Press conference dedicated to the start of work of the 25th Anniversary World Mining Congress

On June 19, a press conference was held in Astana dedicated to the opening of the 25th World Mining Congress in the capital of Kazakhstan.

The press conference was attended by:

• Minister for Investment and Development of Kazakhstan Kasymbek Zhenis Makhmuduly;
• Chairman of International Organizing Committee of the World Mining Congress Marek Cala;
• Deputy of Majilis Rau Albert Pavlovich;
• EY Leader in mining industry in Africa and Leading Digitization Expert in mining industry, James Matcher;
• Executive Director of "Republican Association of Mining and Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises" ALE Nikolay Vladimirovich Radostovets.

Mr. Kasymbek emphasized importance of holding of this event for economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan: "Today, the 25th World Mining Congress has begun its work. Over the past 60 years since its foundation, the World Mining Congress has become the main international event for mining and metallurgical complex in the world, firmly established as a demanded platform for professional discussions on a wide range of development challenges in the industry.

For us, this Congress is of particular importance and the right to hold it in our young capital, which turned twenty this year, is a great honor.

Today 64 associations, 79 universities, more than 2389 participants from 50 countries take part in the Congress.

The 25th World Mining Congress is held under the slogan: "Innovative superiority is a step forward the growth of the world mining industry"

The Minister also noted that Kazakhstan is making significant efforts to modernize national mining and metallurgical complex. The government of the republic set a clear vector of industry development through attraction of the world's leading industry companies to invest in the country, as well as implementation of solutions "Industry 4.0".

Chairman of International Organizing Committee of WMC Marek Cala announced about development of the industry at the world level and the impact of World Mountain Congress on this process. Even during the Plenary Session, he noted that according to the UN statement, in 2030 world population will be 8.5 billion people. Accordingly, in the next two to three decades, raw materials industry will have to overcome difficulties of providing all this population with critical materials, including those that, perhaps, have not been found yet. Mr. Tsalo noted importance of recycling of waste left by production process, as well as improvement of energy efficiency and improvement of environmental conditions on the part of subsurface users.

Important topic of staffing of MMC has not been ignored. Nikolay Radostovets, responding to journalists' questions, noted: "Today, as part of the World Mining Congress, we discussed issues related to staff training. Training of highly qualified personnel is carried out in Kazakhstan not for all professions. International experts say that we do not have enough training for almost 98 professions. Therefore, at the session "Staff for MMC", which will be held the day after tomorrow within the framework of the congress, we plan to discuss which professions are important in universities and colleges. We hope not only to receive recommendations, but also with participation of representatives of ministries to discuss what adjustments should be made to training and retraining programs in higher education institutions and colleges.

Earlier in the plenary session N. Radostovets also raised the issue of creating a new Environmental Code. "We want to avoid such imperfect methods as application of indirect method of economic evaluation of environmental damage, misuse of environmental payments. And now we are discussing whether environmental payments should remain for companies to introduce "green" technologies. We would like to listen to the opinion of international experts regarding this issue.

We hope that after holding of the World Mining Congress the youth will understand that professions of a mining engineer, a metallurgist and a miner will be promising and important for many years. And these specialists will own the latest digital technologies. "

Responding to the need for highly qualified specialists of the industry, a memorandum on cooperation between the Ministry of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "National Research Technological University "MISiS " was signed. The purpose of this agreement is cooperation between the parties in implementation of joint projects and training of qualified personnel, cooperation in development and examination of educational programs and standards, cooperation in the field of training, retraining and advanced training, supervising and engineering-pedagogical workers in the system of technical and vocational education, exchange information, documents, accumulated experience in the field of training, retraining and skills development for various professions and other important aspects that will help to improve training of employees of MMC sector.

Also, in WMC program, much attention is paid to introduction of new technologies and to positive impact on innovation performance of the industry.

Within the framework of press conference, a memorandum was also signed between "AK Altynalmas" JSC and "Center for Technological Development "IntelliSense - LAB". The purpose of this Memorandum is to develop and provide a system for predictive analysis of the process of "grinding unit", forecasting the wear of linings inside the mills, quality control of crushed ore and situational prediction of the products, grinding, visualization of grinding cycle in real time, provision of target performance indicators.

In addition, a memorandum was signed with intentions on cooperation between Metalysis Limited Company and AUTONOMOUS CLUSTER FUND "PARK OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES".

Memorandum between Chilean company Cadelko and “National Geological Prospecting Company “Kazgeology” JSC for implementation of joint projects in the field of subsurface use in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as exchange of information on mineral resources and reserves, mining data, joint participation in projects in the field of subsurface use for the purpose of discover of mineral deposits in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.