Institut Teknologi Bandung

The team was composed of Affan Aji Wiwatama (12020029), Rismawan Nurhuda (12020046), and Yusuf Fadhilah Firman (12020035). They participated in the "Mineral Discovery, Unearthing Sustainable Future'' segment of the competition, where students from 12 different universities across Indonesia compete with each other in a series of stages. Engaged by many students majoring in mining, geology, and engineering, this olympiad focused on mining plans, mining processes, and post-mining activities.

"So basically, OlympiAR is a competition about geological modeling and resource estimation. In it, we are given a task or challenge to make an essay on geology—specifically mining—and develop a model applicable to the given case. Then, we make another model to do resource estimation in mining," explained Affan.

The competition was held from December 2022 to March 2023 and consisted of three stages: 1st Round, 2nd Round—Elimination, and Grand Final. In the first round held on January 25–27, 2023, the team was required to answer questions and formulate essays based on the questions issued by the committee. After competing with 70 other teams in this phase, the team, which was named Sylvite ITB, successfully advanced to the next round of the competition.

In the 2nd Round—Elimination, the team was tasked with creating three-dimensional models of geological structures and rock properties found within earth using geological data, such as alteration and lithology.

"In the 2nd Round, we [do] geological modeling. So, out of 70 teams in the first round, only 20 made it to the second round to perform geological modeling. Then, the best 5 teams of the second round were chosen to proceed to the grand final," elaborated Rismawan in an interview on Thursday (4/6/2023).

In the grand final, the remaining teams were confronted with the challenge of conducting an offline resource estimation on April 1, 2023, in Yogyakarta.

When asked about the challenges faced during the competition, Affan replied that they had to be able to divide their time effectively between the competition and college because the competition was close to the exam period. Performing geological modeling was also another challenge, as most of the materials had not been taught in lectures.

"Particularly in the software, as [the software] is specialized for enterprise use and has never been taught in lectures before," said Affan.

Nevertheless, with great effort and dedication, they were able to overcome all the challenges they encountered.

"First of all, we gathered information from our seniors who are already experienced in the professional field. Then, well, we learned on our own from journals, papers, and tutorials on YouTube. The main point is to keep asking questions and learning by ourselves," revealed Rismawan.

According to them, the competition was special because they learned so many things. They were able to improve their skills in geology and gain knowledge from the experts present at the grand final, especially related to geological modeling and resource estimation.

The three hoped that other students, particularly those in ITB Geological Engineering, could be inspired to partake in the competition. "We surely hope that ITB's participation will not only be in geology competitions. Because in addition to getting a prize if you win, you can also improve your skills and increase your virtue at the professional level," expressed Rismawan.

Reporter: Arif Hermawan (Civil Engineering '21)
Translator: Ariq Ramadhan Teruna (Chemical Engineering '21)