Chalmers told International Coal News that the popularity of the conference was due to its reputation for providing a quality program and the efforts of its organising committee.

The organising committee aims to provide an opportunity to present these developments so that the industry can benefit from this collective knowledge, Chalmers said.

“As per the previous events, we will again call on expertise from industry and academia, to bring about the third in a series of ventilation conferences,” he said.

Ventilation controls form many of the core risk activities in mines, according to Chalmers Developments in practice and research in recent years have helped ensure levels of safety are maintained and improved within the underground mining sector.

Yesterday’s key note speaker at the event was Peabody Energy Metropolitan underground coal mine general manager Andrew Clough, whose presentation was titled “Ensuring an effective Principal Hazard Management Plan.”

Clough was previously chief inspector of coal mines for Queensland.

“The conference brings operators, planning personnel, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, government regulators, consultants and research and technology personnel together to explore achievements and build a better industry,” Chalmers said.

“Consistent with the aims of the AusIMM, the conference enables members and industry to keep abreast of views on various aspects of mine ventilation and provide a forum to showcase technical and factual information within the minerals industry.”

The conference is being held until September 2 at the UNSW’s Kensington campus in Sydney.