5 demand greater transparency, these sessions address the frameworks that will govern how the industry accounts for its impacts and contributions. Track 6: Mining Engineering and Mine Planning This track addresses the core technical disciplines of underground and surface mine engineering across five sessions, with a particular emphasis on geomechanics, blast engineering, frontier mining environments, and the integration of uncertainty into planning. Transforming Underground Stability and Extraction: Geotechnical modelling of vertical stopes in kimberlite under Arctic conditions, graphene-reinforced GFRP ground anchors as sustainable alternatives to steel, innovative ground support techniques, and the three-level sequential recovery of ore pillars from sublevel stopping are among the presentations. The session reflects an underground mining community pushing the boundaries of what can be extracted safely and economically. Blasting, Explosives and Rock break: A quantitative flyrock framework for surface mining, the impact of load diameter and spacing on presplit design, extended sleep times for reactive ground, and the integration of digital technologies with advanced explosives for open-pit gold operations are presented. These contributions collectively advance the case that blasting remains a discipline with substantial room for safety improvement and value creation. From Seafloor to Haul Roads: The program’s most geographically diverse session spans deep-sea critical mineral collection systems, structural integrity management for critical mining infrastructure, haul road improvement through multidirectional rigid geogrids, and blasting-to-crushing cost minimization. The inclusion of deep-sea mining reflects the growing seriousness with which polymetallic nodule resources are being considered as a future supply source for battery metals. Mine Planning Under Uncertainty and Complexity: Constraint programming for mine sequencing with geomettalurgical variables, stochastic mine planning and design, probabilistic cash cost and NPV assessment using Monte Carlo simulation, and discrete-event simulation for underground decisionmaking are presented. This session reflects the maturation of planning science: uncertainty is no longer treated as noise to be suppressed, but as a fundamental input to be modelled and managed. Track 7: Andean Flagship Sessions The Andean Flagship Sessions are a defining feature of WMC 2026 as a Latin American congress, bringing together regional and global perspectives on the themes that matter most to the host continent. Three sessions address sustainability legacies, Latin America's shifting geopolitical role in mineral supply, and smart mining innovation case studies from Andean operations. From Resources to Influence — Latin America's Mining Shift: The structural transformation of Latin American copper concentrate trade networks, Peru's strategy for sustainable investment promotion, the geopolitical implications of the region's critical mineral endowment (the 'Mineral Iceberg'), and the Pillones public-private partnership in Arequipa are presented. These contributions make a compelling case that Latin America is moving from price-taking commodity supplier to active shaper of the global minerals agenda. From Closure to Legacy — Rethinking Mining Sustainability: Post-mining governance in Peru and Colombia, mine closure as a social transition challenge, the progress of biodiversity offset frameworks in Peru against international guidelines, geothermal potential for Andean decarbonization, and the conditions for a community-mining social compact ('Triangle of Trust') are examined. This session confronts the full arc of the mining lifecycle as experienced in Latin American communities. Innovation at Work — Case Studies in Smart Mining: Peru's first autonomous ultra-class truck fleet at Quellaveco, AI-powered mineral exploration in Cajamarca, digital transformation at Minera Chinalco Peru, and Buenaventura's long-term value creation model are presented. These case studies demonstrate that world-class smart mining innovation is not the exclusive province of Australia, Canada, or Chile — it is happening in the Peruvian highlands.
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