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ê Mikhail N. Overchenko, Mikhail A. Marinin, Sergei P. Mozer
Quality Improvement of Mining Specialists...
UDC 378.22:622
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT OF MINING SPECIALISTS TARINING ON THE BASIS OF COOPERATION BETWEEN SAINT-PETERSBURG MINING UNIVERSITY
AND ORICA COMPANY
Mikhail N. OVERCHENKO1, Mikhail A. MARININ2, Sergei P. MOZER1
1 CJSC «Orica CIS», Moscow, Russia
2 Saint-Petersburg Mining University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
The analysis of practical solutions for a joint cooperation between the Mining University and the Australian company Orica resulted in the decision of creation a Competence center in the field of mining. The role of mining engineering and vocational education as necessary components of sustainable development of the territories was highlighted. The best Russian and international experience of collaboration between technical universities and main companies-players in the mining area is analyzed; an important role belongs to the involvement of regional executive authorities in a collaboration in the field of industrial safety. The prospects for the creation of a joint integration platform for a university and a company is considered on the example of creation of scientific educational laboratory of blasting technologies and modeling; the laboratory was opened under the agreement between Saint-Petersburg mining university and Orica company with the purpose of improvement of mining engineers training in the field of blasting operations, the development of scientific and research investigation activities, the organization of professional retraining and upgrade qualifications of specialists of mining area. A set of target indicators of the effectiveness of the scientific educational laboratory performance are given, as well as a general evaluation of the cooperation project efficiency.
Key words: mining, competence center, vocational education, training of mining engineers, professional retraining, international cooperation.
How to cite this article: Overchenko M.N., Marinin M.A., Mozer S.P. Quality Improvement of Mining Specialists Training on the Basis of Cooperation Between Saint-Petersburg Mining University and Orica Company. Zapiski Gornogo instituta. 2017. Vol. 228, p. 681-687. DOI: 10.25515/PMI.2017.6.681
Introduction. Mining engineering all over the world is aimed at safe, economically and ecologically effective extraction and processing of raw materials ensuring the sustainable development of territories. Mining engineering provides a wide range of career building options, high level of payments, the opportunities for professional growth. This predetermines the attractiveness of mining engineer profession, the similarities in key directions of mining technologies development and systems of personnel training in the leading mining and exploration countries of the world. The personnel training for a modern technology intensive mining industry requires, in addition to academicians, a developed laboratory, educational and informational base at institutions [1].
Within the conditions of the development of a knowledge-driven economy, an objective of establishment and development of relations between universities, industry and labor market is becoming particularly important. This implies a creation of a network of organizations to be interested in a mutually beneficial cooperation in the area of training of highly qualified personnel, the improvement of the logistics of the educational process, conducting a cooperative scientific research, the modernization of production and output product [7].
The importance of creation of a joint integration platform for a university and a field company consists in the development of a partnership between universities and industrial sectors; the use of international quality standards and application of innovative approaches in the educational process; the development of competitive competence of the university graduates at the international labor market. The implementation of projects for the use of modern software products and special equipment in the process of a mining engineer training is a timely and promising direction allowing to cover a wide range of possibilities from the improvement of the program of students training to the development of scientific and research activities.
Literature review. Paper [7] presents the experience of Saint-Petersburg state electrotechnical university «LETI» in the development and implementation of a strategic partnership program between the university and industrial enterprises aiming to improve engineering education at the university.
ê Mikhail N. Overchenko, Mikhail A Marinin, Serqei P. Mozer
Quality Improvement of Mining Specialists...
As stated in paper [3], a significant role during the process of specialists training for mineral and raw material complex belongs to the modern means of electronic education.
Paper [4] provides the analysis of problems in training of modern oil-industry engineers. The example of cooperation between scientific-research and project institute helps to consider the approaches to the implementation of effective programs of personnel development and training.
Paper [8] touches upon a problem of providing a sustainable development for countries with raw materials specialization. A key role in dealing with the objectives must belong to the universities as huge centers of competence and sources of the innovative solutions for mining industry. The role of universities as competence centers is in the establishment of strategic partnership with the business community for human capital assets strengthening.
Paper [9] indicates the necessity for the coordinative integration of university activities, students, graduates and employers into educational, scientific, production complex in the realities of increasing demands for competence of modern engineers, their practical skills and knowledge, the necessity for updating and conformity of their professional qualifications.
