Researchers from the University of Oviedo will collaborate with the enterprise SATEC in the design of a computer tool that may calculate, represent and assess the mineral wealth of Angola. César Castañón, Professor of the Department of Mining Exploitation and Prospecting and member of the research group of Geology Applied to Engineering, is part of a multidisciplinary team that in the following months will develop the application for the Geological Institute of Angola (IGEO). Despite its wealth in valuable resources such as oil or diamonds, the majority of the vast territory of Angola, which almost triples that of Spain, is completely unknown in geological and mining terms.

The University of Oviedo Foundation (FUO) and the enterprise SATEC have signed a contract to collaborate in the development of an open source tool for the Angolian government that allows them to determine the natural resources that they have available and how they can be exploited. The deadline to complete this project is in one year.

"The software we will develop will not only calculate how many minerals there are and where they are, but it will also represent in 3D the amounts of each element and evaluate the possibilities of exploiting them", explains Professor Castañón. It is a strategical information for the government of Angola, since it may open new possibilities for the economic development of the country.

A multidisciplinary team will work on the development of a program that may estimate geological and mineral resources, which are completely unknown in most of the country.

Mining engineers, computer science engineers and mathematicians compose the team in charge of designing the computer application that will process and asses all the information gathered during the National Plan of Geology (PLANAGEO). The government of Angola has set in motion an investment of almost 300 million Euros so that several international enterprises, including some Spanish ones, gather geophysic, geochemical and cartographic information of all the territory of the country. The development timeframe of PLANAGEO is five years.

The educational aspect

The collaboration between the University of Oviedo and the enterprise SATEC will also include the formative aspect in the following months. Teachers from the Higher Technical School of Mining Engineering of Oviedo will be in charge of developing formative course that will take place at the African country and the premises of the University of Oviedo.

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3D representation of the surveys conducted in a mining vein.