Mining Engineering

The BEng (Hons) Mining Engineering is a modern, world-class programme that takes provides you with all the academic knowledge and skills expected of a 21st century mining engineer. Through its innovative part-time structure, it allows you to work while learning, and we encourage you to seek employment with mining companies, which allows you to simultaneously develop the behaviours appropriate for graduate engineers.

 

The programme takes you through the development of the underlying mathematical and physical science skills, and into application of those skills to mining problems. It emphasizes the role of design as the underlying approach to life that must be mastered by all engineers, and all design is directly related to your future role as a mining engineer, whether it is design of the excavation itself, or design of services such as ventilation, or design of processes.

The second key aspect of your education is understanding the role of the miner in modern society: we are only able to mine because societies let us: social license to mine is now recognised as one of the top three issues facing mining companies. You will gain an understanding of environmental and social governance, as well as an appreciation for the energy used in mining and mineral processing, and how mines can operate sustainably through innovative approaches to energy, water usage and social interactions.

 

The final key aspect of the degree is to understand the finances of mining operations. Funding the development of a mine has unique challenges: it depends on defining the availability of a product in the ground (the task of the mining geologist), the cost of getting to that product and processing it to a form that is economically interesting (the tasks of mining and minerals processing engineers) and the future price of the product (which is only “known” to economists and shamans). The long interval between finding an orebody and first production and the very large investment required motivate your financial and risk modules.

You are required to undertake work placement/s during your degree, to consolidate your learning and give you real-life experience of mining, and we will help you with arranging these placements.