A team of students from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology Department of Mining Engineering and Management will take part in The National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA) student design competition. The team is heading to phase two of competition, competing at the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, & Exploration (SME) conference in Minneapolis in February.

The competition involves a technical design stage and an oral presentation stage. Students are tasked with designing a real-world quarry. Participants are not allowed to discuss the details of their projects in public during the competition. The SD Mines team was one of six out of 16 teams selected to move on to the final round.

“We are delighted by the team’s performance,” says Andrea Brickey Associate Professor of mining engineering at SD Mines and the team’s faculty advisor. “They have worked hard preparing for the competition and it is reflected in their placement,” she adds.

The Department of Mining Engineering and Management at SD Mines is among the top programs in the United States. At SD Mines, students receive hands-on experience with industry-grade equipment, management training, and the opportunity to survey and work underground with officials at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. Mining engineering and management students also train with professional mine rescue teams, intern at major companies across the mining industry, and interact with a wide variety of national and international mining experts.

Teams at this year’s NSSGA mines design competition came from the United States, Canada, Peru, Netherlands and India. Team members in the attached picture are William Heasley, Peter Hunter, Ethan Marcoux, Dalton Walker, Daniel Koelfgen and Jackson Roberts.