News and Media
A dedicated experts and staff run the day-to-day operations of the Institute, and manage its research outputs, training, and public engagement activities. For media or interview inquiries with the Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian or any other of the Payne Institute leadership, please contact Deputy Director Greg Clough at (303)384-2218 or gclough@mines.edu.
From Site-Level Detections to Monthly and Annual National Totals: Multiyear VIIRS Nightfire Estimates of Global Gas Flaring 10/13/2026
From Site-Level Detections to Monthly and Annual National Totals: Multiyear VIIRS Nightfire Estimates of Global Gas Flaring
Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Mikhail Zhizhin, Tilottama Ghosh, Gregory Gleason, Christopher D. Elvidge, and Morgan Bazilian study advances global gas-flaring monitoring from a sequence of annual inventories to a monthly, source-resolved, multi-satellite record of upstream gas flaring from March 2012 through December 2025, using VIIRS Nightfire observations from SNPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21. November 12, 2026.
ASM Opportunities in Southern Zambia: Potential of Supply Chain Decoupling to Drive New Regional Markets 11/12/2026
ASM Opportunities in Southern Zambia: Potential of Supply Chain Decoupling to Drive New Regional Markets
Payne Institute Student Researcher Andrew Bauman, Faculty Fellow Ian Lange, and Energy Finance Lab Director Brad Handler write about how as western powers, such the US and EU, pursue non-adversarial sources of critical minerals, Zambia’s Southern province offers an example of how artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) can be harnessed. November 12, 2026.
Underwater Arms Race Puts US Naval Supremacy at Risk 11/12/2026
Underwater Arms Race Puts US Naval Supremacy at Risk
Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributed to this article about how for the United States and its allies, a robust industrial base for maritime drones does not yet exist. November 12, 2026.
United States Copper Smelting and Refining Capacity and the Case for Western Allied Cooperation 11/11/2026
United States Copper Smelting and Refining Capacity and the Case for Western Allied Cooperation
Payne Institute Critical Minerals Research Associate Isabel Guajardo, Alicia Polo y La Borda Cavero, and Director Morgan Bazilian write an analysis that works its way through the dynamics of the copper market, with emphasis of its relevance for the United States of America (US), to explain why the country, despite record copper prices and growing demand, processes less than half of the copper it mines. November 11, 2026.
El Niño is just getting started. New effects expected soon 11/9/2026
El Niño is just getting started. New effects expected soon
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Nathan Lenssen contributed to this article about how a strong El Niño has already upended hurricane season and sent planetary waves to batter California. Soon its effects could steer daily U.S. weather. November 9, 2026.
Where does Trumps’s critical minerals strategy go from here? 11/8/2026
Where does Trump’s critical minerals strategy go from here
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Ian Lange contributed to this article about how looming congressional scrutiny rattles mining industry after Democratic midterms sweep. November 8, 2026.
Can shale policy work for geothermal? Lessons for next-generation geothermal development in the United States 11/6/2026
Can shale policy work for geothermal? Lessons for next-generation geothermal development in the United States
Payne Institute Geothermal and Low Carbon Technologies Program Manager Anna Littlefield, Student Researcher Sarah Severin, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how the United States can support next-generation geothermal energy development in the United States, taking as a starting assumption a decision to prioritize the technology’s development. November 6, 2026.
China expands overseas mining stakes, tightening grip on critical minerals 11/4/2026
China expands overseas mining stakes, tightening grip on critical minerals
Payne Institute Energy Finance Lab Director Brad Handler contributed to this article about how the state-led push could give Beijing greater leverage over global supplies of critical minerals and who gets access to them. November 4, 2026.
Critical mineral supply chain readiness for commercial fusion energy: A framework with applications to the ARC and EU-DEMO tokamaks 11/2/2026
Critical mineral supply chain readiness for commercial fusion energy: A framework with applications to the ARC and EU-DEMO tokamaks
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Jenifer Shafer, Ahmed Diallo, Macdonald Amoah, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how private fusion energy companies are targeting commercial electricity generation within the next two decades, yet the material supply chains required to build and operate these reactors have received limited systematic assessment. November 2, 2026.
China’s Hold on the Acid That Etches AI Chips 11/2/2026
China’s Hold on the Acid That Etches AI Chips
Maxwell Brown and Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian write about how Japanese and South Korean companies make the purest hydrofluoric acid used to etch AI chips, but most of the fluorine behind it comes through China. How the supply chain works, where it is exposed and what Washington can do about it. November 2, 2026.
