Second International Future Mining Conference a resounding success
The Second International Future Mining Conference 2011 was held at The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney between November 22-23, 2011 and was a joint initiatve of the School of Mining Engineering, UNSW and The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (The AusIMM). The conference addressed current and prospective innovations in mining, lessons and opportunities that could be transferred from other industries to implement new scientific and technological developments into the mining industry, society engagement of mining industry and directions and strategies of mining education and research.
This event provided a forum for communication amongst current and future industry leaders as well as industry partners including scientists, mine management, engineers, government representatives, mining academics and other stakeholders. The conference identified some possible scenarios of “Mining in the Future” to provide a picture of the global mining industry in 2025 and beyond. A preconference workshop was facilitated by Associate Professor David Laurence, Director of Australian Centre for Sustainable Mining Practices (ACSMP). The workshop was themed “Meeting the Human Resources Challenges of Future Mining” and addressed the current and future skills shortages impacting on the mining industry. Professor Les Field, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) officially opened the conference on Tuesday 22 November to the 178 conference delegates representing 15 nations.
Demonstrations of the Virtual Reality (VR) Training and Research Laboratory were organised during lunch breaks providing industry representatives an opportunity to view the latest in mining educational technologies and practices developed at UNSW. The conference was supported by Xstrata Coal, Howden Australia, Northparkes Mines, Olympus Innov-X, Kepco Australia, Aurecon Group, The AusIMM Bulletin and the African Mining Brief.
The third International Future Mining Conference is currently being planned for 2014.
For further information and conference photos please go to the AusIMM website. http://www.ausimm.com.au/futuremining2011/photos.asp
