Focus on innovation and business development on the first day of Euro Mine Expo

The most important trade fair and conference for the mining industry in the Nordic opened Tuesday with focus on innovation and business development.

Lennart Gustafsson, chairman of the mining NGO Georange, held the opening ceremony of Euro Mine Expo 2016. He started by addressing the importance of metals in everyday life and products.

“Raw materials are in high demand and is a crucial part of products like computers and smartphones that people take for granted.”

Agne Ahlenius, Manadalay Resources and General Manager of the Björkdal gold mine, pointed out automation and new technologies, together with stabile mining polices and different attitude to mining as key factors for the future.

Mr Ahlenius stated, “Mining is good and fun”.

During the following presentation May Hermanus, Executive Director of Natural Resources and Environmental Unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa, gave a speech on Mining Redesigned: Equipment and technology needs for the future.

She sees innovation as a key element for the future of the mining industry in South Africa.

“We face huge challenges with an industry that has relied on cheap labour to work in narrow mining shafts on large depths. To face these challenges we need to use technology that is already used in other parts of the world as well as develop and innovate our own solutions. With innovation we can achieve solutions that can be used in other parts of the world and reveal business opportunities that wouldn’t had presented itself without our initial challenges” May Hermanus concludes.

On 9 December 2014, the EIT announced the pan-European consortium RawMatTERS as the winner of the 2014 Call for Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KIC) in the area of Raw Materials. The KIC covers the whole value chain including sustainable exploration, extraction, processing, recycling and substitution, and brings together more than 120 partners from 22 countries.

The launch of the KIC RawMatTERS is considered a milestone in achieving the objectives of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials. One of the key targets of the EIP is indeed to set up a Network of Research, Education and Training Centres on sustainable raw materials management organised as a Knowledge and Innovation Community.

Maria Magdalena Holmgren and Per Johansson from RawMatTERS Consortium described the work thus far in the KIC, Call for Knowledge and Innovation Communities, with start-up January 1:st 2016.

“What we have since the start-up is a huge demand on face-to-face meetings. In order to attract people to the raw material business we need to match people together”, says Maria Magdalena Holmgren.

12 companies from the KIC are attending Euro Mine Expo 2016.

Euro Mine Expo continues until June 16:th. Wednesday the theme of the conference is Sustainability in action with a program filled with talks on fossil free mines, a path to sustainability and women in mining.

Contact:


Jaana Tengman


Event Manager Euro Mine Expo


+46 910 54761