After nearly five decades, AusIMM’s Underground Operators Conference continues to be a must-attend event for mining professionals.
Chris Carr has been to 10 Underground Operators Conferences (UgOps) and helped shape half a dozen of them.
As AusIMM president and technical director at IGO, Carr told Australian Mining the event is not only one of the most significant gatherings in the mining industry, it’s also deeply personal.
“If you only go to one event in this industry, make it Underground Operators,” Carr said.
“UgOps is more than just a calendar item. It is a decades-long tradition rooted in technical excellence, practical insight and peer-driven collaboration.”
Having chaired the 2014 event and played a central role in the 2021 conference during COVID disruptions, Carr has seen the evolution of UgOps firsthand, from paper-based local meetups to multi-day events drawing nearly 2000 people and more than 130 exhibitors.
This year’s event, hosted in Adelaide, marked the largest in AusIMM’s 132-year history, but Carr said it is not the size that matters, it is the content.
“Underground Operators is built by industry, for industry,” he said. “It is not about bums on seats. It is about practical knowledge, site-based insights and creating a legacy of learning.”
That legacy is backed by a strong peer-review ethos. Every paper submitted to UgOps must include at least one site-based author, a safeguard against promotional or theoretical content.
“We are not interested in ideas that might work,” Car said. “We want to know what really happened, what worked, what didn’t and what we learned.”
It is an openness that makes UgOps such a powerful knowledge-sharing platform. From discussions on safer explosive charging to AI-driven area denial systems and real-time underground communications, Carr said the trends shaping future mines are often born at UgOps and adopted across the sector within a few years.
“You will see a new technique at one conference, and two years later it has become best practice,” he said. “That kind of adoption speed shows how trusted this forum is.”
The conference is also helping operators evaluate new technologies through a business lens. With the rise of AI, machine learning and electrified mining fleets, the value proposition is shifting.
“A lot of these systems cost more upfront,” Carr said. “But what you learn at UgOps helps you make the business case that spending more now can save a lot later.”
The exhibition side of the event, now as big as the technical program, plays a key role in this.
“It used to be just a few stands around the edges,” Carr said. “Now it is an entire showcase in itself. You get to see the latest mining gear and talk directly to the people developing it.”
As the event looks ahead to its 50th anniversary in 2027, Carr believes its grassroots spirit is the secret to its longevity.
“This is a show run by industry for industry,” Carr said. “There is a strong passion to giving back. You do not just attend, you contribute. And that contribution keeps multiplying across the industry.”
For new operators and experienced hands alike, UgOps continues to set the standard for underground mining knowledge and innovation.
This feature appeared in the September edition of Australian Mining.
