keynote speakers
Ahmed Kader
The keynote lecture "From institutional memory to smarter plant decisions: human-centred AI for metallurgical operations" will be given by Ahmed Kader, Managing Director of CrystalForge Technologies Ltd, South Africa
Ahmed is a chemical engineer, metallurgist, and data scientist. He leads the design and deployment of CrystalForge's scalable AI systems.
He brings extensive experience in industrial process optimization, having established data science departments at major firms like Glencore and Minopex to drive asset performance.
Osvaldo Bascur
The keynote lecture "AI, the next giant leap in innovation" will be given by Dr Osvaldo Bascur, OSB Digital, LLC, USA.
Osvaldo is the Principal and Consultant Fellow at OSB Digital, LLC. He has a degree in chemical engineering and metallurgical engineering from the University of Concepción, Chile and a PhD from the University of Utah, USA in Metallurgical Engineering.
He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, USA, for his work on applying phenomenological and artificial intelligence modeling techniques in mineral and industrial plant performance optimization, and he is a member of the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology, USA.
He received the maximum distinction by the SME, the Antoine Gaudin Award, 2014, for his mathematical modeling of mineral processing and plant information systems in the industry.
He worked for 10 years at Pennzoil, 25 years at OSIsoft, and 5 years at OSB Digital LLC.
Osvaldo is the author of The Engineering Science in Mineral Processing: A Fundamental and Practical Approach, with Dr Fernando Concha, CRC Press 2024, and Digital Transformation in the Process Industries: A Road Map, CRC Press, 2021.
Saeed Chelgani
The keynote lecture "Mining the pixels: AI image processing for mineral processing" will be given by Prof Saeed Chelgani, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden.
Saeed is a professor of mineral processing and the Director of the Swedish School of Mines at Luleå University of Technology (ranked within the top 2% of scientists worldwide). His work primarily focuses on mineral processing, particularly flotation separation, AI modeling, surface chemistry, and the development of materials for both primary and secondary mineral processing. His research spans from fundamental studies on particle-bubble interactions to applied projects in battery recycling, green flotation mechanisms, chemicals, and new reagent development.Currently, he is involved in projects on lithium-ion battery recycling, phosphate flotation in collaboration with LKAB, and AI modeling of industrial units.
MEI Conferences
1 Freeman Collins Drive, Trescobeas Road
Falmouth, Cornwall, UK