Why Bruce?

Bruce Cavender is a metallurgist and former plant manager with three decades of experience in the minerals industry and an intense interest in clear, crisp writing.

After graduating from the Colorado School of Mines with a degree in metallurgical engineering, Bruce worked for a number of years as a metallurgist and shift foreman at ASARCO’s Mission Mine in southern Arizona. He then returned to school, earning an MBA from the University of Arizona. Bruce subsequently worked as a senior engineer in the processing facilities at Echo Bay’s Round Mountain gold operations in Nevada and at Magma Copper’s (later BHP’s) Superior and San Manuel Mines in Arizona, where he was promoted to mill manager. In his last corporate position, Bruce managed the value planning department at Rio Tinto’s Kennecott copper operations in Utah, where he reported to the company’s chief operating officer.

During these years, Bruce was heavily involved with the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration. He served on SME’s board of directors and was elected to be the Society’s 2002–2003 president. He later resigned from the position to start a manufacturing company, which he expanded and eventually sold to one of his initial investors.

Bruce wrote the only English-language textbook describing the management of mining and processing costs (published by SME) and has presented several short courses on the topic. He has also written 20 papers on a variety of metallurgical, statistical, financial, and management topics. As a freelance technical writer specializing in the minerals industry, he has written or edited thousands of pages of engineering, environmental, operational, and financial documents for clients on three continents.

Scroll down to see some of Bruce’s work. (Papers with original content are followed by an abbreviated list of client projects.) Bruce also blogs about cost management topics at practicalcostmanagement.com.