MOBI-US Kick-off – Budapest

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LPRC team members Luís Lopes and Márcio Tameirão participated in one of the company’s new projects kick-off meetings: MOBI-US. This first meeting was held in Budapest on the 4 and 5 of February with partners from Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Finland and Austria.

The MOBI-US kick-off meeting started on the first day with a general introduction of the partners as well as an introductory look on the project’s main goals and objectives. The aims of this EIT Raw Materials project – which are to establish a network programme between different Europen universities while following best practices and recommendations from other more experienced universities and companies – were discussed from the coordinator’s point of view. On this day, Luís Lopes presented to the consortium the work that LPRC has been developing in the previous years and what it can bring to MOBI-US to help the project achieve its goals.

On the second day, the focus was on more in-depth discussions on each of the Work Packages. The guidelines to follow, the network to create and the workshops that will prove and extend the network methodology were discussed. To this mix, LPRC brought discussions on how to properly communicate and disseminate the MOBI-US project and its activities. LPRC has proven background in this type of work and will lead the Communication and Dissemination work. The team will also support other project’s activities including setting up the guidelines for the network and the elaboration of workshops.

The MOBI-US project will run for the next 18 months with active participation from LPRC.

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Geothermal event, Brussels

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On the 4th and 5th of February, the Geothermal community gathered in Brussels to expose the state of the art of geothermal energy in Europe and discuss best practices. On this occasion, La Palma Research Centre and  the CROWDTHERMAL project were present to participate in these discussions. During these events, 3 main topics were discussed.

Firstly, the preliminary results of the GEOENVI project were unveiled. GEOENVI is an European funded project whose aim is to answer environmental concerns in terms of both impacts and risks, by first setting an adapted methodology for assessing environment impacts to the project developers, and by assessing the environmental impacts and risks of geothermal projects operational or in development in Europe. The presentation unveiled the results of on-going work: state of the art and characteristics of geothermal plants in the EU, First draft of Life Cycle Assessment and legislative background on geothermal of GEOENVI´s selected cases study (e.g. Hungary and Italy).

Secondly, the presentation of GEOENVI paved the way to environmental concerns regarding geothermal plants. For that matter, the project partners published their Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), guidelines for geothermal plants. These guidelines will be made public to help monitor all the eventual risk encountered during all four phases of a geothermal project (e.g. exploration, drilling, operation and decommission) and tools to mitigate these risks to render any geothermal operation context as safe as possible both for the environment and surrounding communities.

Finally, EGEC monitored a group discussion on the influence of the public regarding geothermal plants in the EU.

Based on an Italian case study, public acceptance towards geothermal plants has the potential to save or kill geothermal projects. Thanks to the insight of Croatian and Hungarian experts, the group reached a consensus: in order to be successful, any geothermal project has to communicate in a transparent manner with local population, show the benefits of geothermal over other sources of energy and the direct perks of having district heating thanks to geothermal. The group discussion also concluded that crowdfunding schemes should be explored to incentive local population to have a direct impact on energy production (being either electricity or heating and cooling). This latter remark is particularly relevant for the CROWDTHERMAL project. This Horizon2020 project aims to empower the European public to directly participate in the development of geothermal power projects with the help of alternative financing schemes (e.g. crowdfunding) and social engagement tools.

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AGEO event, Canary Islands

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On the 27th of January, an event of half a day was organized by the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME), the University of La Laguna (ULL) and La Palma Research Centre (LPRC) with the collaboration of the Spanish Government delegation in the Canary Islands, to introduce and disseminate the activities of the AGEO Interreg Atlantic Area project to the relevant stakeholders in the region.

AGEO aims to launch several pilots on citizen observatories to highlight how citizen involvement in risk prevention can strengthen regional and national management systems, and the outcome of this specific initiative will be used to formulate recommendations for the creation of future permanent observatories in response to the wide range of hazards in the European Atlantic areas – floods, fires, earthquakes, among others.

The Canarian pilot is being organized in Gran Canaria, Tenerife and El Hierro, with a focus on landslides, where the collaborators will reach out to local communities in order to get them actively involved in the preparation and surveillance of landslides in an Archipelago with a very particular geological activity and characteristics.

The day of the presentation at the Delegation of the Government in the Canary Islands involved Ariadna Ortega, representing La Palma Research Centre, as well as Juan Carlos Santamarta, of the University of La Laguna, who focused on the details of the present and future activities of  AGEO. The Geological and Mining Institute of Spain, an autonomous research body attached to the Ministry of Science and Innovation, was represented by Isabel Montoya and Inés Galindo, who illustrated the work of the Copernicus Program and its Management Service (EMS) and the work that will be materialized in the Citizens’ Observatory of the Canary Islands.

