American college students don't often understand the connection between mining and their everyday lives - but many of them are curious to learn more about the industry.

This was one of our key takeaways from interviews conducted with students at Mines for Limitless Minds, the University of Arizona School of Mining & Mineral Resources careers fair which took place on November 8. BHP, Nevada Gold Mines, Freeport McMoRan, Weir Minerals and Metso were among the more than 30 exhibitors at the event. 

Kim Ryan, the school's communications manager, interviewed students from non-mining degrees as part of a collaboration with Mining Journal, which provided the questions. 

"[Mining] is just one of those things going on in the background that's like really important, but it's an everyday thing so you're not really thinking about it," said Jorge Arvayo, a chemical engineering major from Tucson, Arizona.

Sierra Blaser, a journalism major from Port Hueneme, California, expressed similar sentiment. "I feel like a lot of my friends don't really know much about mining. It's definitely more known in Arizona than it is in California, just because of how big an industry it is here. [But] I feel it's not something that's really talked about much."

Devyn Netz, a physiology major from Sierra Madre, California, said many of her peers knew about mining from the popular video game Minecraft.

In real life, Netz said, "there are a lot of different mines for different elements and substances. It's not just one thing, you can't put it in one category. I'd say a lot of people don't understand that there's way more to mining than just one thing."

Some of the students acknowledged that the careers fair had changed their perceptions of mining.

Landen Martinez, a geoscience major from Glendale, Arizona, said that "prior to today, my impression of mining was a guy in a dark tunnel going at it with a pick-axe."

But after attending the fair, he now recognised that there was more to the industry. "There's definitely a lot more equipment, a lot more just science behind it."

Most of the students expressed interest in exploring careers in the industry. Some, such as Martinez, Arvayo and electrical and computer engineering major Oscar Lopez, observed that their specialisations are in demand among miners. Others, such as Blaser, business major Andrea Anderson, and marketing and information systems major Natalia Perez-Rojas, expressed potential interest in working in the corporate side of the industry.