Discussion. The successful development of a company, to a great extent, depends on its personnel. In the process of hiring an employer evaluates professional qualities and qualifications of future employees. However, as time goes by, new technical equipment may be put into operation, existing standards, requirements and legal framework may be changed. All the innovations require timely response from employees and it is going to be oriented on the improvement of knowledge in newly changed professional area. So, for instance, paper [1] describes the experience of organization of upgrade qualification courses on the basis of Polytechnic institute (a branch) of North-East Federal University n.a. M.K.Ammosov situated in Mirny city for the employees of JSC «ALROSA».
Also the experience of cooperation between universities and business in Germany is an interesting issue. In Germany a business proportion in science subsidization regarding overall flow of mixed financing, which is possible owing to the attraction of financial resources from various sources to realize innovative projects, is equal to 20 % [10]. Maximum business participation is noticeable in technical universities. The existence of named classrooms confirms this. According to the information provided by Transparency International Deutschland today there are 31 lecture halls and classrooms in German universities, which are named after a certain company.
Starting from 2010 within the frame of annual mining forum MINEX in cooperation with the Mining Educational and Methodological Association of Russian Universities an initiative was formed; the initiative provoked the development of connections «Mining university - Mining business». The main goal of this initiative is to use the site of annually organized mining forum MINEX and Mining club MINEX to stimulate a dialog and to improve an interaction between higher educational institutions and companies working in the mining industry of Russia.
In the framework of MINEX Russia 2011 the initiative of stimulating closer links between academic and business worlds was continued. Over 150 students of Russian mining institutes took part in the events within the program «Mining Students' Day». In addition to master-classes and human resource consulting the organizers of the forum in cooperation with the Mining Educational and Methodological Association of Russian Universities and Moscow state mining university led all-Russian competition «From idea to innovations» encouraging the stimulation of scientific, research and innovative activities among young specialists of the companies and the students of Russian educational institutions.
The creation of the Network University in 2016 has become a significant event in establishing close links between educational institutions, business and executive authorities in the field of industrial safety. The representatives of seven leading scientific centers of Russia signed an agreement regarding creation of the Network University in the area of industrial, nuclear and energy safety, which has become a partner of Rostechnadzor (Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision). In the framework of signed agreement between Rostechnadzor and Network University these structures are involved into cooperation in the areas of creation of the methodological basis of execution of monitoring, oversight and licensing functions, providing the translation of the best practices and experience of execution of monitoring, oversight and licensing functions, concen-
J\ Mikhail N. Overchenko, Mikhail A. Marinin, Sergei P. Mozer DOI: 10.25515/PMI.2017.6.681
ViF Quality Improvement of Mining Specialists...
tration of intellectual, informational, innovative resources and implementation of the international experience into research and development works in the areas of industrial, nuclear and energy safety.
Saint-Petersburg mining university has a number of classrooms named after Russian and foreign companies of the mineral and raw material sector. In 2016 a completely new approach for the creation of a named classroom was realized - the rector of the Mining university V.S.Litvinenko, the minister of Energy of the Russian Federation A.V.Novak and the president of Schneider Electric in Russia and CIS Johan Vanderplaetse opened a competence center of Schneider Electric company on the basis of Mining university in the area of scientific investigations and education. An official ceremony of opening with the participation of a consul-general of France in Saint-Petersburg Tibau Fourrier was held within a framework of XVHIth International congress of coal preparation at Saint-Petersburg mining university.
A joint project of creation of scientific educational laboratory. An efficient professional and constructive dialog between Orica and Mining university exists for more than 15 years. Leading specialists of Orica company on a regular basis participate in various seminars and sessions during which in addition to exchange of experience with the university academics, the ideas of the future cooperation are tested.
Orica is the major global supplier of industrial explosives and initiation systems for mining and construction industry with the operating activities in more than 100 countries [6, 11]. The overall volume of bulk explosives reaches the annual amount of 3 mln t per year. In addition to the supplied products Orica also provides a full complex of blasting services - starting from a blast design to a blast performance according to the model developed. A total number of blasting services reaches 1500 blasts per day all over the world. More then 11.5 thousands of employees work for a company today. Regarding financial indicators the company ranks among 50 largest enterprises of Australia (summarizing the results in 2017 EBIT of the company was equal to 635 mln of Australian dollars). Headquarters of the company is situated in Melbourne city, Australia.
