Editorial

On behalf of Vol 25, 4 Editor Mel Best, welcome to this Special Issue of FastTIMES which focuses on Mine Site Geophysics. It follows on from a previous FastTIMES Vol 23, 2 Special Issue on Mining and Mine Site Geophysics. In his Foreword (p47-48), Mel Best outlines the mine site geophysics focussed technical content of this Special Issue. We hope you find the content informative and following on from the previous Vol 23, 2 issue, further evidence of the great potential for near-surface geophysics methods to be applied at many phases in the life cycle of mining operations and to contribute to sustainable mining. Thank you for the support of all the technical article contributors and the advertisers for Vol 25, 4.

Apart from the Mining Geophysics focused technical articles and regular columns, Volume 25, 4 features also contribution of three articles to the Silver Jubilee Forum focusing on the theme of unity: an op-ed on US NSG governance (p23), AMIRA Global activities in collaborative research in mining (p24), and Women in Mining interview with Sabina Shugg (p26); EEGS News including news of the EEGS Talk About Geophysics (TAG) webinar series (p31), the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Task Force and EEGS Web-page multi-lingual capability update (p29-30), the regular UXO Community News (p147) an Events Calendar update (p7-9) and last but most importantly  an update on SAGEEP 2021 (p35-40), our first digital online SAGEEP. Vol 25, 4 is the third venture into implementing the new distributed Editorial model for FastTIMES. It is also my last FastTIMES as Editor-in-Chief, having overseen 17 issues of FastTIMES (p19). As for JEEG and Dale Rucker (p41), there has been a changeover of the Editors of EEGS publications at the end of 2020 (see the President’s Message p15).

It is time for me to hand over to the FastTIMES new Editor-in-Chief: German Ojeda, who promises in 2021, to further take FastTIMES to a new level with online HTML publishing. I will continue as part of the FastTIMES Editorial team (p18) as an Associate Editor assisting German in the new venture with FastTIMES and also working on EEGS Inter-Society Committee matters.  German promises to continue the mission of FastTIMES and 2021 has some great upcoming issues (p28) with an ongoing focusing on SAGEEP 2021 and applications of near-surface geophysics (NSG) to US and global sustainability issues.

FastTIMES is a unique  global  resource  in  the  global NSG community, the only magazine devoted to NSG case examples, that are taking the message of the benefits of NSG to both geophysicists and also to end-users of NSG methods in the various sectors that NSG methods service. It takes a village to raise a child and also to produce a magazine like FastTIMES and it is a privilege to have worked with so many wonderful contributors of  news and  technical content to FastTIMES production, which I estimate to be upwards of 250 contributors (from EEGS and other global NSG and geo- professional Societies) since mid-2017 when I took over from the then Editor-in-Chief, current EEGS President, Barry Allred.

A special mention of thanks goes to the current (p18) and previous Associate Editors team including new NSG History regular column Associate Editor Doug Crice (p22) for their regular column contributions. Thank you also to successive EEGS Boards and Presidents (Laura Sherrod, Rick Hoover, Dale Werkema and Barry Allred) for supporting the development of FastTIMES. During my tenure, important contributors include Dale Rucker (JEEG Report), Doug Laymon (EEGS Foundation News), SAGEEP 2017- 2021 Chairs (Bill Doll, Dennis Mills and Mark Dunscomb and their Committees), EEGS Student Chapter Chairs (Bethany Burton, John Jackson and Katherine Grote), Ana Jovanovic (layout), Jackie Jacoby (administration), with advertising support from David Valintine (and formerly also Jeff Leberfinger and Peeter Pehme). Most important, to mention and thank are the loyal regular and occasional advertisers that ensure the ongoing financial viability of FastTIMES (p5). Finally, I salute my patient and understanding dear wife Marie-Christine who has supported me in my passion for NSG outreach and enduring the time it takes to produce a magazine. Thank you all, it has been a blast. Thank you, also loyal readers. I hope you all can continue to give German Ojeda, the support I have received with FastTIMES.

If there are any regrets it is that we have not yet managed to get FastTIMES to professional production level (like the SEG Leading Edge or EAGE First Break) and secondly that it is clear that our US NSG Community still remains fragmented (on p23 I share hopes and thoughts on US NSG unity).

In closing I hope you and your loved ones stay safe and productive in these challenging times. Please enjoy reading Vol 25, 4. Please take the time to visit the Web pages of both our advertiser’s and also the mining sector focused professional Societies (see logos on p15) that have supported this Special Issue.

Geoff Pettifer
[email protected]