Under the slogan ‘MMH, a global event for cutting-edge mining’, it will be held at the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos in Seville between October 18 and 20. This will be the fourth edition of a meeting that highlights the essential nature of the mining and raw materials industry, the undisputed protagonists of the energy transition and post-Covid recovery.
The International Mining Exhibition, MMH (Minerals & Mining Hall), will return to Seville in 2022, thus recovering the IV edition suspended this year due to the pandemic. Under the slogan ‘MMH, a global meeting for a cutting-edge mining’, will be held between 18 and 20 October, “with the aim of consolidating Seville as a European capital of mining and Andalusia as a mining region of world reference,” said Javier Targhetta, curator of the exhibition, which was presented today in Seville at a ceremony attended by the mayor of the city, Juan Espadas, and the Minister of Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities of the Andalusian Regional Government, Rogelio Velasco.
Targhetta referred to the essential nature of mining “in this world in continuous transformation and in which we are seeing that changes are accelerating with the post-Covid recovery” and to the leading role of the sector, in this global change that comes hand in hand with the energy transition, electrification and digitalization of the economy and more generally, of our lives”.
In this sense, he stressed that, in the next two decades, the substitution of fossil energies by renewable energies will continue and the electrification of transport and homes and digitalization will develop, and all these phenomena are already increasing the demand for metals and minerals such as copper, zinc, aluminum, steel, stainless steel, tin, lithium, nickel, cobalt and so-called rare earths, zinc, aluminum, steel, stainless steel, tin, lithium, nickel, cobalt and the so-called rare earths, as well as all types of industrial rocks, gypsum, lime, limestone, aggregates, marble, potash, magnesite, cement, ceramics, glass, etc., and not forgetting water, all of which are essential for the developments in which humanity is already immersed.
“New global trends will require in the future an accumulated consumption of raw materials of which Europe is deficient in absolute terms, but much more so in terms of comparison with the other major economies of the world, such as the U.S. and China, with which it has to compete for its supply,” he stressed. Against this, he has vindicated the mining developed in Andalusia and in other areas of Spain and the rest of Europe, “a responsible activity, committed to the environment and sustainability and with large reserves yet to be explored and exploited”.
“It is necessary for Seville to become in 2022 that meeting point for the sector, companies and institutions, which will allow us to move forward to consolidate our autonomy, guaranteeing the supply of raw materials, improving the circularity and efficiency of resources and promoting the responsible supply of minerals worldwide,” reaffirmed Javier Targhetta.
Meeting point
For his part, the Minister of Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities, Rogelio Velasco, has advanced that the Board will create an Andalusian Network of Mining Municipalities to promote collaboration with local entities interested in the development of this sector. This initiative, which will be agreed at the next Council of Government, aims to strengthen municipal support for mining and to promote coordination between public administrations in the processing of mining exploration, research or exploitation projects.
Velasco stressed that his department has granted authorization for 2021 to three major works and projects of Minas Cobre las Cruces, Minas de Riotinto and Minas Alquife in the mining provinces of Huelva, Seville and Granada. These initiatives will be joined by two other proposals that are in the approval phase, so that the five mining projects will create more than 4,000 jobs once they begin operations. He also assured that this event “will contribute to reinforce the leading position enjoyed by the Andalusian mining industry in Spain as a whole and consolidate it as a reference in innovation and technological development at an international level, taking into account its capacity to attract foreign investment”.
In his speech, the Mayor of Seville, Juan Espadas, has offered the maximum support of the City Council of Seville to this fourth edition of the MMH congress to be held coinciding with the momentum that is being given to the European Union to the ecological, energy and digital transition, a process that requires raw materials and, therefore, mining. “This fact positions even better if possible to a regional mining that is already strategic for Andalusia and that the Andalusian economy must know how to take advantage”, he added.
For Espadas, the October 2022 congress should be not only the consolidation of this business and professional event, but also that of becoming the “international showcase of the best management of mining activity from the point of view of sustainability, safety, risk prevention and cutting-edge technology,” he added. The mayor of Seville, also considered that the role of mining in the ecological, energy and digital transition and its relevance for the economy and employment in Andalusia requires the public-private partnership and the support of public administrations. “At the MMH congress we will all go together,” he concluded.
Aminer and Fibes
Organized by the Association of Research, Extraction, Mining and Metallurgical, Auxiliary and Service Companies(AMINER) and the Seville Exhibition and Conference Center (FIBES), “the MMH Seville is, without a doubt, a great mining and industry event of the 21st century,” Targhetta emphasized. In this regard, he recalled the balance of the MMH 2019, which received more than 10,000 visits and the participation of nearly 150 companies in the exhibition area, as well as a first-class scientific program with more than 70 expert speakers in a wide variety of subjects.
“In this edition we have set a new goal: we want to attract assemblies and sectorial meetings of national and international institutions related to mining and complementary industrial activities that can be held in the city in the days before and after the Show, thus creating synergies with other forums and strengthening the role of the MMH as a meeting point for the industrial and raw materials sector,” he said.
Targhetta referred to two factors that augur well for the success of the exhibition, since “we have the support of the large companies operating in Andalusia, which are a world reference, an example of innovation, safety and good practices”. He also highlighted “the setting” in which it takes place: “Andalusia, a region that, under normal conditions, receives as many visitors a year as Brazil and Argentina combined, and Seville, a city that is as visited as St. Petersburg, San Francisco or Vancouver”.
As in previous editions, the MMH will have a large exhibition area that will occupy the main pavilions of Fibes and the parallel development of a program with conferences and round tables that will become an opportunity for networking in which institutions, companies, research centers, universities and experts will highlight the shared experience, knowledge and the latest advances in the field of mining and related industries, with a clear focus on innovation, sustainability, energy transition, safety and technological development.
Scientific Committee
Javier Targhetta said that more than fifty companies from all over the world have already confirmed their presence at MMH 2022, while Rafael Miranda, an industrial engineer with a long business career who has held top management positions at Endesa and Acerinox, among others, and is a member of national and international boards of directors, is already working at the head of the scientific committee.
MMH 2022 will bring together companies and experts in Seville to highlight the latest developments and trends in the sector, in a space focused on technological innovation, sustainability and the essential nature of mining activity. An ideal opportunity to present to society the active mining operations, world leaders in technology and environmentally friendly, as well as the wide range of related industries, such as metallurgy, iron and steel, construction industries, energy, water management, all incorporating innovation and sustainability.
All these activities, many of them being worldwide references, are present in Andalusia in a very important way, and contribute increasingly to the socioeconomic development of our community.
