The WASM Wallabies and WASM Wombats competed in the 40th Intercollegiate Mining Competition at the Camborne School of Mines in England earlier this month, with the WASM Wombats Women's Team winning for the first time in Mining Games history.
The Ausdrill Wombats came a close second overall to the hosts, while both Wallabies teams beat their personal best results, and the WASM Alumni team placed as the overall winners of the competition.
40 teams from mining schools around the world competed in this year's event including the United States, Australia, Brazil, United Kingdom, as well as new teams from the Netherlands and Germany.
The Mining Games was established in 1978 in memory of the 1972 Sunshine Mine disaster in Idaho. The annual event honours fallen miners from around the world and highlights the need for a continued focus on protecting the lives of every person working in mining.
WASM Wallabies Vice President Marxes Mortera said the teams competed in seven traditional mining events including track construction, gold panning, hand steel, mucking, survey-ing, swede saw and air legging.
"Overall the Integrated Industrial Wallabies and Saracen Wallabies didn't place in any of the events, but we did achieve our personal best results during the competition," Marxes said.
"Nine members of the team competed for the first time, and for us to do well throughout the events has given us the motivation for next year.
"It was great to see the WASM Wombats from Kalgoorlie-Boulder do so well," Marxes concluded.
The WASM Wallabies is a student run organisation, founded in 2006 and based at Curtin University’s Bentley Campus in Perth, Western Australia. The WASM Wombats is a student run organisation, based at the WA School of Mines in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
The gold industry has always thrown their support behind the WASM Wombats and WASM Wallabies with this year's sponsors including Ausdrill, Saracen Mineral Holdings, St Barbara, Northern Star Resources, Gold Fields Australia and Ramelius Resources.
