The Indonesian Geology Olympiad organized by Engineering Geology Faculty of Universitas Padjajaran from October 18-20 in Bandung has ended. In this competition, a team of UGM students brought home the trophy from the Gold Exploration Competition. The UGM contingent represented by Salma Difa Masti, Wino Fadriand, and Mradipta Lintang from Engineering Geology 2015 successfully surpassed hundreds of teams from other universities.
Gold Exploration Competition is a case competition about exploration of gold as mineral resources. The participants are required to present mineral exploration data from a company to be processed and analyzed to identify potential gold deposits and provide drill point recommendations for the next exploration stage.
Salma Difa stated the teams were given 420 minutes to analyze the data and present the results in oral presentations. “We are required to conduct a careful and thorough analysis in a very limited time, as well as to use all available data to assess the potential gold deposits in the field,” Salma told reporters on Tuesday (10/30) at the campus.
Although difficult, she added, each team is required to think more practically like an explorationist. Luckily, said Salma, while studying at UGM, they are used to facing ideal and theoretical thoughts as written in reference books. “In reality, the data found in the field is not as ideal as what we normally found in books,” she explained.
She was grateful and proud for winning the competition. She opined that this achievement was realized by a successful preparation, good teamwork, and the team members’ ability to conduct a comprehensive analysis. “Thankfully, we can fully utilize all the data provided and build convincing arguments,” she concluded.