Speakers: GMG Edmonton Forum | Igniting Action: Building the Mines of the Future — Today
Published: September 11,2024speakers
eric salb
Implementation Lead, New Underground Technology
Orica
Eric Salb is the Implementation Lead for the Avatel project at Orica, based in Ottawa, Ontario. He has overseen the prototype development and field trials of the Avatel Mobile Development Charge Unit globally in the underground hard rock mining environment, leading the deployment of Avatel trials in Sweden, Finland, and Australia. Eric specialises in the development and field testing of Orica’s new underground explosives technologies, having previously been involved in the development and field trials of the WebGen 200 wireless blasting system. A firm believer in embracing technology to reduce occupational risk, He enjoys the challenge presented in bringing new technology to the mining environment to increase operator safety while working with the mine operations to pursue value-driven use cases of cutting-edge solutions. Eric has a degree in Mining Engineering from Queen’s University with a mechanical engineering option, and uses his experience to bridge the gap between mining and mechanical engineering through supervising technological readiness and optimisation of development dill and blast for Avatel and WebGen use.
Mitchell Barbar
Industry Manager, Electrification
Finning Canada
Mitchell Barbar is the Industry Manager for Electrification for Finning Canada. Under his current role, Mitchell is responsible for the commercial and go to market strategies for electrified mining equipment, as well as ensuring both dealer and customer readiness as we continue to make advancements in the energy transition space. With a degree in mining engineering from the University of Alberta, Mitchell spent the early years of his career in the Oil Sands – holding various roles in operations, dewatering, and risk management. He then began his career in the mining equipment space gaining experience as a sales engineer and product manager, eventually leading into his current role in electrification.
Michael Bobotis
Engineering Coordinator - Open Pit Mining North America
Hatch
Michael leads Hatch’s mine decarbonization practice globally. During his career, Michael has endeavored to help operations rethink mine planning and adopt innovative technical and management solutions to increase productivity, reduce operating costs, abate greenhouse gas emissions, and achieve nature-based objectives.
Steve Engler
Director of Information Systems
KMC Mining
Steve is the Director of Information Services at KMC, having joined the company in 2001 as an Information Technology Manager and advancing to his current role in 2015. With over 25 years of experience in IT and systems integration, Steve has been instrumental in developing proprietary systems and processes that have supported KMC’s growth across various customer sites, business models, and organizational structures. His expertise in integrating KMC’s systems with third-party ERP solutions has enabled seamless access to critical information across accounting, supply chain, maintenance, operations, human resources, and management functions. Steve’s innovative approach to real-time systems control and management has positioned KMC as a leader in advanced technology solutions, ensuring operational efficiency and enhancing the company’s ability to adapt to a dynamic business environment.
Preston Schoenberger
Sr Customer Solutions Architect, Private Wireless Networks
Telus Business
Preston has spent the past 10 years working with cellular connectivity supporting the mining industry. He has worked on the design and implementation of many systems from SCADA connectivity to Autonomous Haulage Systems.
Dallas White
Condition Based Monitoring Project Lead
North American Construction Group
Dallas has a background in heavy equipment Reliability and Condition Monitoring. He received his BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta. He leads a team of professionals centered around heavy equipment condition-based monitoring, realtime data capture, and software development at North American Construction Group.
John Dubitz
Applications Engineer
KMC Mining
John Dubitz is the Applications Engineer at KMC, having joined the company full-time in 2016 after graduating from the University of Alberta with a degree in Mining Engineering. Over the years, John has held various roles at KMC, including Performance Analyst, Maintenance Planner, Maintenance Engineer, and Reliability Engineer, gaining extensive experience in maintenance, reliability, and operational technologies. In 2019, he transitioned to the Information Technologies team, where he now focuses on systems development and real-time data technologies. John has been involved in key initiatives, such as developing KMC’s maintenance systems and working on the company's first GPS projects, from research to installation.
Panel - GETTING IT RIGHT - Enabling INDUSTRY TRANSFORMATION
Muneer Naseer
Sr Engineer for Mines, Occupational Health and Safety Branch
Government of Alberta
Muneer Naseer is the Senior Engineer for Mines for the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) branch with the Government of Alberta. He is responsible for the delivery and enforcement of the OHS Mining Program in Alberta. During the course of his career, a major focus has been safety and operational improvement supported by design and technology. His work with industry, manufacturers, and stakeholders helped in the safe deployment of autonomous driver-less technology in the Alberta mining industry. Muneer was instrumental in establishing the “Alberta Mining Autonomous Committee”, tasked with developing guidelines for autonomous mobile mining equipment. Muneer has led and chaired the Alberta Board of Examiners for Mining (2008 to 2015), and is the current chair of Alberta’s Mining Expert Panel. He is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta, and Canadian Association of Chief Inspectors of Mines.
Rob Labbe
CEO and CISO in Residence
MM-ISAC
Rob Labbé is an accomplished senior executive with more than 20 years of success across the IT security industry, within mining, software development, telecommunications, retail, oil & gas, manufacturing and healthcare. Leveraging extensive experience in cyber security risk management and critical infrastructure, he is a valuable advisor for an organization that is concerned around the security of their manufacturing or industrial networks, needing to enable a digital transformation. Rob’s broad areas of expertise include risk management, building diverse cyber security teams, vendor management, training, and professional development. Throughout his executive career, Rob has held leadership positions with Microsoft, Fidelis IT inc. and Teck Resources Limited, and is currently CEO and CISO in Residence of the Mining and Metals Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MM-ISAC).
dillon mckinnon
Manager, Mining Equipment Technology
SMS Equipment Inc.
