A team of Missouri S&T mining and metallurgical engineering students recently won the Metallic Student Design Competition at the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) Annual Conference and Exhibition for the second consecutive year.

“Since we were the returning champions, we were able to come to this year’s competition with more confidence and a strong drive to stay on top,” says Garrett Bell, a senior in mining engineering from Loogootee, Indiana, and the team’s captain. “Missouri S&T has an incredible legacy as one of the best universities for mining and metallurgy, and I feel extremely proud to be captain of a team that keeps that tradition of excellence going.

“We all worked well together to reach one common goal, and it was great to see everyone’s different strengths shine.”

The contest was broken into two phases, with 18 teams from around the world competing in Phase 1 on their own campuses in fall 2024. Eleven of those teams saw Phase 1 to completion. Then, the top six teams were invited to participate in Phase 2 in late February as part of the SME conference in Denver.

For this year’s competition, the teams designed a lithium hard rock mine for the Pilbara region of western Australia.

In Phase 1, they evaluated potential mineral deposits and developed flowsheets and processes for the mine. For Phase 2, they were presented with changes in the market forecasts and determined the mine’s economic feasibility with the different conditions. 

Other members of  Missouri S&T’s team include:
Patrick Hatfield, a senior in mining engineering from Kirkwood, Missouri
Toby Lonning, a senior in mining engineering from Rolla, Missouri
Thomas Barnes, a sophomore in mining engineering from Center, Missouri
Evan Barth, a senior in metallurgical engineering from Rolla, Missouri
Ayden Yahn, a senior in metallurgical engineering from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Dr. Alexander Douglas, an assistant teaching professor of mining and explosives engineering at S&T, is the team’s advisor. 

For more information about Missouri S&T’s mining and explosives engineering programs, visit mee.mst.edu. To learn more about the university’s metallurgical engineering programs, visit mse.mst.edu.

About Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit  www.mst.edu.