You may not have noticed it, but a change has taken place. There was a slight change to the masthead (that column of fine print to the right) and the title below my signature is now different. Late last year, I formed a new company, Mining Media International Inc. based in Jacksonville, Florida, and purchased Coal Age along with Engineering & Mining Journal (E&MJ) and other mining-related properties from Mining Media Inc., the Denver, Colorado-based company that has owned the titles since 2003. The title publisher was added to editor-in-chief below my signature.
Shortly after MINExpo 2016, the former owner, Peter Johnson, expressed an interest in selling the titles. In a friendly transaction, he sold them to Mining Media International at the beginning of the year. The similarities with the company names were intentional. Our hope was to implement as smooth a transition as possible for our readers and the advertisers that support the titles. For the last four to five months, we have been working to separate these businesses and their respective intellectual properties (databases, websites, etc.). Now that Mining Media International Inc. has been firmly established, we are making changes to improve operations.