The Institute of Mining Engineering at the RWTH Aachen University in Germany has been holding symposia on topics concerning mineral raw materials supply and mining for more than 20 years under the title Aachen International Mining Symposia. Industrialized countries economies heavily rely on the continuous supply of mineral raw materials. The mining sector world-wide has to improve the mining processes, the technology and the efficiency to cope with the increasing demand of the industrialized countries as well as the emerging markets. This goes hand in hand with addressing the global challenge of sustainable development in mining. Consequently the Symposium on Mineral Resources and Mine Development focuses on two interacting thematic areas – sustainable development and supply of mineral resources as well as mining processes and technology. Thus, the first thematic area of the Symposium – MINERAL RESOURCES – focuses on sustainable development and supply of mineral resources and related topics. Additionally, the second thematic area of AIMS 2015 – MINE DEVELOPMENT – focuses on the physical development of mining projects.
