The Department for Underground Mining Methods and Machinery is led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Oliver Langefeld since 2002.

The endeavor of this department is to provide world-class education and doing excellent research in tight cooperation with national and international partners from academia and industry. We use the latest didactic methods and provide hands-on experience to educate tomorrow’s top researchers and leaders of the mining industry. Hence, we have a strong research focus on solving real world issues. However, while conducting basic research the main goal remains to emphasize versatile applicability. The research fields are: 

• Underground mine planning, production and logistics
• Automation of extraction, haulage and transport systems
• Health and safety in mining, especially mine ventilation and dust control
• Engineered barrier systems
• Direct Methanol Fuel Cells