The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Proposed mineral resource center would provide industry with a point of access to the vast resources of school steeped in mining
While geological and engineering savvy have always been important components of advancing a promising prospect into viable operation, building a modern mine also requires a working knowledge of the complex social, biological and economic systems surrounding a project.
"There is only one entity in Alaska that has any depth in all the broad technical areas that span mineral resource extraction - the University of Alaska," said Rajive Ganguli, chairman of the Department of Mining and Geological Engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
While the state's university system has served as a training ground for geologists and mining engineers since the founding of UAF - known as the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines when it opened in 1917 - Ganguli said the school's brain trust is not being fully leveraged by the mining industry.
"This university started off as a school of mines almost 100 years ago and as the university grows its roots in the mineral industry are often forgotten; so some of us want to bring it back to its roots," Ganguli told industry representatives during a presentation at the Alaska Miners Association 2011 convention.
Serving the dual purpose of bringing the school back to its roots and providing Alaska's mining industry with easier access to the broad spectrum of resources the state university system has to offer, Ganguli and others have proposed the creation of a Center of Mineral Resources.
One university
Envisioned to be housed at UAF's Institute of Northern Engineering - a facility that provides a broad range of research and engineering solution for cold climates - the mining research center would serve as a single point of contact for the mining industry to tap the expertise of UA's three academic centers - University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Southeast and UAF.
"Rajive and I are excited about our new collaboration - trying to bring together all of the expertise throughout the UA system," UAA Department of Geological Sciences Chair LeeAnn Munk told the mining crowd. "We are happy to be moving forward as one university."
Ganguli explained that while the UAF faculty would continue to tackle the engineering complexities that go with building a mine in Alaska; UAS would be called upon to handle mining vocation and workforce training; and the facilities and staff at both UAA and UAF would be utilized to overcome issues related to the fields of geochemistry, biology or social.
Ganguli said the three UA campuses provide a litany of resources that serve Alaska's mineral industry from exploration of a prospect through the closure of a tired mine.
"So I look at the entire gamut, from before there is a mine to mine closure. We have the infrastructure developed over about 100 years," he explained.
"Every mine I know has a unique challenge specific to itself - that's why we are there," he added.
Beyond just taking advantage of the state university system's state-of-the-art analytical equipment, cold climate and engineering expertise; and its ability to train a work force from entry-level miners to highly competent mining engineers - Ganguli suggests that Alaska's mining industry leverage the brain trust of the faculty beyond its role on campus.
"Faculty only has nine-month contracts; technically we are unemployed for three months," Ganguli said. "During this three-month time, we could leverage that to use their brain power to serve the mineral industry - not just in Fairbanks but on every campus."
Unbiased information
Ganguli said the proposed mineral research center also would provide the public an unbiased source of information on the complex and highly technical details involved in developing a large scale mining project in Alaska's unique setting.
"When a big project is proposed, there is lots of very technical information - very difficult to digest - and you have to educate the public on that," he said.
By providing the public with non-biased, science-based information, the engineering professor said UA could assist in removing the emotion from debates about the issues surrounding the development of mines in Alaska.
"You show a dying fish and that could kill a project; you show a little baby crying and that could kill a project," said the mining engineer. "To me, let's take the emotions out and turn this into a boring discussion who knows boring better than professors."
Beyond just analyzing data surrounding issues faced by the mining issues, Ganguli said the contingent of biologists, hydrologists, geologists, engineers and other scientists at Alaska's university are available to develop solutions to overcome the unique challenges of mining in Alaska.
"The University of Alaska is quite capable and wants to play with you, and we hope you want to play with us as well," he added.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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