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ROBOMINERS Consortium Meeting, Tallinn

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It was in Tallinn, Estonia, that the ROBOMINERS project partners were brought together to discuss the current state of this H2020 project as well as to prepare the future steps in the development of the bio-inspired robot for mining mineral deposits that are small or difficult to access. If successful, ROBOMINERS technology could shape the future of the mineral exploration and exploitation industries and at large adapt the raw materials sector to more sustainable practices.

The meeting in Tallinn, held on the 14th and 15th of January 2020, kickstarted on the first day with a revision of the project’s technical work packages. From Robotics to Raw Materials the ROBOMINERS partners discussed a number of topics that are likely to shape the current and future development of the project’s main concept: to develop a robot that can mine in difficult environments in flooded conditions. After these, technical sessions showed light on the main topics of the project. Here, partners could discuss and contribute to more specific robotics and raw materials items. Examples include the use of legged locomotion as a means of robotic movement or the most adequate geological environments and commodities to be mined with the Robotminer.

On the second day the ROBOMINERS team had a “Workshop on bio-inspired legged locomotion” with presentations based on Robotics developments made by the consortium partners. Then, LPRC hosted its own foresight activity: a Horizon Scanning exercise – where the company members tried to lay the current state-of-play and future developments in key specific areas within the robotics and raw materials fields, in an interactive exercise with the ROBOMINERS internal experts. The results of this exercise will allow the LPRC team to better prepare and adapt the remaining foresight tasks envisaged for WP8 – Active roadmapping and clustering.

Now it is time for the LPRC team to process the results and further involve experts to guide the project technological development in the future.

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MIREU Workshop, Krakow

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The MIREU Project is establishing a network of mining & metallurgy regions across Europe and, in that context, the AGH University hosted the ‘Workshop on skills requirements’ on December 5th and 6th in Krakow, Poland. LPRC took part as guest speakers representing INTERMIN, having the opportunity to share some insights generated during the project.

LPRC’s presentation highlighted the importance of current sectoral trends related to ‘Industry 4.0’ and Sustainable Development and how these affect the set of skills that will be required in the future of the raw materials sector. Additionally, geographical complexities arising from different mining regions and their social and cultural aspects should be properly considered. Participants from Poland, Finland, Germany, Slovakia and Portugal, representing industry, government and academia helped to enrich the discussions with different perspectives.

The workshop was followed by the celebration of Barbórka – the miners’ day in Poland – and its 100th anniversary at the AGH University. The festivities also shined light over the importance of mining and metallurgy industries and their traditions for the region and were the perfect insipiration for thinking about the future of more socially responsible mining and metallurgy sectors in the EU – a necessity acknowledged by everyone.

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Raw Materials Week

Raw Materials Week, Brussels

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LPRC participated on this year Raw Materials Week, one of the most relevant geoscientific events in Europe, that together people from different parts of Europe, to discuss the state of the mineral raw materials and related topics in Europe.

The LPRC team participated on three of those days. On the 18th of November, the team was stationed next to UX-1 robot, UNEXMIN’s main output, where they communicated the project’s results and showcased the robot to a number of people. On this day they also had the opportunity to listen to “Horizon 2020 Technology success stories”. Then on the 19th of November LPRC members participated in the general session of “Innovation, new technology trends and Skills for Materials”. On the 20th, LPRC attended the session on “Raw Materials meeting society needs”. All in all, the LPRC could attend important sessions that discussed the most relevant themes for the raw materials community, which are entirely related to the company’s line of work represented by a number of projects.

Visiting the Raw Materials Week 2019 and being able to learn more about the current state of the raw materials scene in Europe as well as the opportunity to network and meet new people, made this years event a success to the company. Next year there is more and LPRC will be there once again!

Photo credit: Raw Materials Week

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AGEO meeting, Lisbon

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The partners of the AGEO Interreg Atlantic Area project met in Lisbon during the 11th and the 12th of November in the Instituto Técnico de Lisboa, the coordinator of the project, to discuss the development of the AGEO Citizen Observatories and complementary actions.

Entities from the UK, Ireland, France, Lisbon and Spain – representing the European Atlantic region – met to discuss the needs for the creation of a tool to evaluate geohazards risks and the pilots that will engage civil society in the prevention, protection and management of geohazards relevant to the Atlantic Area and the participant countries specific regions.

During the first day a review of the progress of all Work Packages and the state-of-the-art of the five pilots were presented followed by an active group discussion. LPRC presented their Work Package (Communications) state and future plans as well as participating in the presentation of the Canary Islands rock-falls and rock-fall triggers pilot, in which LPRC participates actively.

On the second day, the members of the Advisory Board – an entity formed by experts in the areas covered by AGEO –  attended to the meeting and offered valuable inputs for the best possible functioning of the project. These inputs are gladly received by the project partners and the AGEO consortium will follow them whenever possible.

