JUNEAU - Imagine the pressure of operating a piece of heavy underground mining equipment for the first time. One false move could potentially cause injury, equipment down time and thousands of dollars in damage, not to mention shattered pride and a lost job.
Thanks to a new state-of-the-art simulator recently acquired by the University of Alaska Southeast, prospective miners can virtually test drive an Atlas Copco Boltec MC bolting rig, an Atlas Copco ST14 mucker or a Sandvik TORO 40D haul truck, all with the security of a restart button.
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| University of Alaska Southeast Center for Mine Training coordinator Colby Shibler observes as Sen. Mark Begich operates the center's new mine equipment simulator. Photo by Libby Stringer. |
The TORO simulator was utilized during a show and tell with U.S. Sen. Mark Begich at the UAS Technical Education Center on March 4. With the guidance of UAS Center for Mine Training coaches, Begich drove a loaded TORO along the virtual mine's main haulage, successfully dumping his ore load at the virtual crusher.
Upon completion, Begich received a printout containing an evaluation of his performance. Were he a student enrolled in the mine training program, the printout would go in his file for long-term progress tracking. Continue reading full article at capitalcityweekly.com here.
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