Álvaro I. Riquelme

Editorial Board · Mining

Ph.D. in Mining Engineering · Predictive Modeling and Spatial Statistics

Álvaro Riquelme Sandoval is an academic and researcher at the Mining Group of the Faculty of Engineering and Sciences at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (Chile). He holds a degree in Mining Engineering from the University of Chile and a Ph.D. in Mining Engineering from Queen's University (Canada), with more than eight years of experience in predictive modeling applied to different business areas within the mining industry.
Between 2023 and 2024, he represented CSIRO Australia in the world’s largest collaborative research initiative in mineral exploration. Prior to joining UAI, he worked as a project engineer at Geolnnova Consultores and FrothTech Ingeniería y Desarrollo Ltda., developing advanced solutions for major companies in the mining sector.

• Ph.D. in Mining Engineering – Queen's University, Canada.
• Mining Engineer – University of Chile.

His work focuses on data analysis and spatial information statistics applied to Earth sciences, with an emphasis on solving complex problems in mining.
He has a strong background in spatial statistics, mathematics, computer science, and geosciences, which has enabled him to develop state-of-the-art solutions for the mining industry.

At the micro-scale, he has specialized in statistical particle analysis to study energy consumption in comminution processes. At the deposit scale, he works on improving methodologies for mineral resource and reserve estimation and on predicting plant performance based on spatially distributed information.

At the regional scale, his interest is focused on identifying areas with higher geological potential that could host future mineral deposits. As of 2025, he has six ISI publications and multiple presentations at international conferences since 2019, maintaining a strong focus on generating useful knowledge transferable to industrial practice.