A decision has been made by the AIMS Board that the AIMS 2020 National Conference will be held in the Gold Coast, Queensland.

The AIMS board met to review sponsors’ feedback from the 2019 conference and it was decided that the next conference would be best held at the Gold Coast, with the dates and venue yet to be determined.

We hope that next year's conference in the Gold Coast can build on the success of Sydney and look forward to providing more information soon.

The Australian Institute of Mine Surveyors (AIMS) held its Annual National Conference on 14-16 August, 2019 at the Sheraton - Hyde Park in Sydney.

The AIMS Annual National Conference is the key event in the mine surveying calendar. The conference brings together various stakeholders across the industry by providing professional representation to government, industry and educational organisations on mine surveying issues throughout Australia.

This year the conference was opened and addressed by Stephen Galilee CEO of the NSW Minerals Council.

Participants in this event have been able to;

• Gain relevant education to move their businesses forward in the right direction,
• Address critical industry issues that affect mine surveying,
• Obtain vital information on leading technology and innovation in the mine surveying industry from top Australian and international suppliers, and
• Network with peers in an interactive business environment.

Every year the AIMS conference provides the right platform for qualified mine surveyors to maintain their competency through Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Participants had the opportunity to join in various surveying industry training sessions, workshops, technical paper presentations etc. by which a professional surveyor maintains and develops the ongoing quality and relevance of his/her professional practice.

The Executive committee has presented their report to the members at the AGM and the committee has been re-elected by the members.

AIMS works closely with BOSSI (Board of Surveying & Spatial Information) of New South Wales, the WA Mine Survey Board and the Surveyors Board of Queensland. An AIMS representative to each of these boards also reported on the current activities and ongoing policy developments at the AGM.

A number of technical papers were presented at the conference, including:

• GDA2020 Implementation - Implications of a next generation datum in Australia on mining operations
• Establishment of two statutory areas at Mt Arthur Coal
• Traversing spiral declines, error propagation and surveying strategies

Chris Moy, AIMS Director and convenor of the conference, said “AIMS have received overwhelming support from our members and industry sponsors and would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them for their ongoing support and commitment to AIMS.”

This year the main sponsors were:

CR Kennedy, Position Partners, Deswick, AAM, Sphere Drones, Maptek, Carlson, Datamine, Trimble/UPG, Applied Resolution Technologies, Aerometrex, GeoDirect, GeoSight and FYFE.

The AIMS website is located at www.minesurveyors.com.au