SIAST has renovated a building on its Saskatoon campus to host a new mining program.

The Mining Engineering Technology building officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony this morning.

The repurposed structure includes geology and computer labs as well as traditional study areas.

The first intake of the 25-seat program drew 56 qualified applicants within a matter of months.

SIAST president Larry Rosia says the two-year program will give the students a true-sense of what it’s like to work in the field:

“They’ll study the theory and then labs and shops within the program.  But then they’ll also do a survey camp and field work that will help them apply what they’ve learned in the classroom setting in a real-world learning situation.”

The course will also be devoted to both hard and soft rock mining environments.

The provincial government is contributing $378,000 toward equipment for the program and is also offering additional funding support.