As the result of intense collaboration between company management and the administration of Mining university a clear understanding of the importance of creation of mutually beneficial cooperation in the area of modern blasting technologies training at the leading Mining university of Russia was realized. In December 2016 a joint project of scientific educational laboratory of blasting technologies and blasting operations modeling was officially put in service. Fig. 1 shows main directions of laboratory activities. V.S.Litvinenko, the rector of Mining university, Peter Tesch, the ambassador of Australia, Orica EAA Marketing Lead Eden Paki, the representatives of North-West Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision, the representatives of PLC «Group LSR», PJSC «Mining and Metallurgical Company «NORILSK NICKEL», JSC «Apatit», «KonTech Ltd.» participated in the official laboratory opening ceremony.
Key directions
Lectures, practical and Lab sessions
A competition for the best student paper
Joint scientific works, events
Cooperation and invitation of global partners
Courses for advanced professional development
Orica Graduate Program
Fig. 1. Main operational directions of educational scientific laboratory for blasting operations technologies and modeling
ê Mikhail N. Overchenko, Mikhail A Marinin, Serqei P. Mozer
Quality Improvement of Mining Specialists...
A new laboratory consists of a modeling and design classroom and a special classroom devoted to the technology and safety of blasting operations. Special equipment was provided by Orica. This equipment includes modern personal computers with the installed software packages for blast parameters design: SHOTPlus™ (open-pit mining), SHOTPlus™ Underground (underground mining), SHOTPlus™ Tunneling (mine tunneling) including a program software for research and analysis of rocks fragmentation on the basis of photo- and video- fixation, a virtual training stand for blaster training in open-pit mining.
For practical works the laboratory is equipped with imitation models of packaged emulsion explosives Senatel™ and nonelectric initiation system Exel™ For the development of practical skills of working with electronic systems of initiation the laboratory is equipped with a centralized electronic blasting system i-kon™ II, surface remote blasting system i-kon™ II SURBS, an electronic blasting system Unitronic™ 600 (Fig.2, 3). As a reference material for students there is a prototype of charging machines, illustrating the steps and logical interconnection between machine blocks in the process of charging.
The project realization supposes including in the programs of educational disciplines lectures, lab sessions and practical works for students, master's students, post-graduates and specialists on the basis of a special equipment and software package of Orica company. The programs of the following disciplines were reviewed: «Technology and safety of blasting operations», «Drilling and blasting operations», «Modeling of physical processes of a blast using computer software», «Mod-eling and design of blasting technologies using computer software», «Design and organization of blasting operations», «Technology of blasting operations in the process of open-cut mining».
Mining students study the elements, peculiarities, operation principles and conditions of the use of modern initiation systems; study user's manuals; study basic principles and skills of blast circuit assembly; study the requirements for safe use, requirements for labelling of explosives and explosives packages.
Special program software was developed with respect to parameters of all spectrum of produced products: industrial explosives and initiation system. Software allows students to visualize the designed blasting operations and to model optimal variants of blast design in various design conditions.
An important task is a preparation of personnel pool out of students community during studying period at the university. The level of students' competence in mining field is increasing and, consequently, labor expenditures for young specialists workplace training are decreasing.
«Mass blast project». A joint idea about organizing a competition for the best student paper «Mass blast project» was developed with the purpose of competence and practical skills development in the field of design and blasting performance for «Mining» faculty students.
Fig.2. Electronic blasting system of initiation i-kon™ II and surface remote blasting system i-kon™ II SURBS
Fig.3. Electronic blasting system of initiation Unitronic™ 600
ê Mikhail N. Overchenko, Mikhail A. Marinin, Sergei P. Mozer
Quality Improvement of Mining Specialists...
According to the terms of participation, projects that were individually prepared by the students who have passed a course of discipline «Technology and safety of blasting operations» under the guidance of professors and scientific supervisors of the Blasting operations Department, may be submitted for the competition. A project must include a set of technical solutions for mass blast performance in the specific conditions according to the assignment provided by specialists of the company and implemented with the help of special program software SHOTPlus™ A task for the competition is prepared for the specific conditions of real open-pit site. A project of mass blast should be provided in the form of an explanatory note with the calculations in accordance with the requirements of Federal norms and rules in the field of industrial safety «Safety rules for blasting operations» (Order N 605 of the Rostekhnadzor of December 16, 2013) and reflects technical solutions regarding safe organization of works.
A program software SHOTPlus™ allows engineers to design, analyze and optimize blasting operations for open-pit mining in ore and coal deposits, to generate designs and reports, to simulate a blast effect and to verify projects for optimal results. A software package provides wide possibilities for blast design, supports all types of initiation systems and electronic blasting systems of Orica.
The competition committee carries out an examination of projects. A project recognized to be the best one will be implemented as a real mass blast for the designed conditions and the authors of this project will be present at a blast site to monitor the works performance and results.
