Mining Program at Queen's

The Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining at Queen’s has prepared global mining industry leaders for 125 years. It is today not only the largest mining department in Canada but among the largest in the world. In fact, Queen’s mining engineers account for some 33 percent of all Canadian mining and mineral processing engineers who have graduated from Canadian universities.

 

As technology evolves and the global economy changes, our students and researchers play a key role in defining the state of the art in mining. In close collaboration with industry partners, our faculty and students work to make mining operations safer, more efficient, more productive, less impactful on the natural environment, and more cost effective.

 

Mining engineers need to know about all the engineering work associated with mining operations from initial discovery of ore deposits to marketing of the final manufactured products. Mining engineering is a discipline that requires a broad spectrum of knowledge. Queen’s students who choose mining engineering after the common first year receive basic preparation in electrical, civil, industrial, mechanical, metallurgical, and chemical engineering concepts. They then choose from among three major speciality options that are available in the mining engineering curriculum: mining, mineral processing, and mine environment and mine mechanical.

 

Students may achieve mastery to a contemporary professional standard in computer applications, automation and robotics, mine evaluation, equipment selection, industrial equipment design, heavy equipment maintenance, transportation systems, mine design and planning, rock mechanics, explosives technology, drilling and blasting, mineral processing, plant and process design, management and labour relations, environmental control, and energy efficiency and management.

 

An engineering degree from The Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining at Queen’s, with its excellent recognition internationally, equips graduates to become highly employable in the mining industry not only in Canada but worldwide.