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By Jodi Banta

In an effort to reverse the trend of declining enrollments to mining engineering programs that began in 2015, the University of Arizona has implemented a number of interventions over the past five years, including ramping up its pre-college mining education and outreach, and undertaking several enrollment research projects. This article is the second of two installments to discuss the results of our latest study. The first part can be found in the September 2025 issue of Mining Engineering magazine. To better understand mining’s competitive position, the School of Mining Engineering and Mineral Resources conducted a comprehensive study to determine: 1. How prospective college students, parents and educators perceive the industry, related careers and the mining engineering degree. 2. Factors affecting students’ choices of degrees and career plans. 3. The roles parents and educators play and how they influence students.

Nov 1, 2025

By Jodi Banta

Thanks to strong industry support and longstanding partnerships, the University of Arizona has provided extensive pre-college mining education and outreach for more than a decade. These efforts to promote mining-related degree programs and the wide variety of indemand career opportunities reach thousands of middle and high school students and hundreds of teachers every year. The School of Mining Engineering & Mineral Resources is constantly looking at ways to help students overcome barriers into degree programs. But competition among degree programs for talent is fierce, and outreach has not made a big enough difference in the number of students pursuing mining engineering degrees. With workforce shortages threatening to undermine the industry, more is needed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 500 new mining engineering jobs each year, and according to a study by Deloitte (2023) nearly 50 percent of skilled engineers will reach retirement age in the next decade. At the same time, the 14 accredited mining or mineral engineering degree programs in the United States are producing fewer than 200 graduates annually (Society of Mining Professors and Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, 2021). To better understand mining’s competitive position, the School of Mining Engineering & Mineral Resources conducted a comprehensive study to determine (1) how prospective college students, parents and educators perceive the industry, related careers and the mining engineering degree, (2) factors affecting students’ choices of degrees and career plans and (3) the roles parents and educators play and how they influence students. This article is the first of two installments to discuss the results. This installment focuses on what students, parents and educators think about mining and where they get those impressions, as well as the role parents and educators play in influencing students’ choices of careers and degrees. The second installment, scheduled for publication in a later issue of Mining Engineering, looks at what students are seeking in their degrees and careers, and how mining compares with other degrees and industries.

Sep 1, 2025

By Doris Hiam-Galvez

The latest technologies that improve mining and mineral processing efficiency and significantly reduce the emissions and effluents will be briefly reviewed. In this sense, the paper point out that the water treatment using techniques such as nanofiltration through membranes to achieve purity levels equal to the incoming water supply is now possible and examples of how this is done will be presented. Membrane technology using nanofiltration can be effectively used for recovering valuable products in water from mining operations and also to remove contaminants. The resulting water is of prime quality equalling potable water standards. The technology can be adapted to most mining operations.

Sep 12, 2011

By Oliver Bowles, Carl A. Gnam

THE construction industry normally contributes extensively to the general economic welfare of all sections of the country. Billions of dollars are spent for materials and labor, and the success or failure of many business enterprises depends upon the volume of construction. The steel, aluminum, copper, cement, brick and tile, lime, gypsum, stone, sand and gravel, and several of the less prominent mineral industries are vitally concerned. Of great interest, therefore, is the accumulation of needed construction following the relative inactivity of the past five years, the recent moderate revival in building, and the prospect of a broader and more definite upturn. One may judge the magnitude of possible expenditure for construction by what has occurred in the past. The peak years were 1925 to 1928, inclusive, when the annual values of con- tracts awarded amounted to over six billion dollars. In marked contrast was the 1933 total of about 1% billion, the lowest level shown in the Federal Reserve Board Index, which goes back to 1919, and the more favorable 1935 figure of about 1.7 billion. An increase of nearly four billion over the 1935 volume would be necessary to equal the peak year 1928.

