PRESS RELEASE: The Zacatecas region in Mexico needs a steady supply of engineers and other mining specialists. The first students of a newly designed mining engineer education programme are now in the pipeline at the local campus of Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), one of the most important public universities in the country.

These students can now enjoy brand-new laboratory equipment. As part of its annual donations, the FLSmidth Donation Fund recently sponsored an FLS ESSA flotation cell, including manuals and 20 hours of training by a flotations specialist to the university. The mining engineer programme was designed in 2014 in cooperation between IPN and the Zacatecas Mining Cluster of which FLSmidth is a co-founder.

Vagn Sørensen, chairman of the FLSmidth Donation Fund, said: “With this donation, we help ensure that the next generation of miners are familiar with state-of-the-art techniques and equipment. 

“This region has a large concentration of mining companies and is one of the most important mining zones in Mexico, and as a company we play an active role in providing jobs and keeping future mining sustainable and productive. 

“Being able to help the local university is a win-win situation, where we give something back to the community, and in the long run that will strengthen the mining industry.”

The fund annually donates up to a total of DK 400,000 (US$64,000) to worthy cause projects. This year the fund supports:

• Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Zacatecas Campus, Mexico;
• Young Scientists, an engineering talent competition for children and young people;
• Associazione Genitori "Construire Integrazione" Onlus, Bergamo, Italy;
• Mercy Ships - The International Hospital Ships. 
• SOS Children's Villages; and
• Two local Danish NGOs helping addicts and homeless people.