Mining Engineering

at UBC's

Vancouver Campus

Mining engineers focus on finding ways to extract minerals or metals from the earth. Their expertise in mining, mineral processing, and mine waste management is highly sought after around the world, wherever mines are located. UBC’s Mining Engineering program integrates courses on engineering principles, earth sciences, and mining and mineral processing with content covering health, safety, management, economics, and environmental and social issues.

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Program information

  • Campus: Vancouver
  • Faculty: Faculty of Applied Science (Engineering)
  • Degree: Bachelor of Applied Science (Engineering)
  • Length 4 yrs
  • Co-op Yes
    You can combine your studies with full-time, paid work at top local and international organizations.
  • Honours No
    You can study intense specialization in a single field.

Mining Engineering is concerned with the extraction and processing of ores containing valuable minerals or metals. To become a mining engineer, you need a thorough knowledge of general engineering principles, followed by the study of courses specific to mining and mineral processing. These courses are designed to cover a wide and diverse range of subjects in order to meet the challenges faced by the global mining industry. The program’s cross-disciplinary approach to mining is aimed at reducing the environmental impact of mining operations, improving the social impacts of mining, and increasing the efficiency of aspects of mineral extraction such as energy and water usage.

Campus features

UBC Coal & Mineral Processing Laboratory is fully equipped for teaching and research. The Department of Mining Engineering at UBC has made a commitment to foster responsible mining practices, and to produce mining engineers able to meet the complex challenges of sustainable approaches.

Your future

Your career opportunities will vary widely across a range of fields including mineral exploration, mine design and management, banking and venture capital, mining equipment and manufacturing, mineral and metal production and processing, environmental consulting, energy and utilities, technical sales and support, and others.

Program requirements

English-language requirements

English is the language of instruction at UBC. All prospective students must demonstrate English-language competency prior to admission. There are numerous ways to meet the English Language Admission Standard.

General admission requirements

IB Diploma Programme

  • Completed IB Diploma, including at least three Higher Level courses.

IB Certificate Courses

  • IB Certificate courses (Standard and Higher Level) may be used in an admissions average if you are graduating from a recognized high school curriculum that can be used as your basis of admission.
  • IB Math Applications and Interpretations SL, or IB Math Studies, do not satisfy the math requirement for admission to UBC’s science-based programs, the Faculty of Management, the UBC Sauder School of Business, or the Vancouver School of Economics.

Degree-specific requirements: Applied Science (Engineering)

  • IB Math Analysis and Approaches SL or HL, or IB Math Applications and Interpretations HL. (IB Math Applications and Interpretations SL, or IB Math Studies, are not acceptable.)
  • IB Chemistry 
  • IB Physics 
  • Academically strong candidates missing either IB Chemistry or IB Physics may be evaluated on a case-by-case basis

Related courses

The following subject categories are particularly relevant for this degree. Consider taking courses in these areas in your junior year and senior year.

  • Language Arts
  • Mathematics and Computation
  • Sciences
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