Jan 1, 1936

By Carl L. Morris

This short dissertation concerning "what the client expects from the engineer" is directed mainly at the design and construction of metallic ore concentration or beneficiation plants. However, practically the same conditions apply to the design and construction of cement and lime manufacturing facilities, with the exception that the latter facilities reflect the client's and engineer's concepts of customer service and in some cases reflect promotional considerations for the product manufactured and distributed. The client expects his engineering contractor to contribute in an efficient, cooperative, and economical manner current industry-wide know-how and experience to the specific project under consideration through the client's organization

Jan 1, 1969

By W. B. Plank

I HAVE been asked by the Chairman of the Engineering Education Committee to outline what the engineering colleges would like the mining companies to do with the young engineer just, out of college. It has been suggested that, because my own personal experience has been almost entirely within the coal industry, I handle this subject from that view- point. Many thoughtful engineering educators are today wondering what effect the present employment policies of many industrial companies are going to have on the young man just starting out in his profession. Since before the World War large industrial concerns, such as those in the electrical and mechanical industries, have gone to the colleges to interview 'likely graduates until today there has developed in most of our engineering colleges, especially in the eastern part of the country, what appears to be a lively competition on the part of these companies in bidding for the young graduate engineer. The employers of mining engineers, with one or two exceptions, have not yet begun to enter this competition. It remains to be seen how serious this situation will become, how it will affect the training of other engineers, and what effect, if any, it will have on the mind of the young man about to enter college who may be inclined to take up mining engineering, but who gains the impression from this well advertised employment service just mentioned that there is no opportunity for him in the mineral industry as com- pared with the opportunities offered in say civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering.

Jan 1, 1929

By Barry J. Hansen

Mining can make two major contributions to the cleanup of the environment. The first of these is the extractive technology that has become highly developed as a result of centuries of development. Of equal impor­tance are the methodology of analysis and the development of engineering solutions that are the stock in trade of the mining industry. Despite the differences between the industries, the processes for the development of a mine and the cleanup of a hazardous waste site are similar. The characteristics that impact the ability to develop a suitable process for treating an ore body or correct­ing an environmental problem are those relat­ed to the distribution of the contaminant or metal in the host material.

Jan 1, 1991

By Hans von Michaelis

It is appropriate that this opening session of HAZPAC '91 and Randol Gold Forum CAIRNS '91 should address the question of what the two industries can learn from each other. The panel is made up of members with experience in both industry. Several are experts on managing both hazardous waste and the mine/mineral processing environment. There is a marked difference in the regulatory needs with respect to treating and disposing of mining and mineral processing wastes, and "hazardous" or industrial waste materials. The topic of this paper is on the things that the two industries have in common: Many of the processes and technologies that are being used or are currently being developed for treatment of hazardous waste are the same or similar to the processes that have been used for decades or k,nger in the mineral processing industry. Hazardous waste treatment and remediation of contaminated solid and/or groundwater is a relatively new industry. Many of the practitioners in this new industry are relatively inexperienced in most of the "new" technologies that are being applied or developed.

Jan 1, 1991

By D Kent, D Eisner

A lot of talk has been generated about the so called ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) and its potential to transform the way we interact with our homes and devices. But the true potential and value of IoT is not going to be realised by the general consumer but by businesses.This paper outlines the application of IoT in mining and how it is a natural extension to the base networks becoming commonplace in both surface and underground mines. The potential for ubiquitous monitoring throughout a mining operation at low capital and support costs will transform the ability to monitor, analyse, report and manage all of the key processes involved in a mining operation.Importantly, the paper will discuss the practical applications that the IoT offers mining and explain how this really is transformative technology, not just the latest buzz words from the information technology (IT) world. If leveraged correctly the impact on mining, its cost base and efficiencies, is enormous.CITATION:Kent, D and Eisner, D, 2015. What the internet of things means to mining, in Proceedings Third International Future Mining Conference, pp 65–70 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 4, 2015

The purpose of this talk is to report the answers to the-'two following questions: I. What unique services does the mining industry expect of mining and mineral processing engineers? II. What suggestions does industry offer to educators to help revamp curricula to meet the needs of a changing industry? As the result of many questionnaires filled out in person by presidents, managers, superintendents, chief engineers, metallurgists, and other responsible individuals in operations and management of large and small metal and nonmetallic mining companies in the U. S., and to some extent abroad, we now have some, specific answers to the above questions. Although answers to questionnaires continue to arrive at this writing (February 10) the volume already received is sufficient to clearly justify certain conclusions and observations. A copy of the tally of the first 117 questionnaires received accompanies this report, and I am certain that a compilation of additional questionnaire data will merely reinforce, the trends in thinking that have been' established thus far. Here are the results of the survey:

