Overview

Mining and metallurgy are interrelated professional disciplines dealing with the extraction and processing of various mineral deposits from the earth, such as coal, petroleum, metallic and non-metallic materials.

Metals and minerals form a significant part of our daily lives. Utensils used in households, domestic appliances, jewellery and also automobiles, aircraft and rocket bodies are composed of a variety of metals. Even the rods used in orthopedic surgery for healing fractured bones are made from metal.

There are, however, limited openings for women in this field, as mining is exclusively open to men. Women are prohibited under law to work underground. However, women can train as metallurgists and work in production or in the marketing of metals, minerals and metal products.

Mining deals with the location and extraction of useful mineral substances, metals and ores from places of their natural occurrence in the earth's crust. Metallurgy, on the other hand, deals with the

processing of these substances for use or for developing new types of alloys, which are used for specific end products.