Between July 22^nd and 25^th, researcher Dr. Nelson Morales and the Ph.D. student in Mine Engineering at the University of Chile, Fabián Manríquez, were invited to take a course at the Mine Planning Laboratory (LPLM), belonging to the Department of Mines (DEMIN) - School of Mines, of the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP) in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The course titled "Mine Planning Based on Optimization and Simulation Model" was organized in conjunction with the Director of LPLM and Professor DEMIN-UFOP, Dr. Carlos Arroyo, who seeks "to provide new opportunities for DEMIN-UFOP students to share academic and professional experiences and acquire new knowledge".

Classes were organized into theoretical sessions in the morning and hands-on sessions in the afternoon. The topics addressed are planning under geological, price, and operational uncertainty, reliability of mining plans, direct block scheduling, and modeling in open pit and underground mining. For the practical sessions, the software’s developed at the University of Chile: UDESS, was used for the planning of activities in underground mining; DOPPLER, for traditional and direct scheduling of blocks in open pit mining; and DSIM, for the simulation of mine operations, fleet sizing, among others, for which licenses for academic purposes were delivered for a limited time.

Among those who assisted to the course were nine mine engineering students, two master's students, and one Doctoral student, all from DEMIN-UFOP. In addition, three professors attended, from UFOP, Federal University Da Bahia (UFBA), and Federal University of Goiás (UFG). The group was completed by four mine engineers representing companies such as Gerdau Mineração, CSN Mineração, and ArcelorMittal.

The attendees showed so much interest that the Federal University Da Bahia wishes to replicate the experience in the future, but at its University, thus expanding the scope of the research developed by Delphos Laboratory and the AMTC.

Dr. Nelson Morales doing his class at UFOP.	The course counted with the active participation of the attendees.
Attendees of the course taught by Nelson Morales and Fabián Manríquez..	Fabián Manríquez receiving a present from the organizers.