Mining Engineering

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Instructions: Dig deep into questions about mining engineering and the world's greatest mines!

1.
The Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah is the world's largest man-made excavation. What type of mine is it?
A
Undersea mine
B
Open-pit mine
C
Underground mine
D
Placer mine
2.
What is the deepest mine in the world?
A
Kidd Mine, Canada
B
Bingham Canyon Mine, USA
C
Grasberg Mine, Indonesia
D
Mponeng Gold Mine, South Africa
3.
What does 'open-pit mining' (also called open-cast mining) involve?
A
Mining under rivers
B
Dredging ocean floors
C
Digging tunnels underground
D
Extracting minerals from a large surface excavation
4.
The California Gold Rush began in 1848 after gold was discovered at which location?
A
Sacramento
B
Sutter's Mill
C
Yosemite
D
San Francisco
5.
What is a 'shaft mine'?
A
A mine that uses water pressure
B
A mine that follows a horizontal tunnel
C
An open-pit mine
D
A mine accessed by a vertical tunnel (shaft) drilled into the ground
6.
What was a 'canary in a coal mine' historically used for?
A
Detecting dangerous gases
B
Lighting
C
Companionship for miners
D
Timing work shifts
7.
The Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa is the world's largest source of which precious metal?
A
Diamonds
B
Silver
C
Gold
D
Platinum
8.
What is 'longwall mining' used for?
A
Extracting coal from long, horizontal underground faces
B
Mining gold veins
C
Open-pit excavation
D
Deep-sea mining
9.
The 2010 Copiapó mining accident in Chile trapped 33 miners underground for how many days before rescue?
A
49 days
B
33 days
C
100 days
D
69 days
10.
What is 'tailings' in mining?
A
The back end of a mine tunnel
B
Dynamite residue
C
Leftover waste material after ore has been processed
D
Animal tracks near mines
11.
What is 'hydraulic mining' (hydraulicking)?
A
Using underwater robots
B
Pumping water out of mines
C
Using water-powered machinery underground
D
Using high-pressure water jets to erode and wash away hillsides to extract gold
12.
The Kimberley Mine ('Big Hole') in South Africa was famous for mining which precious material?
A
Emeralds
B
Diamonds
C
Gold
D
Platinum
13.
What engineering challenge makes deep mining in South Africa particularly difficult?
A
Lack of minerals
B
Extreme heat from the Earth's geothermal gradient
C
Government regulations
D
Flooding
14.
What is a 'Davy lamp' and why was it important in mining history?
A
A signaling device
B
A searchlight for locating ore
C
An electric headlamp
D
A safety lamp that prevented methane explosions in coal mines
15.
What is 'solution mining' or 'in-situ leaching' used for?
A
Testing soil composition
B
Dissolving minerals underground using injected chemicals and pumping the solution to the surface
C
Cleaning mine equipment
D
Filtering water from mines

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