Hands-on learning in Nevada

The McCaw School of Mines in Henderson, Nev., has accepted its 35,000th student.

Built at a cost of $2 million, the school is a simulation of a mine that is designed to teach elementary school students about Nevada’s mining industry.

Volunteers help with five field trips per week, and 5,000 students visit the educational facility annually.

Students enter a cavernous structure known as “Gordy’s Jewel of the Desert” and are greeted by an old miner who immediately presents them with hard hats. The simulated underground tour begins with students tracing an ore vein past a blasting face and a series of mannequins dressed as miners.

As part of the attraction, there are interactive displays that involve geology and mining history. There are also displays on modern mining, reclamation projects, and examples of products derived from mined minerals. Throughout Gordy’s Jewel of the Desert, there are mineral samples, computer displays and models of open-pit mining operations.

Children have been visiting the McCaw School of Mines for seven years. Four years ago, the facility underwent a $1-million expansion, which resulted in the addition of a simulated mining town, visitor’s centre, and classroom/lecture theatre. The addition of the mining town has allowed the school to separate classes into smaller groups and provide additional, hands-on experience.

The first concept of the school was built as a ppier-mach model of a mine tunnel built into the corner of a fourth-grade classroom. Local teachers Janet Bremer and Richard Rogers of the Gordon McCaw Elementary School were instructing a course on Nevada mining and felt the model would give fourth-grade students a glimpse of what it might be like in a mine. After some staff-room discussions, the plan was launched, and the mine now sits behind the elementary school.

The school is named after the late Gordon McCaw, who was born and raised on a sheep farm in South Wales, Australia. An uncle brought McCaw to Nevada when he was in his early 20s, and he eventually earned a degree from the University of Nevada. He taught in the state for a number of years.

Funding and maintenance of the school are administered through the McCaw School of Mines Foundation, which is supported by private companies, including Barrick Gold, Independence Mining, Newmont Gold and Placer Dome.

— The preceding is from an information bulletin published by the Reno-based Nevada Mining Association.