Universities in Australia and Canada offering Mining masters'

Typically, there are more number of universities in US offering masters' in mining than any other country in the world. Some other countries that have enough mining universities in mining are Australia and Canada. The universities listed below are not according to the rankings and they are listed only on the basis of offering masters and higher degrees in mining.

Australian Universities:

Western Australia School of Mines (Curtin University)
Kalgoorlie, WA

Mining Area: Hard Rock

Department: Mining and Metallurgical Engineering

University of Adelaide
Adelaide, SA

Mining Area: Hard Rock

Department: School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering

University of New South Wales
Sydney, NSW

Mining Area: Coal

Department: School of Mining Engineering

University of Wollongong
Wollongong, NSW

Mining Area: Coal

Department: Civil/ Mining/ Environmental Engineering

University of Queensland
Brisbane, QLD

Mining Area: Coal

Department: School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering

Federation University
Mount Helen, VIC

Mining Area: Coal

Department: Mining Engineering


Canadian Universities:

University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC

Mining Area: Hard Rock

Department: Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering

McGill University
Montreal, QC

Mining Area: Hard Rock

Department: Mining and Material Engineering

Queens University
Kingston, ON

Mining Area: Hard Rock

Department: Mining Engineering

University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB

Mining Area: Hard Rock

Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering

Laurentian University
Sudbury, ON

Mining Area: Hard Rock

Department: Bharti School of Engineering


All the best folks. Decide yourself which university you want to pursue in. 

US Universities offering Masters' in Mining

When compared to Universities offering masters in Computer Science, there are very few (handful) universities which offer masters in mining engineering in United States. The list consists of the universities not according to the rankings.

List of Universities:

1) Southern Illinois University

    Carbondale, IL

Department: Mining and Mineral Resources Engineering

Research Type: Coal

No. of Professors: 03 - 05

2) University of Kentucky
    Lexington, KY

Department: Mining Engineering

Research Type: Coal

No. of Professors: 09 - 11

3) Missouri University of Science and Technology

    Rolla, MO

Department: Mining and Nuclear Engineering

Research areas: Geomechanics and Blasting

No. of Professors: 14 - 20

4) Colorado School of Mines
    Golden, CO

Department: Mining and Earth Systems Engineering
                     Underground Construction and Tunneling

Research Type: Coal, Hard Rock and Tunneling

No. of Professors: 14 - 17 in Mining and Earth Systems Engineering
                              The faculty in the Underground Construction and Tunneling comprises of different departments. Check that out on the website. 

5) South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
    Rapid City, SD

Department: Mining Engineering and Management

Research Type: Coal

No. of Professors: 05 - 08

6) Michigan Technological University
    Houghton, MI

Department: Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Research Type: Hard Rock

No. of Professors: Very few faculty are actually in Mining while the others are involved in geology.

7) West Virginia University
    Morgantown, WV

Department: Mining Engineering

Research Type: Coal

No. of Professors: 09 - 11

8) Virginia Tech
    Blacksburg, VA

Department: Mining and Mineral Engineering

Research Type: Coal

No. of Professors: 10 - 11

9) Pennsylvania State University
    University Park, PA

Department: Energy and Mineral Engineering
Program:Mining Engineering

Research Type: Coal, Hard Rock and Geomechanics

No. of Professors: 07 - 12

10) University of Utah
      Salt Lake City, UT

Department: Mining Engineering

Research Type: Hard Rock and Coal

No. of Professors: 08 - 13

11) University of Nevada
      Reno, NV

Department: Mining and Metallurgical Engineering

Research Type: Hard Rock

No. of Professors: 08 - 10

12) University of Arizona
      Tucson, AZ

Department: Mining and Geological Engineering

Research Type: Hard Rock

No. of Professors: 12 - 13

13) University of Alaska Fairbanks
      Fairbanks, AK

Department: Mining and Geological Engineering

Research Type: Hard Rock

No. of Professors: 08

14) New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
      Socorro, NM

Department: Mineral Engineering

Research Type: Hard Rock

No. of Professors: 06 - 12

Steps before applying masters in mining

Students usually confuse themselves over applying for masters’ degree. There are two types of degrees i.e. Master of Science / Philosophy (M.Sc. / M.Phil.) and Master of Engineering (M. Eng.). This has been cleared in the article “Should you Opt M.S. or M.Eng. in Mining?” While the previous article deals with the differences, in this article I would like to share the steps to apply for a M.S. / M.Phil. degree in Mining.

The most frequently asked question “How do I start applying for a M.S. / M.Phil. in Mining?” There isn’t a rule book to follow the steps that would lead towards successful application but the following steps would allow you to understand the way to apply for masters’ degree.

Step 1:

Decide which mining field you want to set your foot into.

It implies either to choose the coal mining stream or the hard rock mining stream. The research topics are highly different in both the cases.

Step 2:

Decide which mining research area you are interested to work in.

There are various research areas depending on the field opted. The coal mining sector has a numerous research areas related to ventilation such as methane detection and monitoring, ground control such as roof support and monitoring, etc. The hard rock sector involves mine planning, stoping methods and rock mechanics. The other emerging area in the mining is geomechanics. 

Step 3:

Make a list of professors working in that area.

Look at the present projects that are carried out by the professors and study a bit about the projects to get an overview of the working area. Make a list of the professors after getting an overview over their projects. This would be much shorter list which would make it easier to approach.

Step 4:

Contact the professors on the list.

Create a two page resume with a purpose of writing to the professor clearly stating your interest areas. Some of the professors respond to these type of emails which clearly mentions the result of the mail. But some of the professors ignore as they have high inflow of emails, in such case you need to contact the research students under the professor to know about the availability of project and the funds. Direct applications to the universities can get rejected as the professors may have sufficient students for the project. This ensures you to apply for specific universities rather than applying randomly over ten universities and hoping to get accepted from somewhere. This will also save application fees over a number of universities.

Step 5:

Apply to the universities with the positive response from the professor and few in the universities you feel the projects are appealing.

These are the steps that will make you understand about what masters by research is all about and how to chase your dream towards your area. Hope this would help people applying to Master of Science in Mining Engineering. Best of luck to everyone.