The MMH 2024 brings together the Huelva mining sector to present the new features of the meeting in Seville from 15 to 17 October.
Huelva, 13th September 2024.- The 5th edition of the Mining and Minerals Hall (MMH 2024), which will take place in Seville from 15 to 17 October, was presented today in Huelva, a province of great importance for the sector in Andalusia as it produces around 70% of the region’s metallic mining. Organised by the Asociación de Empresas Investigadoras, Extractoras, Transformadoras Minero-Metalúrgicas, Auxiliares y de Servicios (AMINER) and the Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de Sevilla (FIBES), the MMH is an international meeting that brings together the main mining companies and has become a benchmark event for this industry in southern Europe.
The presentation was attended by the Counselor of Industry, Energy and Mines, Jorge Paradela; the MMH Chair, Enrique Delgado; the manager of AMINER and general secretary of the MMH, Marta Cerati; and Antonio Castaño, managing director of Contursa, the public company that manages FIBES, who announced the new features of the event, which will combine a large exhibition area, an ambitious Scientific Congress and a specific area for dissemination aimed at society in general.
Among the novelties is the Scientific Congress, which has been closed these days with a ‘very interesting programme whose contents revolve around six thematic areas, which cover the concerns of the mining industry of the future’, according to the MMH Chair, Enrique Delgado. Thus, the sessions will deal with critical raw materials, energy transformation, talent in the sector, social licence, innovation and digitalisation in mining and business and commercial management.
European Critical Raw Materials Act
Seven round tables will be held in addition to the plenary sessions, with leading experts such as Jan Moström, CEO of LKAB and President of the Euromines Association, and Rob Scargill, Executive Director of Sandfire Matsa, who will be in charge of the keynote speeches. Among the issues to be addressed will be the European Critical Raw Materials Act, which came into force last May.
The Scientific Congress will be completed with papers, conferences and posters, selected from among the more than 150 applications submitted, with the idea of promoting the exchange of knowledge and experiences and discussing the latest trends and challenges in a sector that advocates research, innovation and sustainability as its hallmarks.
Remember that this year’s MMH 2024 has been recognised as a Fair with full internationality by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, a certification that accredits its trajectory as an event widely open to other countries. Proof of this will be the attendance of speakers from four continents and the participation of countries such as Sweden, which will attend as a guest country; Poland, which will have its exhibitor, and a business delegation from Canada.
Mining’s environmental and social commitment
For his part, the Andalusian Regional Government’s Counselor of Industry, Energy and Mines, Jorge Paradela, highlighted the importance of the MMH 2024 slogan, Meeting point towards a sustainable future, pointing out that it summarises the environmental and social commitment that characterises mining in the 21st century. It is, he added, ‘an activity that is committed to the environment, very interested in having a positive impact on its surroundings and which has the health and safety of its workers as an absolute priority’.
The Minister also stressed that mining is ‘a fundamental activity for the energy transition and for gaining the strategic autonomy that Europe demands in key sectors such as raw materials’, where technology and digitalisation are increasingly present. ‘Without minerals such as copper, it is impossible to manufacture electric car batteries or wind turbines or to develop the electricity grid. And Andalusia is the second European region with the most copper in its subsoil, especially in Huelva,’ he added.
More than 6,000 square metres of exhibition space
The importance of mining for its essential role in this transition towards green energy and digital, and the resulting boom in the sector in recent years, has also been reflected in the participation figures for MMH 2024, which have far exceeded those of the last edition. The event has already confirmed 249 exhibitors, 45.6% more than in the 2022 edition, and more than 6,000 m² of exhibition space, 37% more than that year, according to the managing director of Contursa, Antonio Castaño, who highlighted the importance of the synergies generated by this sector in terms of employment and business and economic incentives.
Part of this expansion corresponds to the dissemination area incorporated as a novelty this year, a space with educational and recreational activities aimed at the general public and school groups that seek to raise awareness of the reality of modern mining. ‘Citizens must know the extraordinary environmental work that mining is doing all over the world’, added Castaño, who highlighted the importance for Fibes of continuing to host this type of event, which makes the Seville Conference Centre “a reference point for debating, analysing and reflecting on the present and future of our society”.
