Doe Run Offers Rare Experience to Potential Industry Leaders at Explosives Camp

Contact: Christi Dixon

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DOE RUN OFFERS RARE EXPERIENCE TO POTENTIAL

INDUSTRY LEADERS AT EXPLOSIVES CAMP

Missouri University of Science and Technology Camp Participants Tour Company Mines

ST. LOUIS (Sept. 8, 2009) – A handful of high school students from the Missouri University of Science & Technology’s (MS&T) Explosives Camp recently received the rare opportunity to witness a real mine blast with The Doe Run Company. Doe Run opened up its Brushy Creek Mine during the summer to host prospective students interested in mining engineering careers.

The Doe Run blast served as one of the Explosives Camp’s main attractions, all aimed at giving students a behind-the-scenes look at how explosives are used in the industries of mining, demolition, and entertainment. Approximately 20 students attended each of the three summer camps, which also include field trips to Capital Quarries, Premier Pyrotechnics, Fort Leonard Wood and Scott Air Force Base.

“Dr. Paul Worsey has worked hard to create a very unique camp to stimulate interest in the profession,” said Greg Sutton, an alumni of the university, industry veteran and general mine manager at Doe Run’s Southeast Missouri Mining and Milling Division. “Giving the students a hands-on underground mine experience is the least we can do to help this effort. As worldwide demand for minerals and metals continues to grow, mining engineers will be essential to fulfilling this demand.”

Dr. Paul Worsey, professor of mining engineering at MS&T, started the Explosives Camp in 2004 with a mere three students, to serve as an alternative to a summer research camp. In 2006, the camp doubled in size, and in 2008 and 2009, increased to three camps. Today, the camp stands as the first and only of its kind. Since the inception, Doe Run has played a vital educational role for the camp.

“The students get to go a thousand feet underground to explore miles of huge tunnels. We visit Doe Run mines because they’re known throughout the world as some of the safest and most advanced,” Dr. Worsey said.

“For nearly 100 years, Doe Run and its predecessors have cared for Missouri mines, and through blasting technology, have extended the life of the mines with techniques that allow the company to detonate large blasts remotely and safely,” Dr. Worsey added. “By using this technology, Doe Run is even able to blast and extract lead from the pillars as they retreat from each section of the mine. It’s a complex operation that really engages the students.”

Doe Run relies on a naturally stable environment, proactive safety initiatives, engineering controls and more than a century of expertise to maintain its underground mines. Situated beneath the foothills of the Ozarks, Doe Run’s mines consist mainly of dolomite, a rock with inherent geologic properties for strength. In its six active mines, Doe Run employs a room-and-pillar mining method in which rock pillars (up to 35 feet wide and 120 feet tall) support the ground above.

“We appreciate Doe Run’s support, and their dedication to fostering future interest in the field,” Dr. Worsey said. “Going underground with Doe Run is truly a unique experience. The students are thrilled by the fact that there are miles and miles of not just mines – but enormous trucks, warehouses, maintenance shops, professional space and more – buzzing around the clock. You would never know they were there from driving along the public highway or walking through the forest above.”

Doe Run is a longtime supporter of MS&T’s mining engineering program.

Doe Run’s Mine Rescue Teams participate in the university’s annual Southeast Missouri Mine Rescue Contest, and the company has supported several scholarships. Dozens of Doe Run mining engineers, including Sutton, have either attended or graduated from MS&T.

About The Doe Run Company

Based in St. Louis, The Doe Run Company is a privately held natural resources company and the largest integrated lead producer in the Western Hemisphere. Dedicated to environmentally responsible mineral and metal production, Doe Run operates one of the world’s largest, single-site lead recycling facilities, located in Boss, Mo. The Doe Run Company and its subsidiaries deliver products and services necessary to provide power, protection and convenience. Doe Run has operations in Missouri, Washington and Arizona. For more information, visit www.doerun.com.

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