Rourkela, Nov 18: Department of Mining Engineering, NIT Rourkela has organised an ‘International Conference on Sustainable and Innovative Mining Practices (ICSIMP-2023)’ from 16th November to 18th November 2023.

The Conference has been planned to bring together industry leaders, practising mining engineers, regulators, academicians and researchers to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects of sustainable and environment-friendly mining practices with a focus on innovative and emerging tools, techniques and practices.

The conference started with an inaugural ceremony at TIIR Auditorium, NIT Rourkela. The convenor of the event Prof. Gorai addressed the inaugural ceremony by welcoming the guests and participants. The chairman of the conference, Prof. H.B. Sahu gave a brief overview of sustainable & environmentally friendly intricacies taken by various mining companies and lauded the sustainability practices at NIT Rourkela.

Lieutenant General Sanjeev Kumar Sharma who is currently serving as Head -Project Planning & Administration, Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Limited, Odisha was the Chief Guest of the inaugural ceremony. He briefly highlighted the significance of sustainability and innovation for the mining industry and said, “We should prioritise the use of alternative resources like Solar, Water and Wind energies. Through sustainable and innovative mining practices, the challenges faced by mining practitioners, researchers, academicians and industry bodies to maintain the requirement of the energy demand of the country can be resolved.” Mr Sharma further put a thrust on making disruptive changes by focusing on the day-to-day challenges in the mining industry. He promoted sustainable mining by targeting ‘zero impact’ or ‘zero waste’ mining.

The Guest of Honor for the inaugural function were Sri Somnath Tripathy (Executive Director-Materials Management, SAIL-Rourkela Steel Plant) and Prof. A. Bhattacherjee (Former Professor IIT Kharagpur). Sri S. Tripathy shared his thoughts on pertaining issues faced by the Indian mining industry. He pressed on the need for more industry & academic collaboration and the necessity of advanced laboratory facilities and centres of excellence to address the issues. Prof. A. Bhattacharjee, a veteran in mine safety & health, talked about the inter-relationship between sustainability and mine safety and gave leading examples of Indian companies implementing state-of-the-art practices. He concluded his address by highlighting the gap in industry-academic collaboration and requested the companies to invest more in research and development.

Prof. K. Umamaheshwar Rao (Director, NIT Rourkela) who is a prominent academician of the Mining Engineering discipline graced the event. Prof. Rao discussed about carbon footprint and highlighted that the issue of sustainability is not something new. He emphasized that sustainable mining has been the motto for the last two decades but achievement is far less than the target and thus needs more of its adoption and its practice.

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The event was marked by the presence of about 120 participants across India and delegates from the Czech Republic, Poland, USA and Australia. The conference received a positive response from many Indian companies by getting sponsorship from GMDC, TMC Mining, South Eastern Coalfields, Central Coalfields, Western Coalfields, UltraTech Cement, Odisha Mining Corporation, and Odisha Coal and Power Limited. The conference also received financial support from the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB).

The inaugural ceremony ended with a vote of thanks delivered by Prof. S. Ram (Organizing Secretary of the event). Prof. R M Bishwal and Prof. S Bhowmik were the Co-Conveners of the Conference. Prof Falguni Sarkar was the exhibition head, and Prof. Tushar Gupta was the head of the event publicity.

The conference's goals are to set the stage for a more responsible and resilient mining enthusiast with a vibrant exchange of ideas and the formation of collaborative networks that will continue to drive progress in sustainable and innovative mining practices.

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