If you are in Salt Lake this year for the SME Annual Conference, come support the student teams involved in the Metallic Student Design Competition! This is the second year of the Student Design Competition, which is continuing to grow in overall reach and participation. The contest is sponsored by Rio Tinto, with Costmine, Hexagon and Metsim all providing software and training support to the students. The contest is designed and chaired by Forte Analytical’s own Lab Manager, Nick Gow, with the help of Deniz Talan, Postdoctoral Fellow at West Virginia, and Denise Levitan, Sr. Environmental Scientist at Barr Engineering. Mona Vandervoort, Emma Salditt and Laura Nelson of SME have all played integral roles in keeping the competition moving.
Last year there were 18 teams registered from 8 countries. Of those teams, 11 submitted a final mine plan and process design for a gold/copper orebody. This year we had 23 teams compete, from 7 countries, with 12 overall designs, focusing on a lithium/boron orebody. The top 6 design reports are then invited to participate in Phase 2, live at SME.
The 2nd Phase of the Metallic Student Design competition kicks off this afternoon, with the student teams being given 2 days to provide a mine and process plant design update based on modifications which they were provided today. Design presentations will begin Sunday, February 27th at 1PM.
The University teams which were invited to participate in Phase 2 are below:
Universidad Nacional de Ingeniera
University of Kentucky
University of Arizona – Sr Team
University of Arizona – Jr Team
Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
Universidad Nacional de San Augustin
Thank you to our Judges for this competition as well!
Dan Palo – VP and Sr Chemical Engineer, Barr Engineering
Wendi Cooksey – Manager, Metallurgical Lab, FLSmidth
Jared Schoen – Sr Engineer, Nevada Gold Mines
Jordan Rutledge – Area Sales Manager, TOMRA
Ashley Chancellor – Environmental Systems Engineer, Stillwater Sibanye