MINING ENGINEERING

Reading
Comprehension
“What Do Mining Engineers
Do?”
A. Reading Text: What Do Mining Engineers Do

Mining engineers spend most of their time in meeting, listening to consultant

and staff and making hard decisions about the mine they work for or manage. When
they are not in meetings, the mining engineers drive around the open pit or descend
the underground workings where they walk around to see if things are going as they
should. And if things are not going as they should, they talk to the people who are
supposed to be making things go properly. Sometimes the mining engineers leave the
mine and go to the office building in some distant city where the head office is located.
There, they meet with even more senior mining engineers, accountants, and lawyers to
discuss the legal and financial operation of the mine they manage.
The mining engineers may have studied like most engineers, basic maths,
physics, chemistry, and calculus. Then a few courses in basic mining theory: what
makes an underground mine; the essence of open pits; basic blasting theory; maybe
a bit of finance and accounting. Maybe a short course on environmental studies, social
policy, sustainable propaganda, and community relations. The mining engineer,
however, is the boss, the mine manager, the chief mine planner, the executive officer,
the primary decision-maker. He will face new challenges: buying and selling mines,
negotiating deals, and setting budgets and schedules.
Keep in mind that you do not have to study mining engineering to enter the
mining industry. You could become a civil engineer and develop mining infrastructure:
the roads, bridges, shafts, structures, and tailings facilities that are key to mining. You
could become a mechanical engineer: the shovels, the trucks, the crushers, and
spreaders, and the pipes and pumps of the mine. Or become an environmental
engineer and take care of air quality, surface water and groundwater quality and all the
other potential impacts of a mine on its surroundings. Engineers who hold a master’s
or doctoral degree may teach engineering at colleges and universities.
B. Vocabulary Review

Study the words given below and make sure you know their meaning

To manage Drilling Humming

Open pit Purchase Mill
Consequences Intricacy To face
To expand Facility Essence
Blasting Unrusted Schedule

C. Exercise

Answer some questions on the Text:

1. Who is a mining engineer?

2. What are the responsibilities of mining engineers?
3. What courses do mining engineers study?
4. What are the duties of a mining engineer?

D. Match the words or phrase

1 Open pit a) A person who may manage any phase of mining

operations
2 Mining engineer b) A device used for spreading or scattering a
substance over a wide area
3 Underground mining c) Cosmological theory about the early stage of the
evolution of the universe
4 Blasting theory d) A tool used for moving coal, earth, snow or other
material
5 Shovel e) A tube of metal, plastic, or other material used to
convey water, gas, oil, or other fluid substances
 6 Big bang f) A surface mining technique of extracting rock or
minerals from the earth by their removal from an
open pit or borrow
7 Crusher g) Used to extract ore from below the surface of the
earth
8 Spreaders h) A machine designed to reduce large rocks,
gravel, or rock dust
9 Pipe i) He controlled use of explosives and other
methods to break rock for excavation

D. Read the short article below that describes the requirements

needed to become an engineering specialist. What qualities are
prioritized? What skills does a modern engineer need? What do
you have to do to develop the required qualities?

The engineer should be a critical thinker and have a sound subject knowledge of
mathematics and physics to identify and solve engineering problems. You must
also possess a certain level of creativity to present innovative solutions and
improvements to technical processes. The successful candidate will be able to
effectively communicate ideas, make recommendations, and negotiate project
details with their team, subcontractors, and clients.

Write your answer here