Maptek Vulcan Users Conference
2007 Report

'The success of Maptek’s recent Users Conference represented the culmination of hard work and dedication on the part of our clients, business partners and Maptek staff from all parts of the world. Maptek employees from Australia, Europe, South America and North America provided attendees with access to a wide range of skills, knowledge and expertise. Maptek could not have delivered near the breadth and quality of content offered during the conference without our customers who provided outstanding presentations detailing how they use Maptek products to achieve best practices in their work. I offer my thanks to each and every attendee in making this the finest Maptek Users Conference to date.' Barry Henderson, CEO

More than 60 people from various mining companies joined Maptek staff  for the 3-day users conference held at the Inverness Center in Denver, Colorado, at the end of October.

Engineers, geologists, consultants, and educators attended from Albian Sands Energy Inc., Barrick Gold Corporation, BHP Ekati, Bureau of Land Management, Chevron Mining Inc., Cleveland Cliffs (Michigan, Northshore, United Taconite, Cliffs Mining Services, Hibbing-Taconite, Wabush/Scully sites), Iron Ore Company of Canada, McIntosh Engineering, Newmont Mining, Peabody Engineering, Petro-Canada, Phelps Dodge, Queenstake Resources Ltd, Rio Tinto Minerals (Headquarters, Denver and Perth offices), Somincor, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, SRK Consulting, Stillwater Mining Company (Nye, East Boulder mines), and Thiess Australia.

The program catered for engineers on Day 1 with Maptek Vulcan case studies covering haulage profile, Chronos and IDS scheduling, pit optimisation, ore blending, tailings dam design and Maptek I-Site for underground surveying.

Day 2 focused on new technology and customer feedback, with sessions run by Marketing Director, Matt Pesce, and Vulcan Product Manager, Steve Uecker, as well as new software developments introduced by Fernando Rodrigues, leader of the Technical Services Business Unit in North America.

Day 3 featured geology-focused talks covering grade control, block modelling, geological modelling, tetra modelling as well as surveying and mine planning applications featuring I-Site.

The event was a great chance for networking between Maptek customers and staff. Client suggestions, such as the interactive editing tool for underground ramps which displays grades dynamically, maintaining control on operational constraints, were incorporated into the imminent Vulcan Version 7.5 release.

Michael Wilkins receives his pize for wining the Vulcan Olympics from Steve Uecker

The Vulcan Olympics brought out the competitive streak in users, with finalists Andy Connell, Paul Jones, Ryan Barnett, Luis Sierra, Allan Schappert, Chris Hunter and Ziggy Hladysz losing out to winner Michael Wilkins.

'The 2007 Users Conference attracted clients from hard rock and coal operations, and open pit and underground mines. I hope everyone was able to take away something useful; we certainly look forward to seeing our clients again at the next conference.'

Tony Peterson,
Technical Services Manager, Denver