This Sunday, March 25, mucking teams from Missouri University of Science and Technology will travel to England to participate in the 2012 Intercollegiate Mining Competition, which will be hosted next week by the Camborne School of Mines in Cornwall. This is the first time the competition has been held outside the U.S. or Australia.

The annual competition features events based on mining techniques used in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Students participate in events like gold panning, surveying, hand-mucking, hand-steeling, track-standing, Swede sawing and jackleg drilling.

The debris left over from a mining blast is known as a muck pile, and that’s where the term mucking comes from.

Approximately 25 teams from around the world participate. The women from Missouri S&T will be defending their 2011 championship. They also won as recently as 2007 and 2009. Both the men and women won championships in 2004 and 2005.

Members competing for the S&T women include: Lindsay Brandt, a senior in nuclear engineering from Western Springs, Ill.; Amanda Baker, a senior in nuclear engineering from Maquoketa, Iowa; Deanna Fitzgerald, a sophomore in mining engineering from Salisbury, Mo.; Jenna Freese, a junior in mining engineering from Ozark, Mo.; Kelsey Garrett, a sophomore in mining engineering from Wildwood, Mo.; Elizabeth Hunt, a junior in petroleum engineering from Chugiak, Alaska; Lindsay Miller, a junior in petroleum engineering from St. Peters, Mo.; Margaret Newsom, a sophomore in mining engineering from Springfield, Mo.; Katherine Stockdale, a senior in geological engineering from Dixon, Mo.; and Sara Tipton, a junior in geological engineering from Tigard, Ore.

On the men’s side, the following S&T students will be competing in the United Kingdom: Michael Allen, a senior in mining engineering from St. Louis; Matthew Coy, a graduate student in explosives engineering from Lewistown, Mo.; Brent Fremont, a sophomore in mining engineering from Edwardsville, Ill.; Wade Leible, a junior in mining engineering from Perryville, Mo.; Alfred Massey, a senior in geological engineering from Kansas City, Mo.; Derek Moellering, a senior in mining engineering from Rolla; Jeremy Moore, a senior in mining engineering from Lee’s Summit, Mo.; Patrick Niemuth, a junior in mining engineering from Ballwin, Mo.; David Phelps, a senior in mining engineering from Rolla; Kevin Phelps, a senior in mining engineering from Rolla; and Tristan Worsey, a graduate student in explosives engineering from Rolla.