International Mining Geology Conference 2024

#IMG2024 Industry Challenge

International Mining Geology Conference 2024

#IMG2024 Industry Challenge

Introducing our Industry Challenge: Visualising the Future of Mining Geology to be held on Monday 6 May 2024

Technological development enables alternative approaches to mining geology workflow and operational activity. The challenge will encourage participants to explore this changing technology landscape, leveraging their imagination and creativity to visualise a future state which is just around the corner.

The scope of the challenge

Run over a single day, the challenge is a collaborative competition between diverse teams of geoscientists and others, with experienced facilitation and external support.

The goal is to envisage a future workplace where current processes and activities have been turned on their head, yet the fundamentals of our profession remain essential to operational success. These include the identification and separation of ore from waste, assessment of performance, and planning for a safe and efficient future based on sound data collection, analysis and prediction.

All teams will be given the same specific scenario on the day and tasked to produce their own vision for the future in a 3-minute presentation to be delivered by the day’s end.

Want to enter the Industry Challenge?

Register for #IMG2024 and choose the option to enter the challenge!

NOTE: If you have already registered to attend the conference and wish to add the Industry Challenge, or you'd like to enter the Industry Challenge without the conference, please use this link to register:

Industry Challenge: The details

The Industry Challenge* will be held the day before the conference commences, on Monday 6 May 2024. See below for timings.

The day will commence with presentations on applied technology and operational redesign from mining and other industries. After this, attendees will separate into their teams and begin the task, which will be outlined on the day.

*Please note: No pre-planning is required for the Industry Challenge. Participants will be encouraged to think on their feet!

Team formation and fee

The challenge needs to be a collaborative exercise with teams of 3 - 6 people. Teams can have diversity of experience, perspective, attributes, and skills and should not be limited to geoscientists alone. Teams can either be nominated before the event or individual participants can be allocated to a team. You can also attend the challenge as an observer rather than actively contributing to a team.

Registration prior to the event as either a participant or observer is essential. Teams will be finalised on the day. Registration will be $110 (inc. GST) per person (includes catering and access to presentations on the day).

Voting and prizes

The winner will be decided by a two-stage voting process involving both International Mining Geology Conference 2024 delegates and the Industry Challenge organising committee. The winning team will be announced on day 2 of the conference (8 May 2024).

Prizes

1^st prize: $5,000 + NASA workshop + Fugro SpAARC Tour
2^ndprize: Fugro SpAARC Tour
3^rd prize: Fugro SpAARC Tour

NASA workshop

The winning team will be invited to complete a 3-minute pitch virtually to an audience at NASA Ames in May 2024, as part of their workshop in collaboration with USGS titled: Planetary subsurface exploration for science and resources.

Bringing together a diverse group of experts from national and international communities, leveraging terrestrial mineral resource technologies and partnerships, this workshop has an objective to drive reduced risk and lowering of barriers in exploration. This workshop is about hearing from the space and resources communities to contribute to a multi-agency effort to explore and ultimately develop sensors, enabling technologies and platforms that will accelerate our ability to image the subsurface of planetary bodies, in pursuit of critical resource maps and new scientific understanding. These advancements, collectively supported by industry and international partners, will help build new capability for off world and terrestrial resources and so establish a collaboration platform that can assist us in the acceleration of critical mineral discovery.

Fugro SpAARC tour

The top 3 finalists will secure a visit to Fugro’s SpAARC facility – a mission control centre in Perth supporting missions from deep sea to space. We expect that winners of this industry challenge will be able to visualise and so set up to take forward their new workflows into a future remote operating environment. , the first step ahead of providing full operational capability to Australia’s first lunar rover operation on the moon.

SpAARC is a world-class facility in Australia that trains, tests and controls remote and autonomous operations in space and other harsh environments, and a world-recognised commercial facility for innovation, security and collaboration.

Speakers on current and future technology

In the first session, speakers from mining and other industries (e.g. deep marine, space exploration, defence) will provide attendees with examples of technology being developed or applied currently, including:

sensor-based mapping
passive and active geophysics
AI/ML in modelling
equipment manufacturer trends
remote operations

Teams will need to discuss and assess what potential combination of existing (or yet to be developed) technology may achieve the desired outcome.

Terms and conditions and contact information

All challenge participants are subject to the Challenge Terms and Conditions, which can be viewed here: IMG 2024 Industry Challenge Terms and Conditions

If you have any queries regarding the challenge, please contact AusIMM on +61 3 9658 6100 or email conference@jjqqyy.com.