SAHUARITA, Ariz. (KGUN) — There’s an unusual classroom outside Sahuarita. It’s a mine, about two hundred feet deep, operated by the University of Arizona as a training ground for mining engineers.
Now U of A is one of a handful of schools the US Department of Energy has given grants to help enhance production of metals like copper that are deemed essential for national security.
It’s a challenging field and students say they have a hundred percent chance of a job in mining when they graduate.
In an interview lit just by the lights on our helmets, student Caroline Wichers said mining runs in her family.
“My grandpa was a mining engineer and when I came to U of A I wasn’t exactly sure what major I wanted to do in engineering and I decided I really enjoy the whole process of extracting metals from ores and getting them so we use them everyday”
There’s a special guest for this day in the mine: Audrey Robertson. She's an assistant secretary in the US Department of Energy. She says she’s working to help the US extract more of our natural resources; and the Energy Department had some news for U of A. The mining program is getting a $1.7 million dollar grant to develop more efficient ways to extract more copper from raw copper ore.
She says, “Arizona electrified the world in the first industrial revolution. It was Arizona copper mined and produce here that created electricity across the United States."
But she says that was a hundred years ago. The world has changed, and the US is not the leading copper producer anymore. She says our adversaries are, and technology from places like U of A will help the US win the AI race and the next industrial revolution.
——-
Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
