������Ƶ

The ITB team consists of two Mining Engineering students, Santa Rina Br Sembiring Milala and Muhammad Mariota Bayangkara. They presented a poster titled “Strategies for Utilizing Rare Earth Elements (REE) and Technospheric Mining to Support Sustainable Energy Transition Technologies.”

Their poster highlights strategies to optimize the use of Rare Earth Elements (REE) as essential materials in developing efficient green energy technologies. The innovation they proposed involves integrating REE extraction with technospheric mining, a method that utilizes existing mine waste such as tailings or landfills.

“We chose this topic because there are growing concerns regarding the environmental impact of mining activities,” said Santa Rina. “We wanted to show that mining can also play an important role in supporting the green energy transition while minimizing environmental impacts,” she added.

The topic was selected to address the common stigma that the mining sector will fall behind amidst the rising momentum of green energy initiatives. Through this research, the team aims to demonstrate that mining retains significant potential to remain relevant and contribute to the era of sustainable energy.

“Through this theme, we want to show that mining remains a fundamental sector that supports the development of new industries, including those that may potentially substitute the mining industry itself,” Mario explained.

The technospheric mining approach they proposed also offers an environmental solution by reducing the need for new land clearing through the utilization of existing waste dumps as mining sources.

^{Scientific poster by Muhammad Mariota Bayangkara and Santa Rina Br Sembiring Milala (16/10/2025) (Team Documentation)}
Competing against teams from various prominent universities, including UI and UGM, they believe their poster's strength lies in its technical depth and novelty. “We presented a concept that has not yet been implemented in Indonesia, although it has been successfully applied abroad. This mining method is still relatively unfamiliar to the general public,” Mario noted.

The team also expressed their gratitude to their supervisor, Dr.mont. Ir. Andy Yahya Al Hakim, S.T., M.T. “He provided extensive input on both the content and the presentation of our poster. He continuously encouraged us, offered mental support, and always made time to review our progress,” Mario said.

Closing their statement, Mario encouraged other students to take on similar opportunities. “We hope more students will be motivated to join competitions. The hardest phase is simply starting, so try, and face the challenge,” he concluded.