Application of Computers and Operations Research in the Mineral Industry (APCOM) Summary

APCOM 2015 took place in Fairbanks, Alaska, a small town with a deep mining history and a passionate local community. This event, the 37th International Symposium on the Application of Computers and Operations Research in the Mineral Industry, provided a forum for new developments to be presented. Given the chance to speak with the APCOM elders, some who have attended the conference for more than 30 years, I learned some interesting insights.

One major theme that continued to come up is the ability for professionals, whether in academia or industry, to clearly articulate the fundamental theory behind the tools they were utilizing. Whether that tool was a mining optimization program or a geostatistical estimation process, if you could not justify and explain the theory behind it, it devalued your end result.

The presentation topics did not feature many new concepts, more the repackaging of classic concepts or fundamental practices, but included how researchers and industry professionals are applying these practices in their daily work.

Another major theme of the conference was the importance of the next generation of APCOM community – nineteen universities were represented by the published work. In my opinion, all of the great work that is going on in the research and industry sectors bodes well for the future of mining.