Jan 1, 1961

By Betty L. Gibbs

Computer software for mining applications has been in development since before 1970. These packages cover tasks from exploration data management through final reclamation planning. These programs were originally written in Fortran and have evolved into colorful, user-friendly packages. Programs that produced printed symbol maps now show color, three-dimensional image of an ore deposit on a computer screen. Pictures can be rotated and looked at it from all directions and layers can be peeled off to show other parts of a model. Computer users have also evolved. In the early Fortran days, users had to learn computer operating systems, have someone punch data cards, set up run files and wait a day or so to find out if there was one little mistake somewhere that caused the program not to run. With today's technology, users sit at their desks in the office, key in some data, read other data from digital files and build a model within days, rather than weeks or months.

Jan 1, 1999

By Paul H. Miller

After passage by the Congress, Public Law 95-87, the "Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977" was signed by President Carter on August 3, 1977. This law, in its simplest form, was intended to control the environmental effects of surface coal mining and to ensure that mined land is restored to a condition equivalent to that prior to mining. Immediately after the signing, the wheels of government bureaucracy began turning to establish a new federal agency -the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement or OSM -in the Interior Department that would implement the provisions of the Act. Since this took time and because the Congress had not yet provided funding for OSM, a special task force was assembled within the Interior Department to begin the task of writing interim regulations to implement the Act. With respect to the use of explosives, the Act specified that a blasting plan be included in the application for a mining permit. The blasting plan will outline the procedures an operator will use to meet specified environmental protection performance standards. The performance standards established by the Act require explosives to be used only in accordance with existing state and federal laws and regulations and with regulations to be promulgated by the regulatory authority. The regulatory authority was defined as either a state agency operating under an approved state program or the OSM operating under a federal program. As a minimum, it was specified that the regulations should include provisions to require that: 1) a blasting schedule be published in a local newspaper and be mailed to local governments and to all residents living within 1/2 mile of the blasting site . 2) daily notice be given to residents in the area prior to blasting. 3) blast reports be prepared that are maintained for three years and available on request to the public. 4) blasts be designed to prevent injury to persons, damage to property outside the permit area, adverse impacts on underground mines and adverse effects on ground or surface water channels or availability outside the permit area. 5) upon request of residents or property owners within 1/2 mile of the permit area, preblast surveys shall

Jan 1, 1978

By Walter Henoch

THE subject of my talk is, "What 'the college, student expects when he gets out of college." Since all of us, here tonight are engineers, I think it will be proper to limit the discussion to "What the engineering student expects when he emerges from college." It might be well to con-sider just why we chose engineering rather than some other of the many courses open to us. We certainly did not choose it because it is easy nor because we thought it would be a very pleasurable way to spend four years of our lives. The majority of students who choose this profession have a pretty well-formed idea of what an engineering course requires. They at least know that they must work to re-ceive their credits. The minority, which is no small num-ber, are soon disillusioned and as a result they either quit college entirely or they join the' Commerce School. I asked a number of my fellow students just what it was that induced them to join the engineering profession, but it was hard to obtain a clear cut statement from any of them. Some said it was due to environment; others said, they took it because they liked it, and still others said they took it because their folks wanted them to. These state-ments are rather vague and incomplete, but underlying them all is something that the fellows found hard to ex-press. I think it is this: To the layman there is something of romance and adventure about the engineering profes-sion, and this fact coupled with the reputed high salaries and high commands of certain noted engineers no doubt fired our imaginations and consequently led us to join the ranks of the engineers. No doubt many engineers have gone out into the world and have found little romance or adventure .attached to their work, but nevertheless it is an occupation of a wide diversity of interest, of constant change of scene, and of vivid and human relations.

Jan 5, 1928

By Charles F. Park

CORRECTLY speaking, iron ore is limited to any naturally occurring rock from which iron may be extracted at a profit, but in practice the term is frequently used to indicate borderline material or inaccessible material that may in the future become commercially profitable. This distinction is much more than quibbling about terminology. When a layman hears that there are about 45 billion tons of iron ore in the world he naturally thinks that sounds like quite a bit of rock, and what is the use of worrying about the depletion of so plentiful a material. He does not realize, nor does he stop to analyze. why iron ore in Europe and Japan may carry no more than 30 per cent iron while tremendous quantities of 50-60 per cent iron ore in Brazil are not exploited. To people in the iron industry the answer is obvious: the Brazilian material is inaccessible, and there is no suitable fuel near-by. In places closer to home, submarginal ore in considerable quantity contains undesired impurities, such as sulphur, phosphorus, or titanium.

