On the morning of March 21, as an integral part of the academic exchange series organized by the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Intelligent Mining Academic Forum was held in Room 318 of the Comprehensive Building of the School of Energy and Mining at our university. The theme of this forum was 'Intelligent Mining,' and it featured the participation of Professor Michael Hood, a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. The forum was attended by Chinese Academy of Engineering members, Professor Ge Shirong, who is also President of China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), and Professor Peng Suping. Vice President Wang Jiachen attended the forum and delivered speeches.

A speech was delivered by Academician Ge Shirong. Academician Michael Hood gave a presentation titled “Climate Change - A huge problem but a bigger opportunity for the mining industry”. The presentation began by discussing the impact of carbon emissions on the global climate and then delved into the challenges and opportunities the mining industry facing in the future. It primarily focused on the current status of global carbon emissions, factors influencing carbon emissions, trends in future mining and new energy development, and pathways for carbon reduction. In his keynote speech titled 'Intelligent Mining: Current Status and Prospects,' Academician Ge Shirong pointed out that intelligent mining in coal mines is an inevitable trend for future development. He introduced core technologies such as unmanned working faces, coal mine robots, and 5G communication in the context of intelligence mining. He also proposed the concept of green and clean development for coal mines under the dynamic carbon neutrality idea. Professor Wang Jiachen presented intelligent mining technology and applications in thick coal seams in China, focusing on research related to the intelligent comprehensive mining of top coal movement laws and image recognition technology for coal gangue. Professor Ju Yang, Professor Zhao Yixin, and Professor Zhou Hongwei reported on research achievements in coal rock fracture visualization, abnormal diffusion of water in unsaturated fractured sandstone, and non-Darcy seepage in deep mining, respectively.

In the discussion session of the workshop, Academician Michael Hood fully acknowledged the outstanding contributions of the experts present in the field of coal mine intelligence and green mining. He also shared his views on future development trends. In the afternoon, accompanied by Academician Peng Suping and Academician He Manchao, Michael Hood visited the State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining and the State Key Laboratory of Deep Geo-mechanics and Underground Engineering.