XI International Scientific-Practical Conference “Subsurface Use in Ukraine. Investment Prospects”

09.10.2026

On 6-8 October 2026, XI International Scientific and Practical Conference ‘Subsoil Use in Ukraine: Prospects for Investment ’ took place in Lviv, organised by the State Commission of Ukraine on Mineral Resources supported by the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine.

The conference focused on key aspects of reforming Ukraine’s subsoil use sector, enhancing transparency and the investment attractiveness of the country’s mineral resource base, and developing the potential of critical and strategic minerals. Participants discussed approaches to mineral deposit evaluation under different classification systems, the sustainable management of mineral resources, and other topical issues. 

As part of the conference programme, representatives of Softmine LLC delivered two presentations.

Nataliia Bariatska presented “CRIRSCO and UNFC: Transparency in Subsoil Use”, covering the following topics:

    • the history and evolution of the CRIRSCO and UNFC classification systems;
    • the structure of classification systems and the principles of mineral resource and reserves categorization;
    • the developers and main users of the classification systems;
    • consideration of technical and economic factors and economic viability;
    • reporting requirements and developer qualifications;
    • common features and key differences between the systems, including their objectives and application areas;
    • prospects of using CRIRSCO and UNFC in Ukraine.

Nina Safronova’s presentation, ‘Standard Approaches to Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) and Their Application to the Verification of Historical Geological Data’, highlighted:

    • current approaches to quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) of geological and laboratory-analytical data;
    • the main types of control samples;
    • specific features of quality control during historical geological exploration;
    • comparison of traditional control procedures with international QA/QC programmes;
    • the potential for applying international QA/QC approaches to the verification of historical geological data.

 Participation in the conference was an opportunity to present the results of Softmine Ltd’s work and to take part in a professional discussion on subsoil use.