Methane Certification & Carbon Credits: The gaps in data, standardization & policy 11/2/2026
Methane Certification & Carbon Credits: The gaps in data, standardization & policy
Payne Institute Energy Finance Lab Director Brad Handler discussing the complexities of carbon markets, the challenges of standardization and measurement, and the implications of methane emissions from orphan wells on the Navigating Carbon podcast. November 2, 2026.
Critical Minerals and Volatile Backward Linkages: Evidence from 22 Million VAT and Customs Records in Zambia 11/2/2026
Critical Minerals and Volatile Backward Linkages: Evidence from 22 Million VAT and Customs Records in Zambia
Payne Institute Fellow Anja Benshaul-Tolonen and Paula Fernandez Musso provide microeconomic evidence on how fluctuations in monthly mine-level copper production propagate through domestic production networks using 22 million domestic transaction and customs import records in Zambia. November 2, 2026.
Alex DakotaTomi Brunson Named Influential Woman · Indigenous Energy and Mineral Resources 10/30/2026
Alex DakotaTomi Brunson Named Influential Woman · Indigenous Energy and Mineral Resources
Payne Institute Native American Mining and Energy Sovereignty (NAMES) Research Associate Alex DakotaTomi Brunson was named an Influential Woman · Indigenous Energy and Mineral Resources. Alex works with Tribal Nations, Native communities, students, researchers, government agencies, and industry partners to strengthen Tribal capacity and support informed, self-determined decisions concerning energy development, mineral resources, natural resources, and economic opportunities. October 30, 2026.
Select U.S. State Oil & Gas Well Plugging Legislative Update and Consideration of the Use of Carbon Markets 10/29/2026
Select U.S. State Oil & Gas Well Plugging Legislative Update and Consideration of the Use of Carbon Markets
Energy Finance Lab Program Director Brad Handler recently addressed a group of sustainability investors on the topic of recent U.S. State efforts to accelerate oil and gas well plugging and to avoid more wells falling into orphan status. October 29, 2026.
Beneath the Surface: Exploring Geothermal & Carbon Storage with Anna Littlefield 10/28/2026
Beneath the Surface: Exploring Geothermal & Carbon Storage with Anna Littlefield
The Payne Institute is a proud partner with the Mines Future Energy Scholar (FES) Mackenzie Marquis to present her interview with Anna Littlefield, Payne Institute Geothermal and Low Carbon Technologies Program Manager, exploring how existing technologies, expertise, and infrastructure are being applied to geothermal energy and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). October 28, 2026.
Denver Water approves 2027 rate hikes amid historic drought 10/28/2026
Denver Water approves 2027 rate hikes amid historic drought
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Steven Smith contributed to this article about Denver Water commissioners unanimously voted Wednesday to raise rates to generate about 6% more revenue. October 28, 2026.
How to rebuild America’s submarine capacity 10/28/2026
How to rebuild America’s submarine capacity
Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian writes about how nurturing the growth of small factories is essential toward repairing the United States’ submarine industrial base. But it will succeed only if the U.S. takes steps to strengthen the entire supply chain. October 28, 2026.
SPE Focuses on Exploring New Horizons With Innovative Solutions at its Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition 10/27/2026
SPE Focuses on Exploring New Horizons With Innovative Solutions at its Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Jennifer Miskimins contributed to this article about how nearly 4,500 energy professionals from 57 countries gathered in Houston for SPE’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), where more than 150 exhibitors and hundreds of technical papers highlighted the latest advances shaping the future of oil and gas. October 27, 2026.
How Data Center Deals Allocate Delay Risk 10/27/2026
How Data Center Deals Allocate Delay Risk
Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and Brandon N. Owens write about how tracing the physical dependencies of data center projects and the contract structures that leave developers, tenants, or capital carrying the cost of delay. October 27, 2026.
The myth of the space Pearl Harbor: why space superiority requires staying power 10/26/2026
The myth of the space Pearl Harbor: why space superiority requires staying power
Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert, Director Morgan Bazilian, and Senior Research Fellow Jahara Matisek write about how Air Force Secretary Troy Meink announced that the United States has “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action.” He declined to say what kind of weapons they are or how many are in orbit. The disclosure sharpens a question US strategy has yet to answer: what using such weapons would actually achieve in a war. October 26, 2026.
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