Science and technics

Lebanese students went to St. Petersburg to get acquainted with Russian culture with no need for a break from studies. Summer school of St. Petersburg Mining University is the host party for the students here. According to the University, it is also the very first time they organize a summer school.

A conference named «German-Russian discussion of raw commodities at the river Saar» took place in Germany on the premises of the former steel plant VölklingerHutte. Its main message was to outline the fact that local businesses oppose sanctions against our country and aim instead for restoring economic relations between our countries. Forpost had a discussion with one of the forum’s participants Vladimir Bazhin (dean of the minerals processing department at Saint-Petersburg Mining University) regarding scientific projects that could be carried out together with German scientists and their interest in partnering up with Russia.

Andradite is a mineral, which to a great extent resembles in appearance pomegranate seeds. This mineral can widely vary in colours. Its colour range can be anywhere between maroon and intense emerald-green. The colour palette of andradite is enormously rich.

Almost 60,000 Russian students are currently studying abroad, most notably in EU countries. One notable example is Germany, as 5% of its total 355,000 foreign students are our fellow citizens. China and India are the only countries to provide more students to Germany than our country. The reasons for such a popularity of studying abroad are more than obvious – a degree received from European university is a potential new start in life, not to mention that there is a common belief that education quality in the foreign countries is substantially higher than in our universities.

First fourteen students arrived at Saint-Petersburg from AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Poland. Its representatives plan to enhance their skills and broaden the knowledge of contemporary drilling technologies as well as oil & gas transportation and storage.

Quartz is one of the most common minerals on Earth. It can be almost any color due to impurities in its composition. Minerals like amethyst with its marvelous purple tint, spellbinding yellow-golden toned citrine, smoky quartz, rose quartz, colorless and transparent rock crystal, black morion and aventurine (shiny crimson-reddish quartz) are all considered quartz.

Fluorite’s color range includes all the rainbow colors. Its tone varies based on different impurities of rare earth metals. Jewelers have long history faking gems like emerald, topaz and ruby with fluorite. The fraud could only be distinguished by the mineral’s softness and color impermanence. However, fluorite also has some unique qualities. It can glow in the dark under the influence of ultra-violet and high temperatures.

Tourmaline is considered a “rainbow stone”. It has unimaginable variety of colors and tones. An ancient egyptian legend explains it by stating that tourmaline had passed through a rainbow on its long journey out of the Earth’s center. Single-color crystals making up tourmaline are extremely rare.

Topaz is a semi-precious stone, essentially a mineral of the silicate group. The name takes us back to ancient name of the Zabargad island (off the coast of Egypt) - Topazios. Initially only golden-brownish stones were considered topazes. However, natural color of these minerals varies a lot. The Mining Museum collection showcases topazes from different deposits in Russia. Among them you will find cyan-colored topazes with morion and albite from classic pegmatite mines of Ural’s Murzynka as well as mesmerizing blue and smoky topazes from Volyn.

Nine scientists from South Africa participated in International European Symposium EUROCK 2018. All in all, over 400 scientists and practitioners from 50 nations such as Australia, Germany, Canada, China, Norway, USA and other took part in this year forum held at Saint-Petersburg Mining University. The participants shared thoughts and experiences on development and incorporation of advanced technologies in designing and safely exploiting the mining facilities.