On December 17th, 2009 the ARPA parking lot was transformed into the 5th Annual ARPA Holiday Steak Fry.  With over 300 guests in attendance, including ARPA Members, Governor’s Office, AZ State Legislators, Legislative Staff, State and County Agency representatives and Industry members, the event was certainly one for the books.  The sun was shining and attendees enjoyed visiting with elected officials and industry peers as well as shooting hoops for their chance to win fabulous prizes.  ARPA Members, Salt River Materials Group, SunCon and AZ Materials, fired up their grills to cook steaks while a local restaurant, owned by an ARPA staff member’s family, fried fresh fish for all to enjoy.  The ARPA staff was also blessed with several volunteers who donated prizes, cooked food, orchestrated the basketball shoot-out and ran the entrance booth.  With your help, this event was truly a success.  Thank you for you support and dedication to ARPA.  We wish all ARPA Members and their families a Prosperous and Healthy New Year!

ARPA Member, Tom Lowry of CalPortland has been appointed a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Mining Regulations. Tom will be serving on the committee with Arizona State Senators and Representatives, the State Land Commissioner, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, the Arizona Department of Water Resources, the Arizona State Mine Inspector, the Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources and the Arizona Department of Health Services to  review administrative regulations of the mining industry with particular attention to administrative rules that affect the

development and operation of mine and mineral resources.  The committee will make recommendations for streamlining and coordinating administrative  procedures, sharing information among agencies, relieving unnecessary governmental burdens, generating investment in the mining industry, as well as creating a centralized database of information on lands that would enable shared access, storage, retrieval and archiving of information. Work for this committee begins today in the House of Representatives.