The Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration’s (SME) announced its 2016 Annual Conference will be held Feb. 21-24 in Phoenix.
The theme of the event is “The Future for Mining in a Data-Driven World.” According to SME, the conference will focus on how the mining industry must prepare for technological advances, new legislation, market trends and economic changes using the data available from a number of sources.
Successful companies will be those that learn and implement best practices by better understanding what their data tells them, says SME. Some courses and issues addressed during the event include simulation of mining systems, mine waste characterization, copper heap leach, gold processing practices and geostatistical mineral resource estimation. The event will teach companies how to use quality data from all facets of their operations.
Retired astronaut Col. Mike Mullane will present the keynote session, titled, “Guarding Against a Normalization of Deviance,” on Feb. 22. According to SME, he will use the NASA Challenger tragedy to illustrate the fact that repeatedly accepting lower standards of performance will eventually deem those standards as the “norm.”
SME is a nonprofit professional society that has about 15,000 members serving the mining, minerals and underground construction industries in more than 100 countries.
