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Bumper program planned for 2019 conference

This year’s Institute of Quarrying Australia (IQA) national conference will be held in Geelong from Tuesday, 1 October to Thursday, 3 October.

The conference theme is ‘The Future of Quarrying’. It aims to support and supplement the IQA’s vision to educate and connect the extractive industry.

“We are looking to ‘enable’ our members with the latest in technology and product to be as effective, efficient and safe as possible,” the conference chairman Brad Rooney told Quarry. “The quarrying industry has historically been a very hands-on business and everyone gets in the trenches to make the business successful.

“This conference will put a range of tools in the hands of our quarrying people to assist with reducing cost, making activities easier and more efficient, and to enable our people to be more informed about what is happening on their quarry sites.”

{{quote-A:R-W:175-I:2-Q:“The speaker program is going to be the real draw card this year … This conference will put a range of tools in the hands of our quarrying people.” -who:Brad Rooney, conference chairman}}The conference program is being designed to deliver valuable educational, networking and promotional content to support the extractive industry. There will be a number of high profile speakers presenting sessions on developments in technology for mobile equipment, the drill and blast process, and the crushing and screening circuit.

Issues such as new and emerging technologies, resource constraints, health and safety, and community and regulatory requirements will all be explored in the conference program.

“The speaker program is going to be the real draw card this year,” Rooney said. “It will be highly relevant and steeped in content to support the theme of ‘The Future of Quarrying’.

“The three evening events [Hitachi’s welcome reception, Komatsu’s gala dinner and Caterpillar’s gala dinner] are always highlights of our magnificent conference. The networking and ‘working together’ feel of the conference is a real highlight for all suppliers and delegates who come together.”

Site visits

The conference will include site visits to the new crushing and screening plants at Boral Australia’s Deer Park Quarry, and Barro Group’s Point Wilson Quarry, near Geelong.

“Boral Deer Park has recently invested significant capital in building a state of the art, new crushing plant,” Rooney, who is a Boral employee, said. “Given that crushing plants last a very long time [30-plus years], there will be a number of people who will really enjoy seeing this new plant. They will see new and modern ways to reduce noise, dust and to maximise throughput, which will be of significant interest to the quarrying industry.”

“Barro Point Wilson will also showcase a new crushing plant, which is only four years old,” Rooney added. “Our crusher enthusiasts will be very interested to see the developments in only four years, along with the design characteristics of a local business, as opposed to a large multinational.” 

Trade exhibition

The exhibition hall, located at GMHBA Stadium (formerly known as Kardinia Park, the home of the Geelong Cats AFL club) has been designed to ensure exhibitors gain maximum exposure during the conference.

All delegates will have to pass through the exhibition to attend the opening address, plenary sessions, award presentations and other official conference events.

“The IQA expects 400-plus delegates for this year’s conference, so for exhibitors we invite them to take this exclusive opportunity to showcase their businesses’ products and services and to leverage the benefits of this captive audience,” Rooney said.

“We encourage exhibitors to reach out to customers and invite them to their exhibition booths or maybe out for a coffee.”

To register for the conference, and for further information about sponsorships and exhibiting, visit conference.quarry.com.au

 

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