The 62nd ILSG was held in Duluth, Minnesota on May 4-8, 2016. The meeting was organized by Jim Miller (UMD, general meeting chair), Christian Schardt (UMD, program chair), and Dean Peterson (Peterson Geoscience, field trip chair) with considerable assistance from Louise Miller, Julie Heinz, and the staff of the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. The meeting was attended by a total of 246 registrants, including a record 84 students. Special thanks to corporations (Teck American, Barr, Arcelor Mittal, Foth), organizations (Mesabi Range Geological Society, Richard Patelke Memorial Scholarship), and individuals (Mary Arthur, John Berkley, Dan Costello, Ryan Dayton, Henry Djerlev Eric Dott, William Everett, Steve Hoaglund, Allan MacTavish, Gordon Medaris, Jr., Daniel Romanelli, Ron Seavoy, Harvey Thorleifson) who provided financial support for students to attend the meeting at reduced cost.

A total of 44 talks (15 by student) and 47 posters (28 by students) were presented over the two-days of technical sessions. Morning session talks on Thursday, May 5th focused on the petrology and metallogenesis of Archean to Paleproterozoic igneous rocks, Precambrian geochronology, and Archean sedimentation and structure. The afternoon sessions included talks on Midcontinent Rift geology and mineralization and on environmental geology topics related to mining and exploration in the Lake Superior region. Technical talks continued through Friday morning and focused on Proterozoic tectonics and sedimentation. After lunch break, Jim Miller, Dean Peterson, Mark Jirsa, and George Hudak, gave talks reflecting on the 10 year anniversary of the Precambrian Research Center at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. This was followed by presentations of student travel grants and best student paper awards to Brigitte Gelinas and Sophie Kurucz (presentations) as well as Alexandra Kozlowski and Benjamin Hinks (posters).

Given the record number of oral and posters presentations, the organizers wants to especially thank the diligent work of the best student paper award committee members – Karl Everett, Dyanna Czeck, Tim Kroeger, Michael Zieg, and Dorothy Campbell.

The annual ILSG banquet was held at the DECC ballroom on Thursday evening and was attended by 156 individuals. The 2016 Goldich Medal was awarded to Mark Jirsa of the Minnesota Geological Survey. Terry Boerboom presented the award during the annual banquet citing Mark’s many contributions to the geology of the Lake Superior region and to his service to the ILSG. Mark has served as treasurer of the ILSG for over 20 years (1994-2002, 2005-present). The evening banquet speaker was Peter Clevenstine, Assistant Director of Minerals for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The title of Pete’s talk was: “Managing Minnesota's Mineral Resources and the DNR’s Conservation Agenda”.
The meeting offered one two-day field trip, five one-day field trips and two half-day field trips which were attended by a total of 211 participants (see photos here). Three pre-meeting full-day field trips were offered on Wednesday May 4th, including 1) Glacial Geology of the Laurentian Uplands (24p) led by Phil Larson (Vesterheim Geoscience PLC) and Howard Mooers (UMD), 2) Neoarchean Geology of the Western Vermilion District (38p) led by Mark Jirsa, Terry Boerboom, and Amy Radakovich (MGS), and 3) Cu-Ni-PGE Deposits of the Duluth Complex (28p) led by Mark Severson (Teck American), Andrew Ware (PolyMet Mining), Kevin Boerst (Twin Metals Minnesota), and Steve Geerts (UMD-NRRI). A half-day trip on the Geology of the Endion Sill, Duluth (16p) was led by Jim Miller (UMD) on Wednesday afternoon.

Four post-meeting field trips were offered. On Friday evening, Dean Peterson (Peterson Geoscience) and George Hudak (UMD-NRRI) lead a trip on the Geology and Fishing along Amity Creek, Duluth (17p) followed by a picnic at George’s yard. Two one-day trips, Keweenawan Geology of the Hovland Area (37p) led by Terry Boerboom (MGS) and John Green (UMD) and Duluth Harbor Geologic History Boat Cruise: Quaternary to Anthropocene (22p) led by Irv Mossberger, Mehgan Blair, Eric Dott (Barr Engineering), Andy Breckenridge (UW-Superior), and Todd Kremmin (UMD) were run on Saturday. A two-day trip on the Archean and Proterozoic Geology of the Western Gunflint Trail (27p) was led by Mark Jirsa (MGS) on Saturday and Sunday.

The Institute’s Board of Directors met on Thursday May 5th to discuss the business of the Institute. The meeting was attended by meeting co-chair Christian Schardt, Treasurer Mark Jirsa, Secretary Peter Hollings and board members Jim Miller (2017 chair), Theodore Bornhorst (2016 chair) and Robert Cundari (2018 chair). Secretary Hollings took the minutes of the Board meeting that are as follows:
1.   Accepted report of the Chairs for the 61st ILSG, Dryden, Ontario; as printed in the
      Proceeding Volume (Cundari), and minutes of last Board meeting, May 21, 2015 (Hollings)
2.   Received, discussed, and accepted 2015-2016 ILSG Financial Summary (Jirsa).
3.   Received, discussed, and accepted 2015-2016 report of the Secretary (Hollings).
4.   Approved Christian Schardt as on-going ILSG Board member
5.   Discussed and approved renewal of Pete Hollings as Institute Secretary (end of term 2019).
      This was later approved by a vote of the membership.
6.   Approved Wawa as the site for the 63rd annual ILSG meeting. The meeting will be hosted by
      Ann Wilson, Anthony Pace, and Ted Bornhorst.
7.   There was discussion as to the future meeting locations with Cobalt, Sudbury and Eau Claire
      being suggested as possibilities.
8.   Discussed and approved replacing Mark as the “member from government” on Goldich
      Committee (end of term 2016) with Klaus Schulz.
9.   The suggestion that we find some mechanism to Honor our Pioneers was raised by Gene
      La Berge. This was discussed and it was decided that the membership would be invited to
      nominate candidates (active prior to 1955) and then one or two would be selected each year
      and a presentation made during the Annual Meeting. The first two presentations will be given
      at the 63rd Annual Meeting. The Secretary will prepare a set of guidelines and circulate
      to the Board for approval.
10. Jirsa reported on the cost of Director’s insurance. Preliminary discussions with one company
      suggests a cost of $1000 to $1500 per year for ~$1million of coverage. This was considered
      too expensive and Board members were encouraged to enquire with their personal insurers to
      see if they were covered. Jirsa and Hollings to investigate further.
11. Bornhorst and Hollings to develop a set of field safety guidelines to be circulated to
      incoming meeting Chairs.
12. The Mancuso student paper awards were discussed and it was agreed that they would be limited to a maximum of four per year, but the exact division of the awards would be decided by the awards committee.

The 2016 meeting organizers would like to again thank all those who assisted with the meeting including the field trip leaders, session chairs, best student paper committee members, Goldich committee members, the DECC staff, and those who provided support behind the scenes. We would also like to thank the professional and student participants of the meeting, the field trip attendees, and the oral and poster presenters for their enthusiastic involvement with the Institute. Your active participation year after year is what makes the ILSG one of the best regional geoscience meetings in North America. 

Respectfully submitted,
Jim Miller, Christian Schardt, Dean Peterson
Co-chairs, 62nd Institute on Lake Superior Geology