Jan 1, 1947

By J. Girard, V. Aubé, M. Barakate, S. Bellec, M. R. Eddahabi, Y. Chaik, M. Deshaies

"The activated carbon used in the carbon-in-leach (CIL) process to absorb gold is subject to breakage. This carbon breakage can be minimized, but it will always be necessary to deal with fine carbon particles, known as carbon fines. These fines contain a significant amount of gold and mining operations generally struggle with the treatment of this product. Since IAMGOLD’s Essakane mine is located in Burkina Faso, shipping carbon fines out of the country was not considered a viable solution due to the logistical burden and legal procedures in place. A benchmarking study demonstrated the complexity of treating carbon fines on site. IAMGOLD partnered with the host government to find an innovative approach to economically recover the gold locked in these fines. This paper describes the new circuits commissioned in July 2016 built to improve carbon fines collection, incinerate the carbon fines and leach the gold in the ashes produced by incineration. These new circuits successfully demonstrate that it is possible to extract more than 94% of the gold content in the carbon fines. This is profitable for the company as it improves the overall mill recovery rate by 1.0% to 1.5% and significantly decreases gold inventory build-up on site.INTRODUCTION The activated carbon used in the carbon-in-leach (CIL) to absorb gold is subject to breakage. This breakage can occur in the CIL tanks, the stripping circuit, the regeneration process or anywhere throughout the pumping and handling processes of carbon through the circuit. Fine carbon particles are invariably created and, because of their small size, present a large specific surface which favors gold absorption (Hilsher et al., 2014). At the very beginning of operations at Essakane, the carbon fines were recovered by means of a thickener and a filter press, but the circuit was undersized and inefficient. Subsequently, a decantation basin was used to settle the fines before the thickener. The settled fines were shovelled from the basin into bags. All these bags were stored in the backyard of the plant. The average tonnage of carbon fines recovered monthly was 23.5 tons with a gold grade at 1938 g/t."

Jan 1, 2017

By Harry L. Washburn

Use of coal thermal dryers has steadily increased since 1928 when one of the predecessor companies of the present Consolidation Coal Cu. constructed a complete preparation plant with thermal dryers. Today there are about 25 additional preparation plants that, all together, use over 65 individual thermal dryers of almost every type. The thermal dryer is a heat generator and the unit may have a separate furnace or a firebox that is an integral part of the dryer. It is also a materials handling device that allows an intimate mixture of wet coal and hot gases with instrumentation for temperature control and. in some cases, the more difficult flow rate of hot gases. The materials handling portion of the dryer is subject to the normal wear and teal of any similar device plus effects of heat, water vapor, moisture: and, sometimes, acid. With present emphasis on air pollution. most fine coal dryers have wet scrubbers.

Jan 8, 1963

By Jeffrey M. Christian

Gold prices are rising, in what is coming to be seen as the beginning of a longer term upward trend. After languishing between $325/oz and $364/ oz from early 1991 into early 1993, prices began rising in the first half of 1993. Gold rose from a low of $326/oz in March 1993 to $414/oz on an intraday basis in early August. There was a speculative sell-off at that point, which took gold prices quickly back down to $350/oz briefly in October 1993. At that time, there still was a fair degree of skepticism about gold's price prospects. Many banks believed that gold prices could not mount a sustained rally. As prices dropped in August and September of last year, these suspicions seemed to be confirmed. Gold prices quickly rebounded, however, reaching $395/oz by early January 1994. The strength of this renewed increase led many banks, investors and others that had held negative views of gold to grow more positive. They began buying gold and trading it from the long side of the market. The result was that gold prices remained strong during the first quarter of 1994, trading between $375/oz and $390/oz.

