The International Union of Geological Sciences General Assembly Held in Korea for the First Time
Geological Resources Institute and the Geological Society of Korea Co-hosted with Busan City
The International Geological Congress (IGC), the world's most prestigious academic conference discussing strategic minerals, nuclear power/waste, planetary geology, and carbon neutrality, opened at BEXCO in Busan from the 25th to the 31st for a six-day schedule. It is jointly hosted by the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (Director Lee Pyeong-gu), the Geological Society of Korea (President Professor Kim Young-seok), and Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Hyung-joon).
IGC is held every four years rotating across continents and is known as the "Olympics of Geological Sciences." This year's event is held for the first time in eight years due to COVID-19, gathering over 7,000 geologists from 121 countries. It is the first time the congress is held in Korea and the first time in 28 years in the East Asia region.
IGC 2024 begins with pre-events on the 25th, followed by academic presentations, workshops, exhibitions (GeoExpo), geological field trips, and a geological film festival (GeoFilm Festival) starting from the 26th. On the 29th, a special symposium on deep-sea exploration of the East Sea Ulleung Basin, where oil exploration is planned, will also be held.
Research on space resource exploration, not just Earth, is also conducted. On the 28th at 2 PM, a special session titled "Lunar Resources: Exploration, Utilization, and Sustainability" will take place, followed by an evening event called "Night of the Space Planetary People."
The special session on "Active Tectonics/Earthquakes/Active Faults" will discuss recent global large earthquake research results and countermeasures.
During IGC 2024, on the 26th, the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources will sign a business agreement with Kazakhmys Balao, Kazakhstan's largest mineral resource exploration company, accelerating the possibility of overseas critical mineral resource development. On the same day, a business agreement will also be signed with Honeybee Robotics, a subsidiary of the U.S. space development company Blue Origin, to strengthen international cooperation for space resource exploration and development.
Director Lee Pyeong-gu of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources said, "Through IGC 2024, we will do our best to showcase Korea's excellent geological research achievements to the world and contribute to the sustainable development of the Earth."
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