Menu
Log in


Mining and Minerals Education Foundation

Log in

John C. Lacy

Shareholder, DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy P.C.

Director, Global Law Center, College of Law, University of Arizona

2017 Medal of Merit Recipient


John Lacy freely admits that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  He grew up in the smelter town of La Oroya, Peru, the headquarters of Cerro de Pasco Copper Corporation where his father, Willard Lacy, was the chief geologist.  When the father was appointed a professor at the College of Mines at The University of Arizona, the young Lacy instinctively knew that his future career would be mining related.  Willard Lacy discouraged his son to go into mining so the son chose law and has been assisting mining clients in matters concerning mineral title, land acquisition and transactional matters.

Aside from practicing mining law, the young Lacy also followed the family teaching tradition, first in college where he found modest success as a long-distance runner and then coached the freshman cross country teams while he was in law school.  He also formed and coached an Army cross country team while stationed at Ft. Huachuca during a four-year service as a Judge Advocate General officer.

Lacy began teaching mining law at The University of Arizona in 1976 as an unpaid adjunct professor.  In 2015, he was approached to direct a new Global Mining Law Center and has since formulated two on-line masters’ degree programs at the University of Arizona’s law school for graduate lawyers and mining professionals.  The program now partners with the Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources and offers cross-listing of courses. 

Lacy has been recognized by The University of Arizona with the Distinguished Citizen Award in 1984, the law school’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2008, and the Alumni Association’s Alumni Service Award in 2009 and Professional Achievement Award in 2017.  Lacy’s teaching efforts were also recognized by the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation in 2015 with the Clyde O. Martz Teaching Award.  Further, he also authored a number of professional articles on mining law and is especially proud of those articles co-authored with his father.

The teaching of history has also been one of Lacy’s passions. Lacy, a long-time member of the Arizona Historical Society, was awarded the Al Merito Award in 2009, the Society’s highest honor. He also currently serves as president of the annual Arizona History Convention.

Lacy and his wife, Terry, have been married for more than 50 years and have two children and six grandchildren.



Eben Robinson

Area Manager, Arizona and New Mexico, Southwestern Energy


Born in Kingman and raised in Wickenburg, Eben Robinson wanted to design cars from concept to production.  At Wickenburg High School he enjoyed wood shop, football and wrestling, graduating as Salutatorian and earning a scholarship to study Mechanical Engineering at The University of Arizona. 

Confronted with the reality that his scholarship would not extend for a second year and his education might be halted, Robinson reached out to friends he had made in the UA Mining Department and was awarded a Phelps Dodge scholarship to study Mining Engineering and ventured into an unexpected new vocation. At UA Robinson met Irene Ramsey, and they married in 1996 over Christmas break. The couple was determined not to incur school debt, so Irene served banquets at Tucson hotels while Eben worked for Modern Engineering LLC, drove haul trucks at ASARCO Silver Bell, and built custom furniture in a small wood shop.

In 2001 Robinson joined IMC Potash (later Mosaic) in Carlsbad, NM, where he worked in all aspects of underground engineering, served on the Mine Rescue Team, ran continuous improvement programs, oversaw a core drilling campaign, supervised a 16-man production crew, and chaired the Potash Section of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) In 2005, Robinson returned to Arizona for Phelps Dodge (later Freeport-McMoRan) as Senior Engineer in the Mine Technology Group. He left in the copper crash of 2008 as Program Manager, working on innovation projects in haulage and mass material transport in the US, Chile, and Peru.  

Following a stint as Maintenance Manager at Marco Crane and Rigging, Robinson joined Southwest Energy LLC in 2010 as Technical Services Engineer. He was soon promoted to Innovation Manager, working to improve safety and efficiency in commercial explosives used in mining. Robinson is now Area Manager in Arizona and New Mexico, where he looks after mining accounts for Southwest Energy, as well as forecasting and logistics for Apache Nitrogen.

Viewing responsible resource extraction as the most basic means of defeating poverty and improving living standards globally, Robinson once chaired the Tucson Chapter of SME for three years consecutively and has served as Treasurer, Vice President and President of the Mining Foundation of the Southwest.  He is currently a member of the Industry Leadership Board of the Mining Department at The University of Arizona. Robinson was a recipient of the Outstanding Senior Award in Mining Engineering at the UA, the SME Outstanding Young Professional Award and the SME Program Area Manager Award.

Robinson resides in Tucson, where he and Irene home school their three children Laura, Emma, and Caleb. He enjoys coaching youth wrestling, small-scale logging and sawmilling, and building the next prototype. 



MINING AND MINERALS EDUCATION FOUNDATION

P. O. Box 42317

Tucson, Arizona  85733

Phone - (520) 577-7519


FOLLOW US

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software