Professor Gus Nathan at Maptek Mining Technology Conference
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Professor Gus Nathan at Maptek Mining Technology Conference

Professor Gus Nathan applauded home-grown innovation in the energy sector, especially miners who are increasingly concerned with both supply and consumption of energy, during the Maptek User Conference held at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide, Australia, from 28 to 30 May 2012. His research at the Centre for Energy Technology at the University of Adelaide includes next-generation combustion systems to burn fossil fuels in cleaner and more efficient ways.

Delivering the power address at the Maptek users conference in Adelaide this week, Nathan said that while he travels all over the world to see what clean-energy researchers are doing, there is plenty of potential on our own doorstep.

CET looks at technologies that enable integration with sustainable Australian energy sources such as coal and solar. By combining them in novel energy systems, the opportunity arises to secure the economic future of our energy intensive mining industry without increasing CO2 emissions.

Maptek is a good example of taking an already great idea and seeing where it leads. Vulcan 3D mine planning and modelling software segued to 3D laser scanning software, then Maptek made a quantum leap into hardware development to optimise the potential of the software technology.

The result is that the only survey hardware built in Australia is found in Adelaide at Maptek’s Glenside facility. More than 300 laser scanners have been manufactured and sold to mining companies, from the original I-Site 4400 in 2004 to the latest 8800 and 8400 series. Exports account for 60%, while 40% are making survey jobs easier, faster and safer for Australian mining companies.

At the conference Maptek is also showcasing its latest software developments. Vulcan 64-bit allows operations to get the most out of their huge volumes of data. Eureka is revolutionising the use of seismic data in exploration and BlastLogic is in the final stages of user acceptance testing with development partner BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance.

The Maptek conference is being held over three days in the National Wine Centre in Adelaide, South Australia, with more than 100 attendees from Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and North America.Maptek will also host conferences in 2012 in Denver, USA, in October, and Viña del Mar, Chile, in December.

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