Education Sessions

As demonstrated by its core values, Coeur Mining strives to protect its people, places and planet by operating responsibly. Consistent with the company’s purpose statement, We Pursue a Higher Standard, Coeur built on its tradition of integrity and ethics and implemented a formalized Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiative in mid-2018 to better communicate and improve its ESG practices and drive its ESG strategy. Casey Nault who will share the recent history and evolution of ESG at Coeur.

Together with our predecessors, CONSOL Energy (CONSOL) has proudly been a leader in the coal industry since the Civil War. The Company’s endurance throughout the course of numerous cycles and volatility is a testament to our legacy of innovation and responsible business practices. While “ESG” or Environmental, Social, and Governance considerations have recently evolved as a business designation, at CONSOL, ESG has historically been integrated into our culture and strategy. With massive geopolitical and social shifts currently underway, and in consideration of changing energy market dynamics, an approach that innovates, optimizes, and extracts value from every step along the coal value chain, while minimizing environmental impacts and emphasizing societal benefits, is crucial. This presentation introduces how CONSOL is aligning its ESG, technology, and financial strategies to create value and leverage a sustainable future for coal.

Transformation towards electrification in underground mining is easier than you think. While benefits might be bigger than you expect, affecting both cost of mining as well as the health of workers and global CO2 footprint. The core benefits of electrification are the elimination of diesel particulate matter and the dramatic reduction in heat generation, but there are other benefits that are not so obvious. The relative power density and reduced impact on ventilation requirements allow machines to be designed with higher power capability. This increased power enables higher performance and productivity for machines in the same size class. The effect of this higher performance density has vast implications in mine design and fleet sizing. This evolution in mining equipment requires a fresh look at the design of loaders and trucks with this new capability in mind. Modern battery- and hybrid electric mining machines can be implemented in existing mines with minimal change to mine infrastructure, operational and maintenance practices. As the electric fleet grow, mine design changes can be undertaken to unlock additional potential. Learn more in this session.

Introduce the use of a short cognitive assessment tool on a mobile platform that verified worker’s mental fitness and the capability to perform their job function safely. Provide the scientific based and results from clinical studies that correlate to fatigue states and alertness. Share empirical results from the field where this methodology was applied demonstrating the effectiveness of the application in proactive control of fatigue and reduction in safety risks.

The mining workplace can be a challenging environment for a variety of reasons, but one issue that had been in the background, is now common in every workplace. Ten thousand “Boomers” will retire every day through 2029, and they are being replaced by millennials – mostly. Add boomers, Generation X, millennials, and now Generation Z together in one workplace, and managers must find methods to develop everyone’s talent and get them to work as a team. Different generations are motivated in different ways. This safety session will provide key observations about how to get the best performance from an intergenerational mix of miners and other employees.

The mining community is waiting for the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA )to propose a rule which is expected to reduce the current allowable miner exposure level to respirable silica in mines. The current level has been in place since 1977 when MSHA began inspecting surface and underground mines for compliance with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (the Mine Act). In 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration reduced its allowable level by 50%, and MSHA will likely follow suit when the agency proposes a rule sometime in 2022. Setting up a potential regulation, MSHA published a request for information, posing a series of questions to the public about silica regulation in mining, in late 2019. This presentation will provide a short lookback at silica regulation in mining and what one might expect a new silica regulation to look like.

The mining industry is entering the next wave of the industrial revolution. In this environment, the career paths of yesteryear no longer apply. In this session, we will look at the critical debate, which is how to achieve diversity while building an inclusive environment. It is inclusion that encourages innovation and engenders positive mindsets and behaviors that fosters collaboration.

Culling over 45 years of environmental experience in the mining industry, and almost 1700 environmental projects for over 500 mining clients, David Strohm with Trinity Consultants will discuss “ Understanding Key Air Quality Aspects and Strategies for New Mine Development.” Proactively handling the air quality impacts of new mine development helps ensure a smooth economic, environmental, and social entry into the mine development process. Airborne emissions (notably particulate matter) occur during each stage of the new mine development cycle, but especially during exploration, development, construction and operation. Particulate matter (from excavations, blasting, wind erosion, haul roads and more) and gaseous emissions (from combustion of fuels in stationary and mobile sources, explosions and mineral processing) are the largest sources of air pollution in mining operations. Emissions of these pollutants are released into the air, and undergo physical and chemical changes in the atmosphere, which may cause serious effects to human health, environmental damage (water, soil, wildlife) and potentially global climate change. Relevant case studies and real-world examples will be shared during this informative session as well as experienced strategies for key air quality considerations for successful new mine development.

Shortly after the January 2019 failure of Dam I at Córrego do Feijão near Brumadinho, Brazil, which resulted in 270 fatalities, the International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) co-convened a Global Tailings Review (GTR) in an effort to improve tailings safety and establish best practices. The key outcome of the GTR is the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM), published on August 5th 2020, which aims to prevent catastrophic failure of tailings facilities by providing operators with specified measures and approaches throughout the mine lifecycle, considering multiple stakeholder perspectives. Newmont is committed to implementing the GISTM within the timeframe agreed by all ICMM member companies. This presentation provides an operator’s perspective of GISTM implementation.

Good water management is foundational to modern, responsible, efficient mining practices. This presentation will discuss NGM’s efforts to minimize our use of fresh water, mitigate our impacts on water quality, preserve biodiversity, and engage with stakeholders, including lessons learned.

This presentation will briefly provide an overview the capabilities and R&D processes at the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC), an applied and advanced robotics center at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. NREC is a unique organization in that, even though it is part of an academic institution and a not-for-profit entity, it focuses on the development and field validation of application-driven robotics of high readiness and maturity. In the second part of the presentation, I will discuss some of NREC's efforts in robotics for mining applications, share important experiences and lessons, and express perspectives for future programs.

The mining industry has entered a new era in the 2020s where the cost of data acquisition has reduced substantially at a time when machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) have come to the fore. The combination of these two factors is driving a plethora of data driven analysis ideas and projects with new dashboards appearing overnight to help manage and control operations. However as early adoption industries have demonstrated time and again, data project failure rates remain high. The many buzz words, ideas and projects available are often embarked on without alignment or consideration of how they fit into an overall framework. In order to take advantage of the opportunities presented to the mining industry with AI and advanced analytics techniques, it is important to consider that many operations are actually dealing with 3rd industrial revolution challenges. Although the cost of data acquisition has reduced substantially, this does not mean that all data should be collected as the cost of acquiring, evaluating and storing data can be prohibitive especially as the trend towards real-time reporting and information flow progresses. Stephen will discuss the importance of developing a decision intelligence framework, the development of that framework and how the implementation of such a framework is essential to the next phase of Data Analytics for Mining.

In this session, Komatsu and BHP will share how they’re applying emerging technologies (IoT, Edge Compute, Mixed Reality, etc.) to empower the women and men on the front line of mining operations with data in their day-to-day work. With a focus on reducing exposure to hazardous tasks during equipment maintenance, the global equipment provider and mining powerhouse were excited to see what they could achieve when their teams “left their badges at the door” and collaborated for the rapid advancement of safety through sensors and data.