Thirty-three of Australia’s next generation of mining engineers demonstrated the innovations of the future at the annual “Mission Impossible 2008 – CRCMining Equipment Design Challenge”. After much deliberation by a specialist panel of CRCMining judges, ‘The Turbines’ emerged victorious by a small margin of three points over the second placed team. Their machine design, the ‘Bi-Shearer 360’ is an automated and mobile coal shearer which offers a 100% increase in output as well as reduced costs and safety improvements.

The challenge was part of the nine-day Eastern Region Australian Student Mineral Venture, hosted by The AusIMM. Secondary school students in years 10 to 12 were eligible for the venture, which included tours of the Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies (QCAT), the North-South Bypass Tunnel project and operations in Blackwater, Emerald and Rockhampton.

For the challenge, the students were split into four teams and, using Lego, presented their inventions in a lively and entertaining format.