By KYIV. Nov 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine announced the selection of the winners of the first hackathon on mineral and metallurgical processes for the country’s sustainable development.
"From November 25 to November 28, the first Change4Future Hackathon was held in Ukraine with a focus on mineral and metallurgical processes for sustainable development. In the first three days, teams prepared for pitching, worked with mentors on challenges and received valuable advice on improving projects," the ministry’s press service said.
It is noted that the ideas of the finalists are unique projects in the field of geology, taking into account the state of the country’s economy, certain priorities of the course towards European integration, as well as modern realities and opportunities of the industry, geological enterprises and the direction of technological progress.
"The next step is the scaling of these projects and their practical implementation, for this the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine is working to introduce new and support existing tools that allow for the interaction of science and business in Ukraine," the report says.
The ministry said that 15 finalists presented their own projects, and according to the results of the pitching, five challenges became winners.
In particular: Critical HydroMinerals Calculator (CHydroMC) – the idea is to develop software for calculating and evaluating projects for extraction of minerals from oilfield waters; Fenite haloes of alkaline rocks and carbonatites – a project dedicated to the comprehensive study of fenite aureole rocks surrounding alkaline and carbonatite complexes – potential sources of phosphorus and rare metal raw materials; ThermoSalt – a combination of salt extraction from brines and geothermal energy production with carbon capture and storage technology, which will help create green projects with zero emissions, high added value, significant social impact and environmental risk mitigation; The MACSIO Expert System is a system based on unique data on the technological properties of multicomponent oxide systems. It can evaluate new raw materials or waste, which makes it possible to use them in the technological process in metallurgy; Geoscaninform is a national patent-protected geophysical method for prospecting and exploration of minerals, and its accuracy has been proven in both onshore and offshore exploration.
The ministry reported that grants from the Geological Investment Group in the amount of $1,000 were received by Critical HydroMinerals Calculator and Evaluation and ranking of zircon-ilmenite placers.