Fig.4 shows a principal scheme of competence acquiring and development regarding blasting operations [5].
A competition led in June 2017 showed high level of interest among students in acquisition of experience of working with Orica products.
Orica Graduate program. In 2015 Orica introduced an international program called 'Orica Graduate' in CIS. Saint-Petersburg mining university is a platform for this program in Russia. Main idea of this project is attraction and anchoring of the best specialists of higher educational institutions of the world encouraging development of quality and diversity of technical, functional and leader resources of the company.
There are two stages of the competition - remote stage (a set of papers is received from the students via email) and face-to-face stage - a two-day selection of candidates in a format of simulation exercise including team work in decision making for real-life industry cases and also an interview with the specialists of the company; the working language of the selection procedure is the English.
The winners of the competition are invited to Orica for an internship; during participation in Orica Graduate program each student has an opportunity to acquire practical skills in the area of specialization. First rotation, as a rule, is done in Orica's division in Kirovsk (Murmansk region). Next stage includes training on production sites of the company situated in other regions of the country.
General data about rock massive. Processing of initial data
Source data for blasting operations r
Use of actual data for design of blasting
Blast project design N operations
\ Fragmentation assessment after blast
Processing of photo- and video fixation materials after blast
J Blast circuit assembly
Assembly of a part of blasting circuit in compliance with a project
Fig.4. A scheme of acquiring and development of competence in blasting operations field
é Mikhail N. Overchenko, Mikhail A Marinin, Serqei P. Mozer
Quality Improvement of Mining Specialists...
In 2017 for participation in the program on the laboratory basis 4 graduates of the following specializations were selected - a mining engineer, a mechanical engineer (electromechanic), an environmental engineer. Within the next two years, they will undergo a practical training at Orica's enterprises.
For the purpose of evaluation of scientific educational laboratory of blasting technologies and blasting operations modeling, in cooperation with the specialists of the company, a set of target performance indicators was developed including the following: the number of students completed training at the laboratory; the number of final projects of students of «Mining» specialization carried out using laboratory resources; the number of audience members of center for extended professional education accomplished upgrade qualifications courses in mining engineering area using laboratory resources; educational materials and training manuals prepared for laboratory work; the number of conferences, seminars and other significant events for the leading of which the resources of laboratory were used; the number of meetings of the Committee for strategic cooperation; attraction of the company's specialists to the work of organizational committees of mining profile conferences; lecture series of company experts on the basis of the laboratory.
Conclusions
The aim of a joint project consists in the improvement of training of mining engineers in the field of blasting operations in open-pit and underground mining, tunneling and construction of special structures, development of scientific and research activities, leading professional retraining and professional upgrade courses for specialists from mining companies on the basis of laboratory.
Thus, the main aims of the joint project include:
• preparation of the personnel pool from among the students of the University;
• conducting competitive selections of graduates of mining specialties for the subsequent employment in the company;
• organization of industrial engineering internship for students of the University in the company;
• conducting of joint research and development activities;
• conducting scientific and practical activities in the laboratory;
• professional training and retraining of the employees of the mineral and raw material sector companies at the laboratory;
• carrying out upgrade qualification courses and certification of experts in the area of industrial safety on the laboratory basis.
The use of modern special equipment and software of Orica allows to increase the effectiveness of training process of students, master's students and postgraduate students of «Mining» specialization and audience members of retraining programs or upgrade qualification programs on the basis of center for extended professional education; improve and keep current the preparation and edition of educational, methodological materials and laboratory practical manuals; expand the scope of international cooperation and experience exchange; use the opportunity of joint technological projects and scientific research.
Opening of a joint laboratory of blasting technologies and blasting operations modeling has become an example of constructive and mutually beneficial partnership which may be used as a tool of mining engineers competence forming in the area of blasting operations aiming to strengthen the status of a mining engineer.
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ê Mikhail N. Overchenko, Mikhail A. Marinin, Sergei P. Mozer
Quality Improvement of Mining Specialists...
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Authors: Mikhail N. Overchenko, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, General Director, info-russia@orica.com (CJSC «Orica CIS», Moscow, Russia), Mikhail A. Marinin, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, Head of Scientific Educational Laboratory of Blasting Technologies and Modeling, Marinin_MA@pers.spmi.ru (Saint-Petersburg Mining University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia), Sergei P. Mozer, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, Business Coach, sergey.mozer@orica.com (CJSC «Orica CIS», Moscow, Russia).
The paper was accepted for publication on 12 September, 2017.
