27/11/18

Everybody knows that the most powerful thing is knowledge. Therefore, if you want to be successful in your professional area, you always have to study and improve your personal skills. IBRAM gave me this opportunity, so I`ve done many things, which were particularly new for me.

Together with my colleague, I visited the AngloGold Ashanti`s department of communications.  As the third largest gold mining company in the world, AngloGold Ashanti operates in 9 countries, cooperates with other mining companieseffectively, implements social projects, etc. The meeting was held in Nova Lima (Minas Gerais, Brazil). It`s important to say that the atmosphere was reallywarm and friendly there. I found out more about the company in general, its features andsomeactivities of the department of communications. Also, I found out how to avoid difficulties and solve all emerging problems of a company.

The meeting was useful in a cultural sense as well, because there was an excursion in a museum “Centro de Memória da Morro Velho”. This museum is about a gold mine Morro Velho, which is located near Nova Lima. It`s a cultural and historical place, preserving the memory ofthe technological evolution of the gold mining process by the British, which has changed the life of the city.

Moreover, AngloGold Ashanti has a gold minein Sabará(Minas Gerais, Brazil), which is called Cuiabá. I had a great chance to visit itwith other curious students.  After our tasty breakfast, two representatives of the company described all safety precautions, gave us a special uniform and a mask (in Brazil they call it “Mascara de fuga”), which all employees have. The mask helps you to keep enough oxygen in case of emergency. After all, we went down to the mine (the depth was about 840 meters) and we were able to get more information aboutthe process of mining and the transportation of gold. That was a little bit hot and hard to walk there because of the clothes, but we did it! Unfortunately, we couldn`t come back home with gold, but the company gave some small gifts to us. I`m sure they will remind us about this great experience!

Finally, we visited a big museum of mining and metallurgy “Museu das Minas e do Metal”, which is situated in Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais, Brazil). The guides showed us the main halls, exhibits and a large collection of minerals. The most interesting and enjoyable fact is that the museum is completely interactive. There are lot of audio-video installations and some games with necessary information, so you feel yourself as a part of a great historical process of mining or as a scientist!