ABSTRACT
Iron and steel raw materials market evolves rapidly. Global mine production of iron ores and concentrates, metallurgical coal, pig iron and crude steel exceeded 1 billion tonnes at the turn of the 20thand 21stcenturies or in the first 20 years of new millennium. International trade in these fields, as well as trade of such products as coke, ferroalloys and scrap, is also huge. Demand growth rate for steel raw materials, finished and semi-finished steel, and cast iron products is currently the highest among other mineral raw materials. Almost 90% of iron ore supplies come from Australia and Brazil, and the dominant consumer - China - is responsible for almost use. A geographic evolution in the steel production and the consumption of derived products has taken place. China has grown from a secondary crude steel producer and secondary steel products user to a leader with over 50% global share of steel production and a leading exporter of finished products. The iron and steel market has concentrated in the East and South Asia due to high consumption of imported steel raw materials in Japan and South Korea, rapid demand growth in India, investment in energy-efficient scrap processing in Turkey and Iran, while simultaneous reductions in the production capacity of the steel industry in the European Union, former Soviet Union and the US. Market disruption due to Covid-19 pandemic appears to be short-lived, and China has strengthened its position. In the first half of 2021, the prices of steel products increased dramatically, which immediately resulted in the change in prices of apartments and other constructions based on this most widely used metal. © 2022 Polish Geological Institute. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The article aims to investigate the available tools of current information tech-nologies used in teaching under-graduate and postgraduate students at a foreign language department of a higher technical education institution of mineral re-sources line, to assess the experience of using those technologies by the author of the article, to analyze the results achieved and to consider the ways of ex-panding the list of methodologies that apply the existing information technolo-gies in teaching foreign languages in higher technical education institutions in mineral re-source area. The article considers the following techniques: using the institution Internet portal to provide access to learning support materials, learn-ing plans, assignments and tests, remote teacher consultations, organizing of and participation in outside webinars and video conferences, and incorporating training programs with speech recognition modules. Foreign language compe-tence for professional interaction implies general basic knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, developing profession-related terminological vocabulary, and skills of face-to-face oral and written professional communication in the foreign language. The author analyzes the results based on surveying and feedback from undergraduate and postgraduate students and on long-term personal work experience in higher education. As a mid-term objective, the authors have be-gun a quantitative analysis of the effect of IT learning based on experience of distant teaching during COVID pandemic.