Dillon McKinnon began his career as a Heavy Equipment Operator before earning a Bachelor of Engineering Degree, in Mechanical Engineering. Dillon has spent his career working collaboratively with clients to strategically deploy and support mining technologies including large scale autonomous haulage deployments in Western Canada. Most recently, Dillon has been supporting customers to deliver on innovative mining solutions that prioritize electrification and emissions reduction strategies that ensure a tailored solution approach, for each unique mining operation.
Steve Rusk
Vice President, Mining, EPCM (Mining, Minerals and Metals)
Stantec
Steve works with Stantec’s mining team supporting major projects and mining studies for clients around the world. He has over 35 years of experience in the mining industry from front end exploration, mine development, construction and production to closure and remediation. Steve has mine production experience directly through mine operations as well as in a consulting capacity. He has been directly involved in production improvements for mining companies in Canada the United States, Greece, China and Chile.
Panel - DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY TO DRIVE INNOVATION
Gary Fisher
Subject Matter Expert
InnoTech Alberta
Dr. Gary Fisher is the Subject Matter Expert for Materials at InnoTech Alberta. He attended the University of Sheffield (UK) and received his PhD in 1998 from Cranfield University (UK) in Advanced Materials. His areas of expertise include wear and corrosion-resistant materials and protective coatings for aerospace, petrochemical, energy and mining applications. Dr. Fisher is co-inventor on three US patents for coatings used in the petrochemical industry and is an adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta. He’s a Fellow of both the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and of ASM International. His current responsibilities include leading industrial consortia and programs focused on mining, critical metals and sustainability.
TREVOR KELLY
Innovation Manager, Mining
ReThink Mining
Trevor has a passion for operating excellence and helping the mining industry adopt/leverage transformational mining and industrial technologies. Which includes process efficiencies and effectiveness, to reach full potential results. Trevor is well-connected with a global network of mining companies, subject matter experts (SME) and strategic partnerships including Rethink Mining, EY Center of Excellence and others. Trevor has worked with some of the largest mining companies in their respective commodities, Barrick Gold, Cameco, BHP Billiton, Teck and Homestake. He has accumulated over 25 years of international open pit and underground mining experience focusing on technical service, operational execution, and asset optimization. Formerly the global director of mining at Barrick Gold Corporation and has provided technical and operational support to 15+ operating and project sites worldwide.
Panel - Challenges and Opportunities of Open Interoperability of AHS
Michael Boland
General Manager Autonomous Haulage, Hitachi Construction Machinery
Hitachi
Michael is an operational Mechanical Engineer and has studied and managed construction, automation, business and technology projects including operational, engineering and technology teams. Michael has worked in several industries including open-cut and underground mines, processing plants, oil and alumina refineries, investment banking and utilities. Michael has developed organisational roadmaps and strategies to support the realisation of benefits to operations through technology. He has been delivering and innovating with highly complex technology (including autonomous equipment, refuelling systems and surface miners) and execution systems for the past 15 years.
Scott Schellenberg
Senior Director – Advanced Technologies
SMS Equipment
Scott leads a team of over 100 technology experts focused on supporting customers through their digital transformation journey within Canadian mining operations. With over 25 years of experience in mining equipment, Scott and his team supports mining technology solutions such as Collision Avoidance, fleet management, autonomous haulage and GHG reduction technologies. Scott works with both customers and industry partners from upfront conceptual design/justification through to deployment and sustainability. Understanding how customers generate real value from technology solutions and adopt best practices are critical to the exciting business transformation in the mining industry.
Panel - DATA! WHAT MUST THE INDUSTRY DO TOGETHER
Siamak Akhlaghi
CEO
Correct-AI
Siamak Akhlaghi, with a PhD in Engineering, has more than 30 years of industrial and management experience in microelectronics, navigation, computer vision, and artificial intelligence, including developing autonomous vehicles for specialty applications. He holds numerous patents in sensor and autonomous operations.
Hooman Askari
Professor of Mining Engineering
University of Alberta
Hooman Askari is a professor of mining engineering in the School of Mining and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Alberta, Canada. He teaches and conducts research into mine planning & design and simulation of mining systems. Hooman is a registered professional mining engineer with over 25 years of operational, consulting, research, and teaching experience in open pit mine planning and design. He provides consulting and corporate training services for OptiTek Mining Consulting.
Jared Deutsch
President
GeologicAI
Dr. Jared Deutsch is President RMS (Resource Modeling Solutions) at GeologicAI. Jared began his career as a Geometallurgist on the Carlin Trend at Newmont before co-founding Resource Modeling Solutions to develop AI solutions for subsurface understanding and optimized mining decisions.
John Peters
Director, Customer Service
Stream Systems
John Peters is the Director of Customer Service at Stream Systems. John is a mechanical engineer with over 25 years of experience in oil and gas, mining and software. He is passionate about improving decision making through actionable insights as clients and the industry continue their digitalization initiatives across the value chain where machine learning and AI are increasingly applicable. John and his team have worked with mining clients around the world to leverage historical operating data, forward-looking mine plans and use simulation and optimization to provide insights and identify opportunities ranging from operational improvements in current operations to the impact of future technologies on operations and decarbonization.
Kris Isfeld
Co-founder and CTO
Rithmik Solutions
Kris Isfeld designed and developed the Rapid Analytics Infrastructure that powers Rithmik Asset Health Analyzer (AHA). He has 13 years of experience implementing data collection, analytics and automation for the “Industrial Internet of Things” (IIoT) and “Industry 4.0”, and he has gathered and analyzed data from mobile equipment in mines all over North and South America.