A team of UQ mining and minerals processing students have won the 2007 National Mining Games.
The group of nine 4th year UQ Bachelor of Engineering (Minerals Processing) students beat the efforts of 25 rival teams representing eight Australian universities to claim the winning trophy and the Sir Bruce Watson Award earlier this month.
Hundreds of students had gathered at the University’s Experimental Mine in Indooroopilly to compete over two days in activities including rock drilling, the laying of railway tracks, mucking (where students perform the old fashioned practice of shovelling gravel into a cart) and simulated blasting.
Co-captain of the winning team Casey Jarman congratulated her team-mates Jennifer Meikle, Eddie Paul, Fraser Burns, Matthew Taylor, Grant Ballantyne, Henry Connor, Saleem Varghese and Simon Gunn, and said they were pleased with their win.
“We were so excited about the National Mining Games, as it is a great opportunity to get know to know people from other universities around Australia and to catch up with people we meet during vacation work.
“It was great that a 4th year UQ team won the competition as there will always be a rivalry between the students as to who is going to win. The whole weekend was a great success and hopefully it will be just as good next year,” she said.
The team was sponsored by BMA (BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance).
UQ Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) student and coordinator of the Games Spiro Pippos said the annual event was an opportunity for students from around Australia to get together, network and to test their skills in a challenging and physical competition.
“It’s great for students who are up-and-coming in this field to be able to meet and form relationships, as many of us will work together on projects out in industry after we graduate,” he said.
“Importantly, this event also brings industry and students closer together. It is a good opportunity for students to meet employers, to ask questions and to learn about opportunities in the field.”
The 2007 event was the biggest in the competition’s 42-year history thanks to the boom in the mining and minerals industries in Australia, and industry sponsorship of a number of interstate teams.
Dr Basil Beamish, Senior Lecturer in Mining Engineering at UQ said the standard of competition was very high.
“It is important for students to gain real experience of mines, competition and team work prior to entering the workforce – this is a fun way that universities, students and industry can work together to achieve that,” he said.
The weekend was run and coordinated by the student chapter of the southern Queensland branch of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM).
The University of Queensland Experimental Mine was acquired in the 1950s for teaching and research projects. Students use the mine to get experience in mine surveying, ventilation, ore extraction, drilling, pumping, and general mining engineering.
Media: Kim Jensen at UQ Engineering (07 3346 9976 or k.jensen@uq.edu.au)
