1997 Activities
The year 1997 was characterized by several impressive achievements by students (or recent graduates). Cindy Moore (BS '97) was the winner of the Donald S. Kingery Student Design Project Award sponsored by the Pittsburgh Coal Mining Institute of America (PCMIA) and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. (SME). Cindy's submittal was her senior design project, a gold mine feasibility study, which competed nationally with senior design projects from mining engineering seniors.
The MS thesis of Geraint Harris (MS '97) was selected by the UNR graduate school to represent UNR in the competition of the Western Association of Graduate Schools. Geraint's thesis made it to the very final group of five, well deserved recognition for an outstanding thesis. Geraint studied ground displacements induced by open pit bench blasting. He used gravimetric surveys at a number of pits, and demonstrated the potential for developing a reliable indirect method for measuring rock movement induced by blasting, a critical factor in minimizing dilution due to blasting, and associated grade control problems.
John Baker, now a sophomore in mining engineering, was the recipient of the Bay Area SME Section Overseas Travel Scholarship Award, and spent the summer working at the Zarafshan/Newmont joint venture Muruntan heap leach project in Central Uzbekistan. John certainly had a truly exotic experience. Senior Stefan Beck received an overseas travel scholarship from the Northern Nevada (Reno) SME section, and will be spending 1998 at the Western Kalgoorlie School of Mines, part of the exchange program between Mackay and Western Kalgoorlie. In return, we have the pleasure of the presence of Richie Price, our Australian exchange student, who has been a most active and enthusiastic participant in numerous student activities, including the John Mackay Club, the Intercollegiate Mining Team, and the senior field trip scheduling, planning, and fundraising. We certainly are delighted to have such a superb exchange visitor.
A major achievement for the Department has been the completion of the final payment for the Burrus Mine, thanks largely to the diligent efforts of volunteer coordinator Ed Jucevic. Ed continues working very hard on obtaining permission to use adjacent BLM land, on raising funds to assure continued operation of the Burrus, and, with student help, on gradually bringing the property into full operational use. Several undergraduates have received national SME scholarships, once again demonstrating that we do indeed have students who can very successfully compete in the national arena. Our strength in national competition was quite convincingly demonstrated by the success of both of our teams in the Annual Intercollegiate Mining Competition: they placed first and second, a national first. As a result, the John Mackay Club will host the national competition in 1999 or 2000 - and certainly will be looking for help from alumni and friends to make this challenging organizational requirement a major success.
While the students have had a productive year, the faculty certainly have kept busy as well. Pierre Mousset-Jones continues his extensive recruiting activities, notably with the organization of field trips to Barrick's Bullfrog Mine and to the Viceroy Castle Mountains Mine for high school teachers, counselors, and selected students. These trips have become exceedingly popular, and fill very quickly. Pierre has started a most innovative research project, with funding and support from MSHA, the State Mine Inspector's Office, Echo Bay, and Newmont: the development of virtual reality training programs for mine health and safety training. The current project involves a walk-around inspection of a Cat 785 truck and accident avoidance driving down into a pit. He currently is looking into the feasibility of using virtual reality for illustrating the visual impact of surface mining over time. Pierre also remains very active in an international exchange program with academics from Ukraine, studying in particular heat flow and ventilation aspects of underground nuclear waste disposal.
George Danko continues with a large number of wide-ranging research projects. He is major player in heater tests at Yucca Mountain, where he has fielded an array of thermal probes. He also is conducting extensive numerical studies in support of the Yucca Mountain ventilation system, and has performed similar studies for the Swiss nuclear waste repository. George also is working on the development of clean-up equipment for superficially contaminated soils, research sponsored by the Department of Energy, Nevada Test Site. The results of this equipment development are very promising, and should find applicability for environmental restoration at many contaminated locations. George is a co-PI in another technology development project, supported by the DOE Nevada Environmental Research Park program, involving the assessment of contamination in pipes and vessels. This project is a promising beginning of a fruitful cooperation between our Department and the Mechanical Engineering Department at UNLV. George also continues to supervise the Clarkson project. This study of valves, supported by the Clarkson Company, now has continued for over six years. It has resulted in multiple M.S. theses, and has been the basis for the further development of the Department's excellent and unique slurry transportation laboratory, now called the Clarkson Laboratory. George also is continuing his investigation of the optimized rinsing of heap leach pads based on extensive in-situ solute sampling field work at a Barrick Gold heap leach pad. He is the co-investigator in the international exchange program with the Thermophysical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine.
Danny Taylor has completed his term as Assistant Dean, and is returning full time to the Department. He has very quickly initiated a couple of most interesting research projects. Danny is working with NSA Engineering Inc., out of Golden, Colorado on the application of tomography to a variety of mining applications, including detection of underground caverns, determining rock mass properties, and monitoring heap leach pad saturation. The Department is extremely excited to be involved in such cutting-edge technology. Danny also is working with Getchell Gold on an evaluation of the feasibility of economically recovering wollastonite, frequently associated with gold deposits. If such a recovery were to be economically feasible, it certainly would enhance the economic viability of the minerals industry in the state.
Jaak Daemen has completed his term as acting dean, and has returned full time to the department. He continues his research on nuclear waste repository sealing for WIPP. He also is supervising an investigation of creep of rock salt.