RAPID CITY, SD (July 27, 2017) – South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is launching a new and unique 30 week-long Mining Practitioner Program that provides Caterpillar employees from a non-mining background a comprehensive understanding of the mining industry.
The program will give a select group of Caterpillar employees deeper expertise in mining and an in-depth understanding of challenges facing the industry, positioning them to better serve customers and deliver solutions around the world. The program will also help Caterpillar employees offer customers consultative services alongside product solutions.
“The Department of Mining Engineering and Management is very excited about this opportunity to work with Caterpillar and provide its employees with a mining practitioner short course. We look forward to the partnership and value the trust that Caterpillar has placed in us to assist in growing the mining expertise within their company,” says Lance Roberts, Ph.D., head of Mines’ Department of Mining Engineering and Management.
The course includes an overview of the mining industry: exploration, mine design and planning, health and safety, how mines operate, and how minerals are extracted and processed. The class also includes a focus on the importance of environmental sustainability and reclamation plus an examination of future opportunities as the mining industry evolves.
SD Mines will also use the program as a mining engineering pre-requisite course for incoming graduate students who do not have significant experience in the industry or a degree in mining engineering.
In the future, the department also wants to offer an optional three-day field experience where class participants can come to SD Mines, tour area mines in Wyoming and the Black Hills, visit the Sanford Underground Research Facility and visit Caterpillar’s Black Hills Engineering Design Center where they can experience software developed through CatÒ Connect Technologies for surface and underground mining operations.
The class will be offered to Caterpillar employees online for the first time this fall.