In October 2018, Russian and Kazakhstani mining companies visited the highly automated underground mines of the Garpenberg company Boliden and Zinkgruvan of Lundin, as well as the production and engineering center of Epiroc in Orebro, Sweden. The topic of dispatching and digitalization remains extremely relevant. The participants of the technical visit had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the activities of dispatching centers both on the surface and at the level of 1,100 meters underground, with the software used, to ask questions to the operators, to visit the working complex, to have a look at the equipment in action and to see the digitized mine.
The Russian and Kazakh participants of the seminar had the opportunity to ask a lot of questions to their Swedish colleagues, followed by a discussion on the practical aspects of digitalization, the activities of unmanned vehicles, posting WIFI on working horizons, planning shift work, industrial safety and labor protection, etc.
Representatives of Polymetal, Norilsk Nickel, AltynAlmas, VIST Asia, Vorkutaugol, Uralkali, GSK-Shakhtproekt, RUSAL, Uralmekhanobr (UGMK) and others took part.

Photo. During a visit to the dispatch control company Boliden at the mine Garpenberg.

Photo. Visit the working space and familiarize yourself with the drilling operations.

Photo. Demonstration of remote control of the “Mine of the future” equipment and software testing while managing a digitized mine at Epiroc.

Photo. Workshop participants during speeches.

A week-long industry seminar program was held July 30 – Aug 3, 2018 in Germany on improving the profitability of coal enterprises through enrichment and deep processing of coal drawing from the experience of the German coal company RWE.

The participants of the technical seminar met with specialists of German companies including DMT, RWE, Kuettner, Schenck Process, Loesche, Siebtechnik and Schauenburg MAB, visiting these companies in Dusseldorf, Essen, Darmstadt and Frankfurt am Main. The visit program was intensive.

The main topics of the seminar are related to the development of coal enterprises in the context of stricter requirements for coal specifications, deep coal processing, use of new coking technologies, including in the new generation furnaces.

Representatives of Russian coal-mining and coke-chemical companies, including Stroiservice, Altaykoks, Sibugol, SUEK, Raspadskaya Coal Company visited factories and research centers for the development and production of coal-conditioning equipment: screens, mills, centrifuges, hydrocyclones, crushers, equipment for sorting, classification and sorting of coal.

Within the framework of the seminar and question and answer sessions, the participants studied in detail the latest technologies and innovations in coke chemical production.

Photo: The Russian visiting the company Kuettner.

Leaders and leading specialists of wind energy programs of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus representing the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus, PJSC “Sberbank”, “Vista International” LLP, wind energy design organizations, visited a large wind farm “Brake” near Bremen, taking part in the program of technical visits on wind energy.

Participants of the seminar thoroughly acquainted themselves with the latest technological solutions of the equipment manufacturers for wind farms Enercon GmbH and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy GmbH Gerhard Bookjans, member of the board of IFE Eriksen AG, shared the financial and economic calculations and payback calculations for wind energy projects in Germany, Canada, the United States and the Baltic States, proven in 30 years of practice, and demonstrated the company’s solutions implemented at the Brake wind farm.
Sabine Schmedding, representative of Bundesverband WindEnergie e.V. (German Wind Energy Association) shared detailed information about the laws and regulations governing the design and construction of wind farms and the system of technical regulation in Germany.
The seminar was also attended by a group of specialists from German companies Fichtner and Messer involved in the design, construction and maintenance of wind farms in Germany and other countries.

Photo: participants of the seminar visit the wind farm “Brake” near Bremen

May 21-25, 2018 in Antwerp and Rotterdam, a group of heads of the sea trade ports of Ust-Luga and Vysotsky, the stevedoring company Maly Port, employees of SUEK, TIS-Ruda, Daltransugol, OTEKO and NPK MorTransNiProject visited the ports and terminals of Rotterdam and Antwerp, taking part in the program on efficient operation and bulk cargo terminals.

In Belgium, the workshop participants visited the Port Authority of Antwerp, where an extensive session and series of reports on financial and economic indicators and planning activities of the Antwerp port and modeling the calculation of cargo flows took place.
The meeting discussed the optimization of the logistics chain in the port of Antwerp through the use and development of an integrated digital system for all participants in the transport process – the Antwerp Port Community System. This system greatly simplifies the procedures for the declaration of dangerous goods and the passage of customs procedures.

In the photo: participants of the seminar at a meeting with the leadership of the port of Antwerp.

Subsequently, the group, accompanied by an interpreter and specialists of the port, visited various terminals, including the newly modernized SAMGA bulk cargo terminal, where delegates got acquainted with grain loading and unloading equipment. The seminar participants also visited the Sea Tank oil loading terminal, inspected the berthing equipment and witnessed the loading of liquid cargo and oil products.
In addition to the size of the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp and the volume of freight flows, the seminar participants were very impressed with the degree of automation of loading and unloading operations, the minimum number of personnel involved and the high productivity of all operations.
In Holland, the workshop participants visited Portbase and got acquainted with the Port Community System (PCS), a nationwide integrated system for the logistics chain, including container, oil and other terminals, freight carriers and all other participants in the transport infrastructure of the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Participants had an opportunity to walk on the captain’s yacht and inspected the water area of ​​Europe’s largest port of Rotterdam.

In the photo: on the captain’s yacht during the survey of the water area of ​​the port of Rotterdam.

A key element of the technical visit in Holland was the visit of two coal terminals: EBS in the area of ​​Europort and EMO, the largest coal terminal in Western Europe.

Participants familiarized themselves with the Maaslakte 2 project to expand the port area of ​​Rotterdam, where the EMO coal terminal is located and transshipment of 200,000 tons of coal per day takes place with a high level of automation.

April 16-20, 2018 in Dubai, a program was held to study advanced technologies and implement blockchain and processing large amounts of data (big data).

Participants from Russian companies: SUEK, MTS, Sberbank AST, Skolkovo, Sberbank, Gazpromneft, etc., visited the Future Accelerator Fund of Dubai and the organization of Smart Dubai (the government agency for the implementation of the block Chain and Digital Initiatives), the Dubai Gold and Commodity Exchange, the Global Blockchain Council and two technoparks designed to develop and implement start-ups.

The choice of venue is linked to the Dubai Blockchain Strategy and the decision of the Government of Dubai to create the “Most Intelligent City”, where the functions of data storage and processing, interaction with government bodies and third parties and management of the main processes will be translated into blockchain. The strategic goal is to translate all document turnover, transactions, processing and storage of data in government and government institutions in Dubai to blockchain until 2020. This will save 5.5 billion dirhams (1.5 billion USD) annually, reduce 25 million man-hours by transferring more than 100 million documents to the blockchain, which are now being processed in traditional ways.

Seminar participants met with Dubai Future Accelerators, the head of the start-up program in the UAE, Dr. Noah Raford. His speech was extremely informative and considered prospects for development and how the world, business, work processes, the human environment may look in 30 years.

Photo: mettings at Dubai Future Accelerators.

Photo: meeting at DGCX Exchange.

Photo: meeting at в Smart Dubai.