Jan 1, 1994

By Andrew Neale

ERIC GUTIERREZ: With that, we'll go ahead with the final speaker of the day, Andrew Neale. Andrew has a master's of science degree in mineral processing from the University of Alberta. He worked at the Falconbridge in Sudbury area, also at Brenda Mines, and then he became part of the Brenda Process Technology group in British Columbia. He joined Freeport in late 1993 in Indonesia, and was involved in process control and automation. He is now the senior manager of metallurgy in New Orleans. He's responsible for designing Freeport's new 100,000-ton-per-day expansion concentrator, which is currently being commissioned. Please welcome Andrew. ANDREW NEALE: With the ongoing explosion in digital computing power, there seems to be no limit to what can be modeled, simulated, and controlled in the mineral processing plant. However, at each stage of development of a control system, it is necessary to complete a cost-benefit analysis for justifying the move to a higher level of control. Incremental improvements in plant performance, while often significant, must be weighed against the costs of implementation and long-term maintenance. This presentation will provide examples of what the author believes are misplaced or misguided process control efforts and make a case for the KISS principle as applied to process control.

Jan 1, 1998

By Marianne Snedeker

In September 1985 we published a questionnaire asking about the content of MINING ENGINEERING and about your interests. By Dec. 10, our cutoff date, we had 430 responses, representing about 1.5% of the 28,238 people who received the September issue of ME. In the data that follow the tabulation and percentages are based on the number of individuals who responded to the particular question. About ME Through responses to the questionnaire, we were hoping to learn more about you, your interests, and how the magazine could better serve you. Those of you who responded told us something positive - you look at or read the magazine. Of the 430 respondents, 428 or 99.5% indicated that they had read or looked through the July and/or August issues. Those of you who refer to the magazine once are 207 or 48.5%. Those of you who refer to the magazine two or three times are 193 or 45.2%. Those of you who refer to the magazine four or more times are 27 or 6.3%. How much time do you spend reading the magazine? Of those responding to this question: 64 spent up to 1/2 hr 15.0% 224 spent up to 1 hr 52.6% 115 spent up to 1-2 hr 27.0% 23 spent more than 2 hr 5.4% In an informal survey among our staff, we determined that most people spend 1/2 to 1 hr reading magazines to which they subscribe at home. Does that match your experience? Many of you, 335 or 79%, clip your magazine for further reference. Also, many of you, 313 or 73.6%, do not pass your copy on to another reader, indicating that you are clipping it or receiving the magazine at home. Those magazines that are passed on reach: 1 person 3 0.7% 2 people 64 15.1% 3-5 people 34 8.0% 5 or more 11 2.6% Answers to what portions of the magazine you find useful indicated that the top three were Industry Newswatch, feature articles and Technical Papers; see Table 1. The "other" category included advertising - display, classified, Employment, and Professional Services - Washington Survey, New Products, Free Literature, book reviews, technology news, and Coming Events and Short Courses. We asked your appraisal of the technical level of the magazine. Of those responding, 39 or 9.1% indicated that it is too technical, 55 or 12.8% indicated it is not technical enough, and 335 or 78.1% judged it to have the correct technical level. In response to the question about whether you like to read an occasional feature that is not technically oriented, 21 or 5.1% said no, but an overwhelming 94.9% (393) said yes. Of the specific

Jan 1, 1986

By Scott Rosenthal, Kyle Murphy

This paper discusses the trials and tribulations of obtaining Velocity of Detonation (VOD) readings in small diameter blast holes in an underground mine. Montana Technological University (Montana Tech) obtained a time-domain reflectometer (TDR) type VOD monitoring unit. Purchase of the VOD monitor was justified on verifying explosives performance used in Montana Tech’s practical underground mining class and provide a teaching aid for the school’s rock fragmentation class. Before demonstrating the unit to students, we figured we better learn how to use it first so we give the students an appropriate experience. Our first learning was in obtaining the correct coaxial cable for the VOD monitor and how to properly terminate the cable. Once the cable was on-site and terminated, VOD testing could commence. Use of the VOD monitor was tested underground in small diameter holes (1.5-inch, 38 millimeter) pneumatically loaded with ANFO. After a few failed trials, and follow-up discussions with the supplier, VOD readings were obtained for the ANFO loaded holes. Additional readings were obtained for a pre-split product and detonating cord to satisfy our curiosity that the unit was performing as specified by the manufacturer. This paper will share our learnings in the hopes that others can benefit.