Symposium on Mining Engineering and Geo-Resources

Local: Room B027

Date: Monday, June 30^th, 2025 | 15h45

Mining Automation – a Current Reality

The Cimertex presentation is focused on new technologies for underground mining. It starts with a profile of Cimertex Group and then digs into the latest electrification and automation solutions, offering an insight into current projects in Portugal.

Álvaro Bastos

Executive Director, Cimertex

Biography

Álvaro Bastos is a mechanical engineer who graduated from FEUP (Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto) in 1995 and currently serves as an executive director at Cimertex. He has built his career in the field of equipment for public works and mining, with a particular focus on underground construction. Cimertex was founded in 1964 as a supplier of industrial equipment. It quickly shifted its focus to public works, beginning its partnership with Komatsu in 1968 — making it today the brand’s oldest distributor.Through the diversification of its product range to include complementary equipment, and with geographical expansion to countries such as Angola and Italy, Cimertex now offers an extensive portfolio for the civil engineering and mining sectors across multiple countries. In 2004, the company established a Mining Division, which, with a strong focus on Sandvik equipment, sells and provides support for machinery used in rock blasting, crushing, underground excavation, and special foundations. From the Iberian Pyrite Belt to the Lundas (Angola), Cimertex supports hundreds of machines operating under continuous production.Last year, Cimertex celebrated 60 years of activity and is now a leading supplier in its industry, being at the forefront of mining automation with several ongoing projects.

Local: Room B027

Date: Monday, June 30^th, 2025 | 17h30

Mining & the Green Energy Revolution: Challenges, Innovations & Leadership

The presentation will focus on the central role mining plays in the green energy revolution; how the industry has changed in the last 50 years and the technical innovations that drive the mining industry today; the challenges facing the industry to continuously improve performance and credibility; the importance of leadership and developing new talent; and why women are better heavy equipment operators than men!

Mike Struthers

Mining CEO, Director and Consultant, Green Energy Metals Ltd

Biography

Mike has been working in the mining industry for 45 years, in a variety of roles spanning operations, engineering consulting, capital projects, as a CEO and Director of junior mining companies, and most recently as a technical and corporate advisor. He has worked in many different regions across the world, including Africa, Australia, Europe, North and South America, and Russia/CIS countries.

Local: Room B027

Date: Tuesday, July 1^st, 2025 | 09h00

Recovery of Critical Raw Materials From Secondary Resources to support the Energy transition

In the context of Europe’s increasing dependence on critical raw materials (CRMs), ensuring a resilient and secure value chain has become a strategic priority. As mining projects across Europe face growing environmental, regulatory, and social challenges, recycling emerges as a vital alternative for the recovery of CRMs.
This presentation will highlight the role of mechanical recycling in addressing these challenges, focusing on B.AGAIN’s commitment to developing and implementing an efficient, scalable process capable of recovering more than 95% of the valuable components contained in end-of-life lithium-ion batteries (EoL LIBs). The talk will also explore the technical and strategic implications of integrating such a process within the broader European raw materials framework.

Rui Sousa

Process Engineer, Bgain

Invited Professor, FEUP

Biography

Rui Sousa, holds a Ph.D. in Mining and Geo-Resources from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, which he completed in 2020. His doctoral research focused on the field of Mineral Processing, aiming to investigate the efficiency of mineral separations through image analysis methodologies. Since 2017, he has also served as an Invited Professor in the Department of Mining Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. He is currently responsible for the mechanical recycling plant at b.again where he leads the development and operation of processes aimed at recovering critical raw materials from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries.

Local: Room B027

Date: Tuesday, July 1^st, 2025 | 11h00

Technological characterization of tantalite tailings

The presentation is related a case study focuses on fine tailings from a tantalite mineral processing plant of the Volta Grande mine, located in Nazareno in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. The main products of this operation are tantalite and cassiterite. Nazareno lies within the Pegmatitic Province of São João del Rei, which hosts numerous pegmatitic bodies mineralized, with elements Sn, Nb, Ta, and Li. The work consists of technological characterization through particle, chemical and mineral analysis. Then, heavy liquid separation (HLS) laboratory tests using Bromoform were executed in different particle size fractions to determine the distribution of valuable minerals in the sink and float products.

Janine Figueiredo

Postdoc. Researcher in Mineral Engineering | Professor, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto

Biography

Janine Figueiredo is an experienced researcher in mineral characterization and tailings reprocessing. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mining Engineering and a Ph.D. in Mining Engineering and Geo-Resources from FEUP. She worked as a researcher at Vale for 3 years in Brazil. Then, She is a Lecturer and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Federal University of Ouro Preto. Currently, She is back at FEUP as an external researcher for a short period.