225 delegates from 22 countries attended the IFACMMM2009 International Workshop on Automation in the Mining, Minerals and Metal Industry, that was held on 14-16 October 2009 in the Sheraton Miramar Hotel & Convention Center in Viña del Mar, Chile. Among the participating countries were Argentina , Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Mongolia, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States. There were 119 delegates from industry and 38 from academia including 10 post-graduate students. Among other attendants were graduate students from national and international universities.
On 14 October 2009 IFACMMM2009 was launched with the Inauguration Ceremony, where Mr. Francisco Costabal, president of the “Consejo Minero de Chile”, presented a key note address titled “Development and Competitiveness of Mining Business: Role of Innovation”. On Thursday 15 October professor Daniel Hodouin from Laval University, Canada, presented the key note “ Automatic Control in Mineral Processing Plants: An Overview ”, and Dr. Felipe Mujica from Micomo, Chile, presented another key note titled “ Operational Variables and Networks for Remote an Autonomous Mining ”. On Friday 16 Mr. Claudio Maggi Director of InnovaChile, Corfo presented his note “ Innovation Cycles of Innovative Automation Projects in the Mining Industry ” and finally Mr. Francisco Amiama presented his key note “ Strategic Alignment of Automation Projects at Codelco ”.
During the three days of the IFACMMM2009 Workshop, the audience had the opportunity to attend more than 60 presentations on applications and development of technology, focusing on different aspects of automation practices in the mining, mineral and metal industry. About 35% of the papers were written by at least one author from the industrial sector, presenting industrial applications. The variety of topics included, amongst others, strategic vision, state of the art review, advanced process control as well as the use of robotics, communications and teleoperations in the fields of mining, mineral and metal industry. The majority of the presented articles were published in the book of abstracts of the Workshop with the full version of the papers in the CD electronic version.
The main companies from the mining and metal sector, operating in the region, were present. This first version of the IFACMMM workshop in South America was a success and it has confirmed to be an international forum where professionals can meet and interact about innovations and recent developments related to automation applied in mining, mineral processing, pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, electrometallurgy and metal manufacturing.
The IFACMMM2009 Chairmen of the International Program Committee (IPC) and the National Organising Committee (NOC) would like to thank the members of the committees for collaborating to support and promote this event. We would also like to thank the reviewers, the sponsoring companies and especially the authors for their participation and for sharing their knowledge and experience in the field of new developments and innovations in automation applied in this industry. All of them contributed to the great success of the Workshop.
We hope you have enjoyed the technical and social activities offered at IFACMMM2009. Thank you for supporting this initiative. We look forward to seeing you again in the near future at the next IFACMMM events.
