The purpose of the Minnesota Center for Mineral Resource Education (MCMRE) is to promote awareness of the positive contribution that mineral resources make to the Minnesota way of life, principally by supporting teacher education in mineral resources, including their geology, exploration, development, extraction, uses, reclamation, conservation, and economics; and to give support for the development and implementation of curricula for teaching about mineral resources at the K-12 level of education.

MCMRE, a 501c3 organization, was established in 2009 as the successor to the network of volunteers that had very successfully been organizing the Minnesota Minerals Education Workshop (MMEW) since 1997.

Each year, as many as 100 teachers from across Minnesota attended MMEW workshops that were held at sites throughout Minnesota from 1997 to 2008. The 2009 workshop was rescheduled to 2010 as part of the transition to operation under MCMRE. The workshop held in the Twin Cities in August 2010 was a great success, as were the June 2011 MMEW held on the Iron Range, the superb 2012 workshop held at Winona State University, and the highly successful 2013 workshop held at Hibbing Community College. For 2014, we were pleased to have been able to hold a very successful 17th Annual MMEW at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall. The excellent 2015 MMEW was in Duluth, on June 16-18, while the superb 2016 workshop was June 21-23 in St. Peter, MN. MMEW 2017 - the 20th Annual - was held very successfully on June 20-22, 2017, in northern Minnesota at Vermilion Community College in Ely, MN. MMEW 2018 was held June 19-21 in the St Cloud area at College of Saint Benedict, and the 2019 MMEW was a wonderful success on June 18-20 in Grand Rapids. The 2020 MMEW is tentatively planned for June 22nd – 25th, in Winona. MMEW is designed to address Minnesota Science Standards, and when possible, we arrange for university credits.