Narrow vein education: Back to the future?

Abstract

Mining schools around the world, many unfortunately now closed, were often established to teach the techniques of narrow vein mining and associated processing to students studying part-time while working in the industry. This arrangement ensured graduates (or 'associates') had a mix of skills and knowledge invaluable to the industry. It is argued that there is still a need to educate students in these narrow vein techniques and that there will be a growing demand for such graduates with a high level appreciation of this type of mining. There is also a need for innovation in narrow vein mining and processing to develop specific technologies and allow the use of techniques applied in 'bulk mining' to achieve improvements in productivity, safety and economic performance. This paper aims to review the situation with regard to education and innovation in narrow vein mining.