Why did the International Organising Committee of World Mining Congresses decide, at its Teheran meeting last November, that the XXI World Mining Congress would be held in Poland?

The 50th anniversary of the existence of the organisation called “World Mining Congress” falls due this year. It was created in 1958 on the initiative of Prof. Bolesław Krupiński, a Polish scientist and miner of world renown. The first World Mining Congress (WMC) was held in Warsaw, Poland, so this year’s event is of a jubilee character.
The World Mining Congress is not only conventions staged every 2-3 years but also an international organisation of persons connected with mining raw materials (coal, metal ores, rock materials, chemicals) whose purpose is the technological growth of world mining particularly in work safety, and sharing knowledge with those who need it (developing countries). It is a brotherhood and solidarity of miners. The Congress was created when the world was still divided into two opposing ideological camps, its specific purpose being to throw down the barriers and limitations which existed then. That proved a success with World Mining Congresses being held in countries both of the East and West.
With the jubilee event in mind, the Polish group at the 20th WMC in Teheran proposed that the next congress be held in Poland. Poland was chosen from among four other countries by a majority of representatives of the International Organising Committee of the World Mining Congress of which I have the honour to be chairman.

On what subjects will Congress discussions focus?
The plenary session which will bring together the most eminent mining authorities from diverse countries will deal with the most outstanding topical problems facing contemporary mining. These will be, for instance, mining at great depths – the experience of the SAR, valorisation of mining deposits, information technology in mining, coal in the contemporary economy, and many other issues. There will also be 18 thematic sessions concerning various special mining issues as well as local sessions: Katowice – hard coal session and legal session, Lubin – session of mining metal ores, in Bełchatów – an open-cast mining session, Wieliczka – mining history. The Congress will be staged parallel with Mining Expo 2008 being held in the Silesia Expo Exhibition Centre in Sosnowiec.

What will the Polish group be presenting?
The organisers received around 300 papers which will be available in English in their electronic version, as well as in print. Polish authors are also preparing more than 70 papers on various areas of mining activity, three of which will be delivered at the plenary session. Polish experience in work safety, overcoming natural mining dangers, automation and mechanisation of mining processes and protection of mining territory will generate special interest. Let we stress that Polish mining science and practice have nothing to be ashamed of and we shall be presenting at this Congress what are truly achievements of world-class quality.

What conclusions are you expecting?
Each World Mining Congress closes with elaborating conclusions which are delivered to the session closing the Congress in the form of declarations. I am expecting a declaration from the Kraków WMC which will shape the guidelines for the growth of mineral raw materials mining based on papers and discussions delivered during Congress debates. They are treated as valuable recommendations for development trends in future years by the general opinion of mining milieu.
Personally, I am counting on those challenges to be identified and opportunities highlighted consistent with the motto of the XX1WMC “New challenges and opportunities for the mining industry”. Contemporary mining must make better use of knowledge, of the new possibilities offered by information technology and communications and must become, to a growing extent, an industry implementing in full the principles of a strategy of sustainable growth.