Students from Yakutsk presented projects for the development of industrial companies

The Engineering Championship was held at the Northeastern Federal University.

The experts of the engineering CASE-IN championship at the site of the Northeastern Federal University were once again representatives of the mining company Polymetal. The tradition was established back in 2018. Since then, the company's most experienced specialists have been working at the qualifying stage in the exploration and mining sections.

So, this year Maxim Malykh, Deputy Director of the Yakutsk branch of Polymetal for mineral resources, headed the Exploration section. According to the expert, today young people are attracted to geology, among other things, by its technological "stuffing". The Engineering Championship confirms this: in 2025, it is dedicated to technological innovation. Today, geologists who have been working under the motto "Mind and hammer" for more than a century are equipped with technical methods for digitalization and modeling. These include, for example, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in remote geophysical and engineering geodetic research in difficult conditions. This makes it possible to optimize and secure the physical labor of subsurface explorers. Electrotomography, georadar imaging, integrated aeroelectric exploration, 3D seismic exploration, and optical television are actively developing. "To skillfully apply all these methods, you need serious training, perseverance, and the ability to quickly analyze and work with a large amount of information," Maxim Malykh notes.

Thanks to the collaboration of numerous curators and industry professionals, the event has become an effective system for selecting and searching for qualified personnel. "We maintain and develop relations with NEFU, we carefully look at talented students. Our company has such an experience, and we intend to continue this practice. In general, given the different levels of students' training, and both the 1st year and the 5th year graduates performed, they all presented their work quite well," says an experienced geologist. — One of the obvious advantages that the participants have is, of course, the opportunity to receive feedback from people directly involved in production. In a short but intense time defending their case, future geologists receive practical comments on their proposed solutions. Therefore, the CASE-IN platform is a great opportunity not only to improve, reduce the distance between theory and practice, but also to get into the spirit of the future profession, expand the understanding of its current tasks, in order to plan your further development accordingly. With this approach, students can count on prestigious employment and self-realization in the profession."

Stanislav Shestakov, Deputy Technical Director of the Yakutsk branch of Polymetal, worked as an expert in the Mining section. He said that together with colleagues from the industry, he evaluated the solutions of seven teams for the analysis and improvement of drilling and blasting operations. "I liked that young people are boldly trying to combine advanced technologies, while relying on accumulated international experience.

For example, there was a project to cover the prepared block with a special cloth to reduce the spread of the pieces. The purpose of this idea is, first of all, safety, reducing the boundaries of the red zone, and optimizing the time required to move equipment to a safe distance. There were also fantastic ideas. For example, ventilation after an explosion using a helicopter. Of course, it is important to approach all ideas concisely, comprehensively, and competently analyzing all the components, in this case, you need to conduct an economic assessment," a representative of the largest Russian company shared his impressions of the semi—final.

Ekaterina Ryzhkovich, coordinator of the CASE-IN qualifying stage at NEFU, is convinced that when solving such problems it is impossible to do without high-quality feedback from production experts. "The main objective of the championship is to unite employers, universities and students on one platform and help the state popularize the profession," says a senior lecturer at the Department of Applied Geology at the NEFU Geological Exploration Faculty.

35 teams from the parent university and branches participated in the qualifying stage of the thirteenth season of the CASE-IN engineering championship at the Northeastern Federal University, which presented solutions in the areas of "Geological Exploration", "Mining", "Oil and Gas business" and "Electric Power Industry".

The winners of the qualifying stages will advance to the semifinals, and the final will be held in May 2025 in Moscow.

A source