Gold rush for Camborne School of Mines students in prestigious competition

Students at the Camborne School of Mines are celebrating a golden achievement after they secured double victories in an international competition focusing on heritage mining techniques of yesteryear.

Both the Men’s and Women’s teams representing CSM secured their respective overall titles at the 47th Intercollegiate International Mining Games, which were held at King Edward Mine, near Camborne, last weekend.

It is the first time a CSM Women’s side has won the competition, while the Men retained the title they last won in 2018.

It capped a celebratory ‘home games’ for CSM, which drew 45 teams from countries including the United States of America, Canada, Germany and Australia.

The Women’s team won two of their seven individual events and secured three more second-placed finishes to earn the overall title ahead of Montana Tech.

“We are incredibly proud of all the students who competed this weekend, especially our men’s and women’s teams, placing first in their divisions,” said Women’s team captain, Emma Parkin. “We performed our best on the day, and that is a testament to the way we’ve balanced training and studying throughout the year. And we’re already looking forward to defending our title in Arizona next year!”

The Men’s side won three of their events to see off the challenge of Western Australian School of Mines at Curtin University.

Captain Lewis Andrews said: “I had the honour of leading a strong and motivated team of six, and the hard work from all of them made this victory possible. Returning the Men’s trophy to CSM for the first time since 2018 is a moment I’ll never forget.”

The International Mining Games first took place in 1978 to honour the 91 miners who died in the Sunshine Mine disaster of 1972 in Idaho, USA, and to remember miners who have since perished in the line of duty.

The competition aims to celebrate traditional mining techniques, many of which were pioneered in Cornwall. They include:

• Jackleg Drilling (drilling into vertical concrete with an airleg drill)
• Track Laying (setting up and tearing down a section of track)
• Hand Mucking (running a one-tonne ore wagon along a 75-foot track and filling it)
• Swede Sawing (sewing through a six-foot-by-six-foot piece of timber with a bow saw)
• Panning (finding five flattened ball bearings in a pan full of dirt and rock)
• Hand Drilling (drilling into concrete using a hammer and chisel)
• Surveying (using a traditional vernier transit)

This year’s event was also a special celebration for Cornwall as the Games were hosted at the King Edward Mine Museum in Camborne – CSM’s home from 1897-2004.

“It was a privilege to welcome 270 competitors across Men’s, Women’s, Co-Ed and Alumni divisions to Camborne for the 47th Intercollegiate Mining Games,” said this year’s President, and CSM alumnus Joseph McCarthy. “During the three-day event, we were fortunate enough to welcome well over 500 people to the competition grounds, with the weather proving no deterrent to supporters who travelled from afar to cheer on their teams.

“It was a brilliant effort from all of the CSM teams, and for both our Women’s and Men’s sides to bring home the overall trophies is a credit to all their hard work this year.”

The four student CSM teams all benefitted from sponsorship, with Padley and Venables supporting the Camborne Men’s A and Women’s teams, while Barminco-Perenti and Vault Minerals each sponsored a Camborne Co-Ed team. CSM’s alumni made up a further two teams.

Other sponsors of the Games included Cornish Metals, Herrenknecht, Global Mine Design, Deswik, CSM Trust, Aggregate Industries, Springbok Drilling and Raptor Tech.

The Camborne School of Mines is part of the University of Exeter, based at the Penryn Campus in Cornwall. To learn more about the Camborne School of Mines and its world-class programmes, visit the webpage.