Montana Tech Hosting Intercollegiate Mining Contest

Beginning in 1978, five mining engineering schools started a tradition called the Intercollegiate Mining Contest. The tradition has grown to include 44 teams from all across the United States and overseas. On Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2, 2016, Montana Tech will host the 38th annual Intercollegiate Mining Contest on the Montana Tech campus in Butte, Montana.

The competition will run from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on each day. Teams will practice the day before the event on Thursday, March 31, 2016.

The following schools will have teams represented at the competition: Montana Tech, University of Nevada Reno Mackay, Virginia Tech, Western Australia School of Mines Kalgroolie, Western Australia School of Mines Perth, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Missouri University of Science and Technology, University of Arizona, University of Kentucky, Colorado School of Mines, Camborne School of Mines Great Britain, University of Western Australia, University of Queensland,  and University of Alfenas - UNIFAL-MG – Brazil.

The competition is broken down into men’s, women’s, co-ed, alumni and individual events. Teams will compete in seven different events: hand steel, gold pan, jack leg drilling, track stand, mucking, swede saw and survey. Each team competes in all events to determine the overall winner. Team scores are combined in each event to determine the final score and team’s place.

At last year’s competition in Kalgoorlie, West Australia, the Montana Tech men’s team won third place overall in the men's class and the Montana Tech co-ed team took tenth place overall in the co-ed class.

Learn more at mtech.edu/academics/mines/mining/competition.

The event is free and open to the public for viewing.