What goals does Kazakhstan pursue accepting the 25th World Mining Congress?

Kazakhstan is actively preparing for the 25th World Mining Congress (WMC), which will be held from June 19-22, 2018 in Astana. This is one of the most ambitious and important industry events, which aims to unite business professionals and scientists from 50 countries of the world working in the field of development of deposits of solid minerals, science and technology, as well as environmental protection and industrial safety.

In 2018 Congress will be held under a slogan: "Innovative superiority - a step forward to the growth of global mining industry" and will cover issues of geological exploration, mining and beneficiation, risk assessment, digitization of the industry, introduction of new technologies to attract international funding and many others.

Today 46 countries, 56 industry associations, 41 universities, including delegations from Australia, Austria, Canada, Poland, Norway and France, leading experts of global scientific and business community, investors and financial institutions, as well as the heads of governments have already confirmed their participation.

But what value does the Congress present in whole for the country, except for image component, which questions will it help you to decide, what goals will Kazakhstan reach and what to expect from the WMC 2018 in Astana?

These and other questions were answered by the operator of the Congress - Kazakhstan exhibition company Iteca, which has 25 years of experience in organization and holding of a variety of trade exhibitions and conferences.

Where did it start with?

In October 2016, during the 24th World Mining Congress in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Kazakhstan took up the baton of the 25th World Mining Congress in Astana.

Undoubtedly, holding of such a large-scale and significant event is intended to contribute, first of all, to unlocking of investment potential of country's mining industry, attraction of world companies and junior companies. Moreover, Astana has quite a rich experience of holding such events from the specialized mining and metallurgical congress AMM to the world exhibition EXPO 2017

It should be noted that the opportunity to conduct the Congress 2018 in Astana was raised in 2013 in Montreal, where the 23rd World Mining Congress was held, and one of the points of discussion was application of the Republic of Kazakhstan to hold WMC 2018 in Astana, members of International Organizing Committee of Congress unanimously supported initiative of our country.

«For Kazakhstan, mining and metallurgical complex is one of key spheres of country's economy. In the overall structure of industrial production, the MMC is 18%. That is why holding of the World Mining Congress in 2018 in Astana is the most important event for us, which, of course, will have a favorable impact on entire sector of the country as a whole. I am confident that, based on our experience, as well as on knowledge, received today, we will be able to hold WMC 2018 at the highest international level» - Kanat Baitov deputy chairman of the Committee for Industrial Development and Industrial Security of the Ministry of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan noted at the 97th meeting of the International Organizing Committee WMC in Vienna.

What is the value of WMC for Kazakhstan?

In 2018, the WMC is marked by several significant dates: a quarter of century from the moment of Congress holding, 60 years from the date of its foundation, which was first held in 1958 in Warsaw, which led to a significant breakdown in the development of world cooperation in mining science and creation of international organization, known as the World Mining Congress, as well as the 20th anniversary of the capital of Kazakhstan

Holding of WMC is a valuable event in scientific and technical fields, as for two decades unique projects and developments were presented within the framework of the congress, later applied at the largest production facilities all over the world. The Congress in Astana will not be an exception, as it will attract a large number of scientific institutions, in research and latest developments, which are of interest to the largest companies in the industry.

In connection with the 25th World Mining Congress, the organizers and the Government of the Republic have high expectations, first of all, on the possibility to attract additional investments in the country.

For example, within the framework of the Congress, Mines & Money Investment Summit will be held, which is a successful platform of European format for B2B meetings with investors.

Mines & Money Club brings together 2500 investors from all over the world, who, first of all, are focused on investment to the mining industry. By means of these two events (WMC and Mines & Money) it is planned to attract new investors and world financial institutions to the country, as this sector is considered to be capital-intensive and the area of ​​prospective sites of subsurface resources for investment is more than 1 million 138 thousand sq. km.

In addition, the congress program is designed in such a way as to increase attractiveness and ensure the participation of a large number of financial and investment groups, which is especially important with the adoption of the Subsoil Code and the future digital activity of the international financial center Astana. In addition, delegates will be given the opportunity to get acquainted with technical and scientific resources, within the framework of the program "industrial excursions" to the objects of the mining and metallurgical complex.

The second "big hope" for WMC is related to Industry 4.0 and technology transfer.

This, in particular, will contribute to holding of the largest Central Asian International Exhibition Mining World Central Asia, on which the exhibitors will present the latest developments in automation of extraction and processing of commercial minerals, digitalization of the industry. Since domestic companies are actively conducting introduction of digital technology in their work at all stages of production. In addition, all business processes are also digitized: purchases, production services, sales, financial management and personnel.

At the moment, it is the high interest to participation in the Congress from international commercial and investment organizations, and their financial support, will allow organizing such a large-scale event at a high level.

World Mining Congress: what should we expect in Astana?

The 25-th anniversary World Mining Congress.

Such a large-scale event of world significance is being held for the first time not only in Kazakhstan, but also in the territory of the CIS. And Kazakhstan was chosen for holding of anniversary Congress not by chance. Country's resources are a rich mineral resource base: 99 elements of periodic table are found in the bowels of the earth, 5000 active deposits, more than 60 elements are used in production.

Indicators of domestic market of the industry are important factor: for the period of 2017 the volume of mining industry grew by 9.3%, processing industry - by 5.1%. The extraction of non-ferrous metal ores and iron ore increased by 8.2% and 6.9%, respectively. Also, experts note the positive dynamics in metallurgy sector, which is explained by increase in production: in ferrous metallurgy by 6.6%, whereas in non-ferrous metallurgy, production growth was 5.5%

Innovation of the Code "On subsurface and subsurface use", signed on December 27, 2017, corresponds to the best world practice: improvement of legislation in the light of introduction of international system of reporting standards greatly simplifies the procedure for conclusion of subsurface use contracts, ensures stability of subsurface use conditions and contributes to investment attractiveness of the industry.

Today, the National Organizing Committee (NOC) has been established and is successfully functioning, the honorary chairman of which is the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan. NOC meetings are held on the basis of the Ministry of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which includes national companies, industry associations, scientific institutions and business leaders.

Special emphasis in the program is made on issues related to modernization of all basic industries, implementation of elements of the Industry 4.0 program and the best practices of its application in the world MMC. World experts of mining industry will take part in the plenary session "Technological innovations and best practices in the mining industry - the future is today". Section moderator is Mikael Karmis, director of the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research. Among invited speakers are Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Chairman of the Board of Managers of ERG S.a.r.l Alexander Mashkevich, President of Vale S.A. Keithiro Matsuo (Brazil), Chief Executive Officer of Rio Tinto Jean Sebastian Jacques (Australia), Chief Executive Officer of Anglo-American Mark Cutifani (UK), Head of the Toronto Stock Exchange. Robert Barnes, Global Head of the London Stock Exchange, Kairat Kelimbetov - Manager of the International Financial Center “Astana”, Scott Foster - Director of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (Switzerland), Michael Hitch, Professor of the University of New South Wales (Australia), Hua Guo - Chairman of the World Mining Congress 2021 (Australia) have confirmed their participation.

In particular, Maksim Baranov, PwC Russia Director, together with leaders of leading companies of mining and metallurgical complex, will disclose key aspects in the field of application of modern approaches in MMC. Sections of discussion will touch on the issues related to formation of demand for products, interaction of mining companies with technology companies, impact of innovations on development of MMC and country's economy. The final part of the section "Investments in innovations" is presented in a question-answer form.

Currently, more than 317 reports have been received from 36 countries. In addition, 337 associations from 58 countries have been invited, more than 150 associations and international organizations from 46 countries have confirmed their participation in WMC.