On July 1^st, organized by the USTB Journal Publishing Center and the Editorial Office of  International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials (IJMMM) journal, the 2023 Frontiers Forum for Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials was held successfully in Beijing. More than 200 participants attended the Forum, including Prof. SUN Chunayao, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE); Prof. MAO Xinping, an Academician of CAE and lifetime professor of USTB; Prof. WANG Luning, Vice President of USTB; Prof. WU Aixiang, Chief Editor of IJMMM, as well as experts and scholars from all over the country. Prof. LI Jie, Director of the USTB Journal Publishing Center, presided over the opening ceremony.

The Forum

Prof. WANG Luning delivered a speech

Prof. WANG Luning delivered a welcome speech on behalf of USTB, welcoming the academicians, leaders, and experts who participated in the forum and introduced the overall development of USTB over the past 70 years as well as major achievements in supporting academic exchanges and the construction of scientific journals. He pointed out that in the future, USTB will continue to implement the spirit of President XI Jinping’s important reply letters, attach great importance to and support the construction of the Forum, serve the country’s major science and technology strategies, and strive to build the Forum into an international brand for academic conferences in the fields of minerals, metallurgy, and materials.

Prof. WU Aixiang made a report

On behalf of IJMMM, Prof. WU Aixiang made a report on the development of the Journal and introduced the Journal from four aspects: historical evolution, development ideas, results of construction, and prospects. The  International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy, and Materials  (IJMMM) journal, started in 1994, is an international journal devoted to publishing original research articles on all aspects of minerals processing, physical metallurgy, process metallurgy, and materials science and processing. IJMMM was honored seven times as “China’s Most Internationally Influential Academic Journal” and twice listed in the “Top 100 Journals” by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, And Television of China. Currently, IJMMM sits in the Q1 category of Metallurgy and Minerals with an impact factor of 4.8.

Award ceremony of "USTB Young Scholar Award"

To recognize outstanding young scientists who devote themselves to the cause of science and academic research, and have long been engaged in research of minerals, metallurgy, and materials science, USTB has set up the “Young Scholar Award.” The Award is dedicated to young scientists under the age of 45 who have made major scientific breakthroughs in minerals, metallurgy, and materials science. At the opening ceremony, the award ceremony of the 2023 “USTB Young Scholar Award” was held; there were ten young scientists who received the award, including Prof. BAO Shenxu from the Wuhan University of Technology; Prof. CHEN Wei from the University of Science and Technology of China; Prof. DONG Yanwu from Northeastern University; Prof. HU Qiaodan from Shanghai Jiaotong University, etc.

The keynote report session of the Forum was presided over by Prof. WU Aixiang. During the session, Academician Prof. SUN Chuanyao and Academician Prof. Maoxinping respectively made keynote reports on “Gene Mineral Processing Engineering” and “Thoughts on Carbon Neutralization of Iron and Steel Industry.”

Prof. SUN Chuanyao made a report

Prof. MAO Xinping made a report

The reports of the two Academicians respectively pointed out the development direction for the future development of intelligent and refined mineral processing technology in China and the green and sustainable development technology of the iron and steel industry under the background of “dual-carbon” strategy and the reports also triggered positive responses and active discussions among the participants.

Dr. LIN Jingjing made a report

Subsequently, Dr. LIN Jingjing, Associate Publishing Editor from Springer Nature Group, made an invitation report on “Springer Nature’s Contribution to the Development of Journals” to the experts and scholars.

In the afternoon, the Forum was divided into three sub-sessions of minerals, metallurgy, and materials. A total of 25 experts were invited to make special reports, with topics including “Green and Intelligent Mining,” “Mineral Processing and Materials,” “Nonferrous Metals Metallurgy and Metallurgical Physical Chemistry,” etc. Participating scholars benefited a lot from the experts’ exciting reports.

Group photo

The holding of this Forum has fully demonstrated the scientific research strength, academic achievements, and high-level talents of USTB’s three “double First-class” disciplines of mining engineering, metallurgical engineering, and materials science and engineering to experts and scholars at home and abroad. At the same time, the Forum is oriented to the frontiers of discipline development. It has built a high-level academic exchange platform in the fields of minerals, metallurgy, and materials at home and abroad for the majority of scientific researchers. In the future, USTB will continue to attach importance to and support the construction of world-class journals and strive to build the Forum into a first-class academic exchange platform and branded academic forum at home and aboard.

Draft & Revision: CHENG Mingyuan