While thousands arrived at the show late last week and over the weekend, many thousands more were trapped at their home airports waiting for conditions to improve in the Rocky Mountain city while the massive, barreling storm dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas.

For those who do make it, “Mining: It’s About the People” will kick off with a keynote session on February 25.

Moderated by Colorado School of Mines president Bill Scoggins, the presenters will include National Academy of Sciences senior program officer CY Butner, National Science Teachers Association executive director Gerry Wheeler, Caterpillar chief technology officer and vice-president Tana Utley and Peabody Energy senior vice-president of human resources Andrew Slentz.

SME - which was asked by the US Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory to collect, analyze and report on workforce trends in the mining industry as part of the agency’s Emerging Workforce Trends in the US Energy and Mining Industries report - has found some interesting information through its research that it wants to highlight as the show opens.

“SME’s report concludes that it is unlikely that there will be sufficient skilled mine labor to satisfy the demand over the next 20 years,” the association said.

While that does not mean the positions will not be filled, as retirement and a projected global increase in demand for mine labor will likely provide a steady stream of jobs, there will be a period of time where the nation’s mining industry – many argue that time is now – will have a workforce composed of very young and very senior workers.

“The shortage of skilled miners raises implications for the health and safety of the workforce, and may force companies to instigate process improvements and new automation solutions [and] resource nationalism and a potential rise in commodity prices due to a rapidly expanding global middle class may force the US to boost domestic mineral production and take active measures to reduce our increasing import dependence on key minerals,” SME said.

“This [keynote] will address this issue and its ramifications on the future viability and competitiveness of the US mining industry.”

A complete listing of technical sessions is available through the SME website. Show hours will be 11am-5.30pm Monday and Tuesday, and 8am-12pm on Wednesday.

Watch ILN for more from the Denver SME 2013.