Department of Mining and Geological Engineering

Four years after the shootout at the O.K. Corral, Arizona’s territorial legislature approved the creation of the University of Arizona (UA), with founding schools of agriculture and mining: a visionary move in 1885 considering there was not a single four-year high school in the territory. The School of Mines was formally launched a few years later in 1888 as the last brick was laid for the iconic Old Main Building. Read More...

Allison Hagerman holds her breath sometimes in blasting class when the newer students load their own holes, but she knows these University of Arizona students are well-trained and take safety seriously, because that is what they are being taught. Not to mention, they are certified in mine safety by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, or MSHA.

"We learn safety here, and we take it with us," said Hagerman, treasurer of the student chapter of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.

For two weeks every year, all UA mining and geological engineering students undergo intensive training, which emphasizes avoidance of hazards, emergency medical procedures and first aid, escape and emergency evacuations, fire warning and firefighting procedures, health and safety. 

 "Ros tells us that safety is No. 1 in the industry, and it is going to be No. 1 here too," said Hagerman. Read More…

Ruby Barickman stood mesmerized watching a 29-ton drill bit, or reamer, boring an exhaust hole 14 feet in diameter and 550 feet deep, backwards, from underground to the surface at a Rio Tinto mine site in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

The drill, or raise borer, one of only a few in North America, was assembled underground but operated from above ground, and that means fewer miners underground.

"I was at the bottom watching as it first started to spin around and drill upwards," said the 2012 University of Arizona mining engineering graduate. "It was a completely new process to me. Even a lot of the older people I was with had never seen that before." Read More...

Bree McMaster never thought she'd end up in mining, but she has, and now the former president of the UA chapter of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration says she can't see herself anywhere else.

"I was always meant to go work underground," said McMaster, who was among four women to graduate from the mining and geological engineering program in May 2012, all of whom graduated with little or no debt and good jobs.

McMaster now works for Barrick doing short-range mine planning at the Goldstrike mining complex near Elko, Nev., a city with a population of about 25,000, mostly miners and ranchers, and a small-town feel. Read More...

Rita Riggs dreams of one day working in a copper and gold mine in Mongolia, the central Asian country almost as vast as western Europe and known for its pastoral nomadic culture, harsh geography and even harsher climate.

The only problem: Mongolia, which sits atop one of the world's largest mineral reserves, bans women from working in underground mines.

Still, Riggs has her "boy" name picked out – Baxter. She is ready to cut her hair, dress up like a boy, and board a plane to one of the most sparsely populated countries on earth. Read More...

UA alumna Vicki Seppala says mining and geological engineering opens up a world of opportunity for young women and men.

Vicki Seppala was working as a business manager at a technology startup and attending classes at a community college in Phoenix. Every day on her way to class, the newly single mom passed by a brochure pinned to the wall, and every day it caught her eye, until finally it demanded Seppala's attention.

It was about the University of Arizona's mining and geological engineering program. Read More...

When Barb Filas got her start in the business, she was hand-drafting documents and using a mimeograph machine to crank out copies for permitting. There were precious few women in mining engineering and none in a mining leadership position.

"It was certainly a different time," said Filas. "Back when I was in school, a woman in the industry was very much an anomaly."

Filas was one of the first few women to graduate from the mining engineering program at the University of Arizona. She collected her diploma in 1978 and followed her grandfather and father into mining. In her 35-year climb from the Illinois coal mines to the boardroom of a global mining firm, she has seen more change than she ever imagined. Read More…

The UofA Department of Mining and Geological Engineering, one of only 14 U.S. schools offering mining engineering degrees and only a handful with its own student mine, is dedicated to helping fill the industry pipeline, and that includes ensuring female engineers continue to gain ground in a surging industry...

For years, women have been carving out a place for themselves in an industry where their exclusion likely is as old as the profession itself - but where their inclusion today is critical to meeting a shortage of skilled workers. 

The Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration estimates that before the end of the decade, the mining industry, where women now make up about 13 percent of the workforce, will need 128,000 skilled workers to replace retirees and fill new jobs, and more than half the workforce will be retired and replaced by 2029. Read More...