Mining industry shows support for new education programs

News from the mining industry has recently been dominated by actions coming out of Washington, DC. As SME President Bill Hancock notes in his President’s Column on page 4 of this issue, there is reason to be hopeful that many long-stalled mining projects in the United States might soon move forward. As SME members are aware, the United States and the world will need more mining projects to come online in order to meet the soaring demand for minerals, and the industry is going to need more people to do the work. In this issue of Mining Engineering we share two exciting items on that front. On page 8, you can read about Freeport-McMoRan’s $7 million commitment to the University of Texas El Paso’s (UTEP) efforts to restart its mining program. On page 28, Keith Olson, interim director of communications at Bluefield State University (BSU), provides a look at similar efforts that are taking place at that university in Kentucky. Mining Engineering’s associate editor Carrie Smith reported on the efforts taking place at UTEP in the November 2024 issue. She reported then, that in 2023, universities in the United States graduated just 312 mining engineers. There will be an estimated average of 500 job openings annually over the next 10 years. The restart of the mining engineering program at UTEP will help close this gap, with the program projected to produce up to 100 mining engineers each year once fully established. No universities in Texas currently offer a mining engineering program, Smith wrote. “With this investment, UTEP is set to become the only mining school in Texas, which has the number one mining economy in the entire U.S. with a nearly $10 billion industry. There’s no doubt that this investment is going to open us up to reaching more students with an interest in mining, and causing students to consider mining,” UTEP College of Engineering dean Ken Meissner told Smith at the time.Pending approval from UTEP’s accreditors and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the program is slated to launch in the fall of 2027 and will ramp up to admit 120 freshman every year with the goal of graduating 100 mining engineers annually once fully established. UTEP will be the only university in Texas to offer mining engineering. “There’s no better place to jumpstart the mining engineering workforce than UTEP, home of the Miners,” said Josh Olmsted, president and chief operating officer-Americas at Freeport-McMoRan. “Our partnership with UTEP is long-standing, with a number of UTEP alumni working throughout our global operations. We look forward to working with even more talented UTEP graduates to produce the materials that the global economy demands as they restart mining engineering,” he added.In Kentucky, BSU is charting a similar course with a goal of growing the mining engineering technology program to graduate between 15 and 20 students per year. The mining engineering technology program at BSU has been explicitly designed to address what industry leaders describe as a widening skills gap in the mining sector. A 2023 survey by the National Mining Association found that 78 percent of mining companies reported difficulty filling technical positions, with particular shortages in automation specialists, environmental compliance officers and operations supervisors. “We are in the process of seeking ABET accreditation,” Olson told me. “One key difference is while University of Kentucky offers a degree in mining engineering, which emphasizes advanced theory, problem-solving and the broader aspects of mine planning, design and operation, the mining engineering technology degree from BSU additionally focuses on the practical, hands-on application of these principles.” Like the partnership between Freeport-McMoRan and UTEP, BSU is also fortunate to have industry support. “Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the revived program is its deep integration with industry partners. The program has secured commitments from several leading mining companies and manufacturers to provide paid internships, equipment donations and guest lecturers,” Olson writes on page 30. “We’ve adopted what we call a ‘classroom to coal face’ approach,” said Cary Harwood, professor and interim director of the revived program at BSU. “Students will spend significant time in actual mining operations, learning from experienced professionals. This isn’t just about theory — it’s about practical application in real-world settings.” The revival of the mining engineering programs at UTEP and BSU is welcome news to the entire industry.

Mining industry shows support for new education programs

Authored by: William Gleason

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