and Principal of Argo Consulting, LLC, both companies he founded after a long career in mining. He is a Fellow in SME and in the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, holds an MBA from Northern Michigan University, and has been awarded two mineral process patents.