On Wednesday the 13th, partner LNEG (member of Copernicus Academy) organized a workshop on the use of Copernicus for Geohazards, an essential part of AGEO, as the project has a strong commitment to encourage the regional-level uptake and use of products and services provided by European spatial data infrastructures, such as Copernicus or EGDI. During the workshop, the AGEO pilots were once again presented by the partners and the upcoming El Hierro workshop, organized by partners IGME, ULL and LPRC was officially announced for April 2020.

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PRO-ACT – Preliminary Design Review, Bremen

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On the 7th and 8th of November LPRC participated in the PRO-ACT‘s Preliminary Design Review meeting, in Bremen, Germany. During this two-day event, LPRC contributed to the discussions with information on possibilities for field tests, dissemination opportunities and exploitation measures.

The most recent PRO-ACT meeting was held in Bremen, Germany, where the partners that are developing an innovative concept for Planetary Robots Deployed for Assembly and Construction Tasks using lunar analogues, got together to discuss and present the most recent developments in the project. The work development under WP2 –  Preliminary Design and Modelling was presented and the official start of WP3 – Detailed Design of Demonstrator and Related Test Setup was done. Together with these, discussions on project dissemination efforts and on future exploitation possibilities completed the fruitful two-days event.

The partners had the opportunity to see the robotics laboratory of DFKI, which hosted the meeting. DFKI recently developed a robot – named MANTIS – that is planned to be used under the PRO-ACT’s line of work, together with robots from other project partners.

LPRC was once again glad to contribute to the advancement of the project’s tasks with the support to the identification and preparation of the lunar analogue missions at indoor and outdoor sites in Europe, a major task, essential to prove the concept developed under PRO-ACT. LPRC’s experience on dissemination and exploitation of the project’s results is also of a valuable nature to the implementation of the project.

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INTERMIN meeting, Ecuador

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LPRC actively participated at the INTERMIN International Conference “The skills required in the mining industry of the 21st century” hosted by ESPOL Politechnical University in Ecuador in the end of October. For the first time in Latin America, experts from different countries of the European Union, Chile and Ecuador, belonging to governmental entities, universities, leading companies in the mining market and teachers from the area of ​​Mines and Geology met to identify areas that need to be improved in order to better prepare and adopt professionals specialized in Mines and Geology to the emerging market changes.

Within this framework, a series of presentations were provided by INTERMIN project partners in turns with speeches held by local experts invited by ESPOL. LPRC was responsible to develop a roadmap for the future skills required in the mining industry and Adrienn Cseko presented the results of the company’s efforts to the audience. Areas of possible future cooperation were identified, these are (without being comprehensive): sustainable groundwater supply, geohazard risk management, sustainable supply of raw materials, citizen science and geotursim.

Attached to the conference a series of field trips were organized in order to provide an insight into the state-of-the-art of mining in Ecuador. On the 24th of October, the consortium visited “Cooperativa de Producción Minera El Tablazo N1”, artisanal aggregate mine in Santa Elena. On the 25th of October, partners visited “Mina Jerusalen” an artisanal gold mine in Ponce Enriquez. To complement the field visits, a meeting with the local authorities combined with a field trip to two artisanal gravel mines of Granillo Rojo y Granillo Negro in Santa Cruz were organized. 

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The INTERMIN project team will now take these new input and will focus on the development of the Online Educational platform for the Network! Stay tuned and follow @InterminProject on Twitter, LinkedIN or Facebook.

Photo credit: Via Minera (Mina Jerusalen), Abi Sancar (El Tablazo and conference photo) @HartliebPhilipp, UniLeoben (Granillo Rojo)

Closing of the UNEXMIN Project

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The UNEXMIN project, where LPRC leaded tasks on Dissemination, Technology transfer and Exploitation, has now ended, after a period of 45 months, where a multidisciplinary team from 7 European countries contributed to the development of a multi-robotic platform to map and explore flooded mines.

UNEXMIN brought together geoscientists, robotics engineers, policy makers and others from the fields of robotics and geology, to deliver an innovative technology capable of exploring flooded mines, caves and other environments and collecting valuable geological and visual information. Besides this main output, UNEXMIN also delivered, among others, an Inventory of Flooded Mines in Europe, various unique data from the test sites and a joint company that will keep exploitation of the technology going forward.

Within UNEXMIN, LPRC was responsible for:

  • Developing and maintaining the project website and social media channels
  • Create dissemination material such as brochures, posters and press releases
  • Develop a research roadmap for the future of the technology
  • Initiate and bring forward the establishment of the joint company UNEXMIN GeoRobotics
  • Other tasks contributing to dissemination of the project such as presentations in conferences and workshops around Europe

LPRC is proud to have contributed to the development of the project and will continue to help in the exploitation of the technology to several target markets: flooded mines, caves, fishing ponds, water pipes and much more. Will the future be bright for the UX-1 robots and the technology?