Mining and Mineral Engineering in USA

The mining engineering program emphasizes engineering as it applies to the exploration and development of mineral resources and upon the economics of the business of mining. The program offers specialization in exploration, mining or mineral beneficiation.

Students are prepared for job opportunities with mining and construction companies, consulting and research firms, equipment manufacturers, investment and commodity firms in the private sector, as well as with state and federal agencies.

Mining engineers may aspire to, and achieve, the highest positions in the industry: operating or engineering management, government agency director or entrepreneur.

The mining and explosives engineering programs are offered under the department of mining engineering. The overall objectives of the mining engineering program are to provide a broad engineering education with strong expertise in mining engineering, a cultural foundation for the mining industry and a strong basis for future growth and development. These objectives are achieved at the B.S. level by providing education in basic sciences, engineering sciences and design, core mining engineering, humanities and social sciences.

Mining engineering deals with discovering, extracting, processing, marketing, and utilizing mineral deposits from the earth’s crust. The role of the mining engineer may be quite diversified, and the field offers opportunities for specialization in a large number of technical areas. The trained professional in this field is well versed in mining and geology and also in the principles of civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering as applied to the mining industry. With the present trend toward the use of engineers in industrial management and administrative positions, the mining engineer’s training also includes economics, business, personnel management, and the humanities. 

The mission of the Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering (B.S.Min.E.) program at West Virginia University has been established to produce graduates who are thoroughly prepared to meet the operational and engineering challenges of the mining industry and to continue their studies in graduate programs. The Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org.

Mining engineers find, develop, and recover the resources needed to support the daily needs of society from the minerals required to support our daily health to the materials used for roads, buildings, computers, cell phones among most other items used daily. The mining engineering discipline requires a broad range of basic engineering skills along with the ability to apply specialized technical knowledge in the areas of geotechnical engineering, explosives engineering, ventilation, mine power systems, automation and control, environmental engineering and extractive metallurgy.