The KOMTECH-IMTech 2021 Mining Technologies Future

Dear Colleagues,

The transformation of the European economy toward a greener and more climate-friendly one is one of the most important tasks defined by the European Union. However, this is a particular challenge for mining regions, both in terms of the technological and social as well as economic aspects. The transformation process also includes the liquidation of underground workings and infrastructure surface development and a number of indispensable activities aimed at the restitution of the natural environment and protection of mine areas against hazards that may occur after the end of operation. Therefore, this infrastructure should be used for achieving the objectives of a Just Transition because it also generates an opportunity to invest in renewable energy sources and create new markets related to green energy, energy storage, and sustainable transport. Finally, the Just Transition also forms an opportunity to revitalize urban and natural areas and to repair the damage caused as a result of intensive exploitation of mineral deposits.

Despite the decline in hard coal and lignite production related to the energy transformation across Europe, the mining industry still needs modern machinery and equipment. Due to the descent to ever bigger depths of extraction and the associated increase in natural hazards, the mining sector needs intelligent and even more automated technical solutions. In the coming years, hard coal mines may become important participants of the so-called Revolution 4.0, popularizing, inter alia, intelligent ICT systems and automating subsequent elements of production processes. The intelligent mine is to be characterized by state-of-the-art solutions that translate into higher efficiency and an increase in miners’ work safety, enabling them to be separated from particularly dangerous workplaces.

The aforementioned issues will be the main subject matter of the 22nd International Scientific and Technical Conference KOMTECH-IMTech which will be held in Szczyrk in October 2021. The aim of the conference is to present the latest scientific, research, and technical achievements in the field of transformation of the mining sector, with particular emphasis on the issues of the Just Transformation, the Green Deal, as well as the exchange of knowledge and experience as regards the use of innovative techniques and technologies, and a presentation of the latest offers of manufacturers of machinery and equipment. Every year, the conference contributes to an integration of the scientific community with representatives of the industry, becoming an excellent forum of discussions and traditionally gathering a large group of participants.

Dr. Dariusz Prostański
Dr. Bartosz Polnik
Dr. Dariusz Michalak
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.