Members of the UofA Copper Queens participate in the university's annual international mining competition. Photo: Courtesy of the University of Arizona
Call it Mining Madness — universities from around the world sent contenders to southern Arizona last week for UofA's annual mining competition.
"It's like the Olympics of collegiate mining," said David Hahn, dean of the university's College of Engineering.
UofA's student chapter of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration hosted the collegiate competition on Thursday and Friday.
The event is held at Sahuarita's San Xavier Underground Mining Laboratory, run by the university's School of Mining and Mineral Resources.
262 competitors came from Australia, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom for the event.
Zoom in: The competition includes seven events, such as:
🪨 Mucking: Five-person teams fill two-ton ore carts and strive for the best time running them down a track.
🕳️ The jackleg: Two-person teams have three minutes to try to dig the deepest hole in a concrete block using a pneumatic drill.
🪚 Swede saw: Five team members alternate cutting through a 6-inch-by-6-inch timber using a 36-inch bow saw.
Our thought bubble: We hope there's a round called the "Final Ore."
The latest: The South Dakota School of Mining and Technology won the men's and coed competitions, the Camborne School of Mines won the women's competition, and UofA won the alumni category.
