Thursday, 15 March, 2012

Rapid urbanization and industrialization of developing regions is challenging our ability to preserve the globe’s natural capital. To sustain the economic growth without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, society should maximize the economic value generated from our scarce resources. This seminar will discuss the resource productivity concept within the metals and mining industry.

This seminar is organized on the initiative of the K.U.Leuven Research groups of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering and Applied Geology & Mineralogy, with the cooperation of Sustainable Inorganic Material Management (SIM²), alumni geology (BVLG), the Research Center Leuven Sustainable Earth and the Arenberg doctoral school.

Location: Address: Auditorium 00.39, Department Metallurgy and Materials

Engineering, Kasteelpark 44, 3001 Heverlee. Directions: see http://sirius.mtm.kuleuven.be/General/find_E.html

Registration (no entrance fee is required, but registration is needed to receive syllabus, coffee and reception): Contact katrien.baplu@mtm.kuleuven.be, mentioning name, function,

company and, if applicable, membership to any of the organizing groups.

A perspective on the metals and mining industry

K.U.Leuven Applied Geology

and Mineralogy

Programme 13:30 Coffee14:00 Welcome – Prof. Bart Blanpain – Department of Metallurgy

and Materials Engineering, K.U.Leuven14:05 Introduction of McKinsey’s Metals and Mining practice - Diedrik Tas14:20 Roadmap to a zero waste economy - Helga Vanthournout

The Zero Waste Economy, where all discarded materials are resources for others to use, is the final end-point of the ongoing efforts to close materials loops through better recycling. In this session, a roadmap is laid out describing the concrete actions steps to overcome the economical and societal obstacles faced and to realize the ambitious vision.

15:10 A dead end for traditional mining? - Ilse KenisIn recent past, the growing hunger for metals and minerals globally has largely been met by the increased extraction of primary resources. Despite being a key enabler for growth, mining companies face severe societal pressure from governments, environmental groups and local NGOs. On top, the industry is confronted with increasing downstream production yields and recycling rates. Could these factors eventually drive a reduction in global primary mining activities?

16:00 Facing the carbon challenge for the steel industry - Dirk DurinckFor centuries, carbon based reduction has been the cornerstone of iron and steel production. This carbon dependency makes the steel industry one of the largest industrial emitters globally, responsible for an estimated 6-8% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2010. Faced with ambitious long term abatement targets, and short term financial impacts, steelmakers are trying to step up to the carbon productivity challenge.

15:00 Q&A

15:50 Q&A

16:40 Q&A16:50 Closing reflections17:00 Reception offered by McKinsey