WorldWide Drilling Resource

30 MAY 2014 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® My Journey into Mining Part 2 by Evan Thibaud, Mining Engineer Once I began to get involved with the organizations, I was told to accept officer positions as soon as I could to build my résumé. My first officer position was web- master of the Miner BBQ Club. When I was a sophomore, I had an interview with a salt mining company. Many students were members of organi- zations, but when they saw the BBQ Club it caught their eye. They were impressed I was already an officer and I was given an opportunity to co-op in Louisiana. I was also offered a summer internship for a gold mining company in Nevada. I was told taking a semester off from school could set me back a year, but the working experience was worth the risk and it would put me a step above other students. I decided to take the co-op and internship. During my time in Nevada, I was able to learn a lot about the drilling and blast- ing process. Pattern layout, vibration stud- ies, and fragmentation analysis were the main areas of study. Over the next few summers, I was fortunate to receive two more internships in underground lime- stone and underground lead before I graduated. I learned to optimize burn cut production and reduce costs by manag- ing blasting practices of tunneling in mixed geology and ground conditions. The more I got involved, the more I was able to travel to conferences around the USA. I went to Denver, Colorado; San Diego, California; Nashville, Tennessee; Dallas, Texas; Spearfish, South Dakota; Des Moines, Iowa; and Lake Havasu, Arizona. While at these places, I learned about the mining and explosives industry outside of the classroom. I was given the opportunity to have conversations and learn from experts in the fields of blasting, drilling, reclamation, public in- volvement and education, and manage- ment. It was funny to sit down and have a short conversation with someone only to find out they were the CEO of a com- pany you gave your résumé to at a booth earlier that day. The more conferences I attended, the more people began to rec- ognize me. I began to realize many of the people spent a great deal of time and money to focus on the future of the indus- try - students. Almost all of the organiza- tions have a mentoring program and scholarship funds for students. I was lucky enough to receive thousands of dollars in scholarships to help offset the cost of out- of-state tuition, and I would not have been able to graduate without them. The real motivation comes when an industry professional pulls you aside and tells you that you are the future of the industry. Words such as those are what motivates you to get through the late nights of studying for exams and those projects that seem to never end. All in all, engineering is a challeng- ing degree and takes so much dedicat ion to complete, but t he payo f f i s great . I com- pleted a goal I set for myself five years earli- er, and I didwhat I didn’t think was possible. After meeting some- one at an explo- sives conference, I landed a full- time job with one of the largest explosives companies in the world, MAXAMCE (Civil Explosives) headquartered in Madrid, Spain. My job brought me to British Columbia, Canada, as the first technical engineer hired from Missouri S&T, and I am doing what my ten-year-old self dreamed of. If you are interested in taking class- es at what has been called the coolest college lab, you can find information about the explosives engineering program at Missouri S&T on their Web site. The explo- sives program is offered as a master’s degree or through the undergraduate mining degree. Campus tours for high school students from distant states can even be set up through the Fly In program hosted by the admissions department. Editor’s Note: A special thanks to Evan for sharing his story with us. He is a great example of how hard work and dedication can help you achieve your dreams. Do you have an inspirational life story to share? & ! $ # & # " ! $ # & # & " & ! " & " $ # & & ! & " & & "! " ! & " " ! ! ! !% $ # "! ! Check out our newWeb site. worldwidedrillingresource.com