The Department of Mining offers well-equipped modern laboratories for research and class study. Facilities include a personal computer laboratory, a complete computerized geomechanics laboratory, a remote sensing laboratory, a rock drilling laboratory, an ore microscopy laboratory, a subsurface hydrology laboratory, a geophysical exploration laboratory, an atomic absorption unit, X-ray diffraction and fluorescent units, an off-campus underground experimental mine, and access to many campus-wide laboratories.
Mine Safety and Operations Lab - The University owned Silver Fox Mine is used to train the students in mine safety and operations for underground mining. The students use the jackleg drill to produce holes for blasting and an overshot mucker to load the blasted rock into ore cars. The Department has an annual picnic and clean-up day at the Silver Fox, usually in the fall.
Surveying Lab - The surveying laboratory is equipped with a variety of surveying instruments, including levels, transits, theodolites, total stations as well as GPS systems. The students can utilize the equipment in the surveying laboratory to gain hands-on experience in operating the state-of-art surveying instruments.
Rock Mechanics Lab - The rock mechanics laboratory has two rock testing machines with load capacities of 330,000 lb. and 55,000 lb. respectively. The larger machine has an environmental chamber which can generate testing conditions with a temperature range from -85°F to 180°F, and a relative humidity range from 20% to 95%. Tests can be conducted at any specified temperature and humidity within the range. The laboratory is equipped with two triaxial test vessels: a Hoek cell for NX rock core samples, and a large cell for rock specimens up to 6" in diameter and 18" in length with a confining pressure up to 20,000 psi.
The testing machine control unit is capable of testing in constant load or constant displacement modes as well as generating cyclic loading with various wave forms such as sine waves and triangular waves. A variety of testing and experimental devices are also available in the laboratory, such as photoelastic instruments, a point load tester, a Schmidt hammer, a roof bolt pull tester, load cells, and extensiometers. Various laboratory experiments and in-situ tests can be conducted with these devices and instruments.
Rock Preparation Lab - The rock preparation lab is used to prepare rock cores for testing in the rock mechanics lab. The lab has a drill which can use core barrels and has been modified to use drill rods and bits. The lab also has a rock slab saw to trim the core and surface grinder to polish the core ends.
