Recently in Mining Category

Must-see TV: tonight's premiere episode of The Detonators, a new Discovery Channel series featuring our resident explosives expert and one of his former students. The program begins at 7 p.m. Rolla Standard Time (otherwise known as Central Standard Time) today (Wednesday, Jan. 28) and will air every Wednesday at the same time.

So, record American Idol if you must, but don't miss this debut of Paul Worsey and Braden Lusk as they burst onto the television scene.

If you can't wait until the show's premiere, here's a little promo to whet your appetite:

Watch The Detonators blow up a car at the S&T Experimental Mine.

He's not exactly Doc Hollywood, but S&T's resident explosives expert Paul Worsey will soon hit cable TV with a bang.

Worsey -- pictured plugging his ears in this St. Louis Post-Dispatch photo from a few years ago -- will soon co-host a 13-week series on the Discovery Channel called "The Detonators" (official scoop). His co-host, Braden Lusk, is a former student of Worsey's who now teaches mining engineering at the University of Kentucky. Together on "The Detonators," the two profs will talk to the blasters behind such structures as urban skyscrapers, massive steel bridges and giant stadiums. They'll also give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the demolitions.

As Post-Dispatch higher ed reporter Kavita Kumar points out in a recent post on the Post's blog The Grade, Worsey "has blown up bridges, trucks, rubber snakes, dead chickens, and lots and lots of other things. So it's perhaps not surprising that the Discovery Channel -- the same people who have brought us Man vs. Wild, Survivorman, Verminators, and Dirty Jobs -- has found a kindred spirit in him."

Kumar calls Worsey "the doctor of destruction." And while Worsey certainly enjoys his work -- who wouldn't want to blow stuff up? -- he's not as nefarious as that moniker or his mad-scientist laugh would imply. He's just your average happy-go-lucky, barrel-chested Brit who happens to have an explosive personality.

Here's a more recent photo of Worsey with Lusk during filming on location at Missouri S&T's Experimental Mine. The watermelon in Worsey's grasp was later blown to smithereens. Eat your heart out, Gallagher.

"The Detonators" is scheduled to begin airing sometime during the first quarter of 2009. Stay tuned to this blog for updates.

Provost Wray, accompanied by Drs. Wiebe, Frimpong (pictured above, right) and Summers, recently traveled to Botswana, where they met with officials from the University of Botswana, toured a mining pit and ate grubs. Missouri S&T is partnering with the University of Botswana on mining engineering endeavors.

Dr. Summers practiced for a future trip to Pamplona while in Botswana.

<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mine23aug23,1,2943697.story?coll=la-headlines-nation"> Utah mine to close permanently
Los Angeles Times (Thursday, Aug. 23)
Jerry C. Tien, a professor of mining engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla, said he was not surprised by Murray's decision to close the mine -- both because of the apparent safety problems at the site and the questionable economics of the operation.

<a href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/othersports/story/33117EDDE9F036208625733F001076E2?OpenDocument"> From haymaker to playmaker
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Wednesday, Aug. 22)
If you think the broiling Midwestern heat makes your job unbearable, imagine spending the summer months the way Ashton Gronewold spends them: bailing hay. ... The centerpiece of Missouri-Rolla's high-powered passing offense, he's a farm-grown All-American, a Say Hay Kid.

Records refute Crandall Canyon owner, show mining plan changed - possibly boosting cave-in risk
Salt Lake Tribune (Wednesday, Aug. 22)
"It's a significant change in terms of pillars or no pillars or robbing the pillars," said Jerry Tien, a mining engineering professor at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Mine safety should concern everyone
KRCG (Tuesday, Aug. 21)
Missouri is not known for its coal mines, but there are experts here who have studied and trained in mines for years. KRCG's Mallory McGowin travelled to the University of Missouri-Rolla Tuesday to talk to a mining professor and a mining student to learn about the struggles miners face.

Local university trains for mining disaster
KY3 (Friday, Aug. 17)
After nearly two weeks, the rescue operation to find six trapped minors is suspended. Now, a mining company officially in Utah says it's likely their bodies may not be found. ... "There's just so many things that could be in the way," Adam Kresler says. Adam is a senior at the University of Missouri in Rolla.

This morning, early reports surfaced in Colorado of an explosion at an old uranium mine near Denver. The Associated Press jumped on the story. Details were sketchy, but it still popped up on news sites like USA Today and Forbes. If it had been a mine explosion, we could have turned to UMR's Larry Grayson for reaction. Grayson chairs a federal mine safety comission, which on Dec. 5 released a report containing more than 70 recommendations to improve mine safety.

Fortunately, there was no mine explosion at all, just a broken electrical switch on a transformer that caused loud noises and bright flashes. At least that's the latest word from the Associated Press.

We just got some images from the mine rescue event held recently at UMR's Experimental Mine. UMR students competed in an underground simulation against professional rescuers from the mining industry. And UMR did extremely well!

This is old news to some of you, but it's still pretty neat: UMR is the only university in the nation with a mine rescue team.

First they got Ted Koppel, and now they've got Larry Grayson. Discovery Times, part of the Discovery Channel empire, was out at UMR's Experimental Mine today -- it was nice and cool underground -- to shoot footage for an upcoming edition of the new show "Decoding Disaster." (Incidentally, the first "Decoding Disaster" episode was about nightclub disasters, specifically the deadly nightclub fire that was sparked during a concert by the 1980s big hair band Great White.) The crew is at the UMR mine to do recreations (with help from Grayson and other UMR experts) of two mining disasters -- the 2001 explosion at the Jim Walters Resources mine in Alabama and a 2003 explosion at a Kentucky coal mine. We'll let you know when and where you might be able to catch the episode shot underground in Rolla; it's expected to air on cable about four months from now.

Fresh off a trip to inspect some oil sands in Canada, Samuel Frimpong was ready to follow some of this summer's World Cup action. Frimpong, who studied mining engineering in Ghana, said that country's entry exceeded expectations during its first taste of World Cup action. Frimpong called the victory over the Czech Republic the high point. He says he rooted for both sides during the U.S. versus Ghana match (Ghana won, in case you weren't paying attention).

Meanwhile, Frimpong has remained focused on his oil sands research, which might prove useful in helping to reduce North America's dependence on foreign oil. We're working on a story about Frimpong's research -- in fact, we're working on several stories about uncoventional and potentially meaningful research efforts having to do with things like heavy hydrcarbons and biofuels (think algae!) -- for a special issue of UMR Magazine on alternative energy sources. But you'll have to wait until this fall to read all about it.

Oh, yeah, and Frimpong has just been named the new chair of UMR's mining and nuclear engineering department.

P.S. Frimpong has also lived in Canada, but we're not sure if they even have a soccer team.

Swimming at the pool, cruising with the windows down, shooting sticks of dynamite. You know, the stuff most high school kids do during the summer. When June rolls around, it's time for Explosives Camp at UMR. In addition to shooting dynamite, campers will learn about detonators, underground blasts and mining careers. They'll also learn how to set up a big fireworks display.

Explosives expert Paul Worsey runs the one-of-a-kind camp. UMR offers the nation's only minor in explosives engineering.

Blame the Discovery Channel Canada for another great show about UMR, this one featuring Drs. Summers and Saperstein. The program -- on waterjet technology developed at UMR for mining applications -- already aired on television screens north of the border, but you can watch it here.