Earth Mechanics Institute

The Excavation Engineering and Earth Mechanics Institute (EMI) was established at Colorado School of Mines in 1974 to enhance education and research in the field of excavation technology both for mining and civil underground construction. Over the 30 years of its existence, EMI has developed a suite of physical property tests, cutter and cutterhead evaluation procedures for performance prediction, project costing, and design of mechanical rock excavation tools for all types of mechanical excavators in mining, civil underground construction, and microtunneling. The developed test procedures and the performance/cost prediction models have been validated with extensive field data from excavation and drilling projects around the world.

To learn more, please visit: emi.mines.edu