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SIH26009SoftwareSpace Technology

Using AI/ML and Space Technology to Identify Manganese Reserves and Overcome Production Shortfalls.

Ministry of Steel

Ideas submitted
112 / 500
Deadline
30 September 2026
Category
Software
Theme
Space Technology

Looks like it needs

AI / ML

Background: MOIL Limited is the largest producer of Manganese Ore in India. To meet future demand, it is important to accurately identify available reserves and avoid production shortfalls. At present, reserve estimation and production planning are mainly based on manual surveys, drilling results, and production records. These methods are time-consuming and sometimes lead to a mismatch between expected and actual ore production. Detailed Description: The challenge is to develop an AI/ML-based solution that uses geological data,historical production, equipment performance, and satellite/space technology inputs (such as rainfall, soil moisture, vegetation index, and land temperature) to:

• Identify and map manganese reserves more accurately using surface and sub-surface indicators. • Predict shortfalls in production by analysing constraints like equipment downtime, weather conditions, or blasting delays. • Suggest corrective actions such as adjusting mine schedules, optimizing blasting, or re-deploying equipment to ensure continuous ore availability. Expected Solution: The expected solution is a user-friendly dashboard that shows predicted reserves, production trends, possible risks of shortfall, and recommended corrective steps.

This will help MOIL improve planning, reduce losses, and ensure steady ore supply to customers.

How contested this one is

as of 28 Sept
112ideas submitted+24 in 2 days

That puts it 99th of the 240 statements that have any ideas at all, out of 240 on the board. It is moving, so the field here is already forming.

See what the whole field is picking →

Counted from the official portal twice a day. The portal itself only shows today.

How a winner reads this one

Nobody has picked this one yet

This statement is filed under Space Technology and that misleads people. Read the description properly and it is two different problems bolted together, and most teams will blur them into one.

Problem one is estimating reserves, which comes from geology and drilling. Problem two is predicting production shortfalls, which comes from equipment downtime, weather and blasting delays. Look at the satellite inputs it lists: rainfall, soil moisture, vegetation index, land temperature. Those are surface and environmental signals. They are for the second problem, not the first.

Which means the trap is claiming you can find manganese underground from space. You cannot see subsurface ore in satellite imagery, and a juror from MOIL will know that in one sentence. Teams will still say it.

Separate the two out loud. Reserves from geological and drilling data with satellite input only as a surface indicator. Shortfalls from weather plus equipment history, which is where the real prediction is and where the real value is too, because a mine that knows a monsoon week will cost it output can reschedule around it. That is the part MOIL can actually use.

Zaid Sayyed · SIH 2025 national winner

What a jury will ask about this

  1. 01“Who actually faces this problem today?”

    What works: Naming one real person and what they do instead right now. Reading the statement back is not an answer, they already read it.

  2. 02“This already exists. Why yours?”

    What works: That existing tools are consumer products. Yours is built for the ministry, works offline, in the local language, on official data.

  3. 03“Then why has nobody solved it yet?”

    What works: The real blocker. No connectivity, no incentive, nobody owns the data. You only know this if you read the ministry's own reports.

All 18 questions, with the trap answers →

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