After 50 years in existence, the International Organising Committee of the World Mining Congress has a membership of 37 countries, including China, India, Australia, United States, Russia, Ukraine and other countries, where mining is an important sector of the economy. The mission of the World Mining Congress is to exchange information and experiences among all the mining countries and to promote mining science and technology. It has become a tradition to organise the Congress every 2 to 3 years in different countries. The Committee of the World Mining Congress decided in 2005, during the 20st Congress, that Poland will host the jubilee Congress.
“The fact that Poland has been nominated to organise the Congress is a big honour for us (especially since many countries sought the nomination), but it is also an organisational challenge for us,” said Dr. Jerzy Kicki, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the 21st World Mining Congress. “It is also an opportunity to present to the whole mining world achievements in the field of Polish science and technology.”
The President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński has assumed honorary patronage of the 21st World Mining Congress. It will be held on September 7-11, 2008 in Cracow. The programme includes away sessions in cities with a long mining tradition – Katowice, Lublin, Bełchatów and Wieliczka. The Congress slogan is “New Challenges and Visions for Mining” and sessions around this motto will be held at the Jagiellonian University Maximum Auditorium, at AGH University of Science and Technology lecture theatres and during satellite sessions. More than 400 papers have been received from all over the world, which will no doubt require the Congress to be conducted in several dozen parallel sessions.
Mining Expo has become an integral part of the Congress over the last several years. Kolporter Expo is the organiser of the 2008 Polish exhibition, which will be held in Sosnowiec on September 9-12, 2008. It is the first such international exhibition in Poland. Leading manufacturers of mining machinery and equipment from all continents will exhibit. There will be an African and an Asian pavilion, national pavilions, companies from Europe, Asia and America. It is expected that there will be organised groups of visitors, including specialists from Eastern European countries. 21st World Mining Congress delegates will spend a day at the Mining Expo (September 9, 2008).
Information about the Congress and Mining Expo is available on the website: www.wmc-expo2008.org.
“I invite you to Cracow - this year the mining world is meeting in Poland,” said Jerzy Kicki.