University of Santiago provides relevant research to “Second International Symposium on Mine Ventilation in South America”

More than 40 technical articles were submitted in the event and will be used as technical and teaching support material in the Spanish-speaking industry and specialized academia. The Department of Mining Engineering of the USACH is the pioneer of this congress that is already preparing its third version.

During March until the end of the first week of April, the second version of the International Symposium on Mine Ventilation in South America was held, this time in a virtual modality due to the health emergency that the continent and the world are facing.

The event, organized by the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería (UNI) of Peru, and co-organized by the Universidad de Santiago de Chile “deepened, developed, and showcased” new technological advances and research and technical studies that were transferred to academics, students, technology providers, and industry professionals related to mine ventilation.

In this new version, the Department of Mining Engineering (Dimin-Usach, in Spanish) provided local research and technical assistance works for the organization and execution of the event through its professors Juan Pablo Hurtado and Guillermo Arce, as well as its former students Daniel González, Leslie Quiroz, Ignacio Muñoz, Karin Bustamante, and Gabriel Reyes, who were also organizers of the first Symposium in 2018.  

The minutes, progress, and audiovisual material of the congress will be used in the mine ventilation classes for the new engineers of this Department.

The Dimin-Usach is pioneer and author of the Symposium, that is already preparing its third South American version.

Juan Pablo Hurtado, director of the Department of Mining Engineering of the USACH, highlighted the research contribution of our University in this congress, and the topics addressed.

“This Symposium delivered new works for our specialty (Mining Ventilation), in which experiences of various topics are recounted, such as auxiliary ventilation and duct technologies to reduce friction and pressure required in mine ventilation work. Especially, electric vehicles are changing the paradigms of ventilation,” he said. 

He added that “this technology must be faced with caution in order to avoid problems such as fires, which is a situation caused by warming. Also, low-demand ventilation was emphasized, and how it can improve the requirements and productivity, lowering costs (...) and so many other topics that have been a real contribution, and that can be reviewed in the minutes of the Symposium,” added the director of Dimin-Usach.

By: Michael Gamboa.

Translated by Javiera Díaz

Friday, April 16, 2021