Challenging times: Online events for the mining industry

por Uwe König, Thursday, 16th July 2020

Ore and Minerals Analysis online events in 2020

The ever-popular series of Ore and Minerals Analysis (OMA) workshops are going online this year! Dr. Uwe König, Global Mining Segment Manager at Malvern Panalytical, explains what you can expect from these ‘Virtual OMAs’.

Ore and Minerals Analysis workshops: The future of technology in mining

In many sectors of the economy, the restrictions imposed by Covid-19 have meant disrupted work patterns and uncertainty. But for some at least, it’s also been an opportunity to get around to those things we’ve been putting off for months… and in particular to learn something new.

This need to keep learning has been in my mind recently because it’s the time of year when we’d normally be looking forward to our Ore and Minerals Analysis (OMA) workshops. We started these workshops back in 2015 with the aim of bringing together experts in industry, academia – and of course our own specialists – to highlight some of the latest trends and emerging solutions in the mining sector.

Carina Ulsen, from the Technological Characterization Laboratory at University of São Paulo in action at the OMA workshop at São Paulo City, Brazil in 2019. Talks from experts in the field remain a key feature of our Virtual OMAs in 2020

Now, five years and over 20 workshops later, it’s fair to say that these free-to-attend events have gained a strong following amongst practitioners in both industry and academia. For example, at UFOP in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais state (Brazil) in June last year, we welcomed over 90 people to an OMA workshop that touched on everything from ore to metal.

Virtual OMA events in 2020

So as the Covid-19 restrictions continue, and international meetings remain on hold, we wanted to keep the momentum of our OMAs going. I’m therefore excited to announce a set of four ‘Virtual OMA’ events that we’re running instead.

Of course, we won’t be able to replicate the personal interactions that have been such a feature of recent meetings. But we’re determined to make them as interactive as possible, and you’ll still be able to hear the latest thinking on the future of technology in mining. Talks will include topics such as how real-time analysis of ore composition can help reduce the costs of beneficiation, to how laboratory automation is streamlining the monitoring of ore composition.

Register for a Virtual OMA

If that sounds interesting, then we’d be delighted to welcome you to one of our Virtual OMAs this year. We’re running two in July (in English), and two in September (in Portuguese and Spanish). For more details of dates, time zones and meeting topics, see our dedicated webpage.

I look forward to welcoming you to these events!