Sweden and Australia Charting the Future of Sustainable Mining – IMARC, Sydney 31 October

Sweden at the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) in Sydney.

H.E Pontus Melander welcomed participants to the Sweden session “Sweden and Australia charting the future of sustainable mining”, presented by the Embassy of Sweden and Business Sweden at the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) in Sydney.

Following on from the successful visit by H.R.H Crown Princess Victoria and Minister for Foreign Trade, Johan Forssell to Australia in February 2023, the Sweden session provided a renewed focus of the Sweden – Australia collaborations within the mining industry.

The session presented discussions centered around sustainable mining, including digitalization, automation and electrification and Ambassador Melander noted that “the mining sector is a provider of solutions and Sweden wants to collaborate with countries like Australia”.

A keynote delivered by Dr Adam Best, CSIRO emphasized the importance of sustainable mining, new technologies and the importance of the future of mining to support the green transition.

Swedish company representatives, Max Ludke, Vice President and Business Line Manager Mining, ABB, Hans Wahlquist, Global Director Product Management, Epiroc, Wayne Scrivens, Vice President AU & NZ, Sandvik and Simon Stone, Vice President, Hexagon participated in a panel discussion, moderated by Peter Ker, Senior Editor, Australian Financial Review on the strength of the Swedish innovation ecosystem and the growing partnerships between Sweden and Australia.

On the question – “Why are Sweden and Australia compatible” the panelists agreed that Sweden punches above its weight in innovation and Australia is forward leaning in technology and eager to take on new ideas.  “Our countries are geographically far apart but culturally we are close and geo-politically like-minded”.

During IMARC the Embassy also took the opportunity to meet with exhibiting Swedish companies Epiroc, Sandvik, ABB, Hexagon, Axis Communications and SKF. We can confidently say that the Swedish companies present at IMARC 2023 were promoting Sweden’s solutions in mining, emphasizing the focus on sustainability and showcasing the strong innovation ecosystem.

The Swedish Australian Chamber of Commerce invited participating Swedish company representatives and Australian stakeholders to a pre-IMARC event at the office of Business Sweden as a kick-off to the IMARC Sweden Session on 30 October. At this pre-IMARC event, we heard from industry experts from the mining ecosystem, Professor David Saiang at Luleå University of Technology and Andrew Dawson at Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, who gave us insight into sustainable mining practices, innovative technologies, AI to support green transition and future development.