History of Department
In years 1966-1967, it was planned by Hacettepe University and General Directorate of Mineral Research and Development (MTA) to establish a research institute for planetary sciences. This purpose resulted in the foundation of Planetary Sciences Institute comprised of two programmes (Mining and Geology). MTA provided teaching Staff and laboratory facilities to this institute for research and education. Considering the priorities at that moment, mining programme commenced mineral processing based education activities in 1968.

The education which started under the Institute for Planetary Sciences continued for 5 years. In the year 1974, Mining and Geological Engineering departments were founded instead of the Institute for Planetary Sciences. The language of education being Turkish (Türkçe) at the beginning was changed to English in the year 1997.

Hacettepe University Department of Mining Engineering has a distinguished place among the mining engineering departments in Turkey. The course have been designed to train mining engineers who have thorough knowledge of basic engineering, prospecting, exploration and processing, together with a good command of English and computer skills. There are two divisions in the department, namely, Mining and Mineral Processing.

Teaching, Learning and Assessment
The curriculum is prepared in such a way that each student can concentrate on a certain aspect of mining engineering. Theoretical courses are supplemented with laboratory and computer applications. Valuable experience is gained by participation in the frequent day trip fieldwork where the students have a chance to put the theories into context with actual fieldwork examples. Furthermore, the final year students are encouraged to carry out projects using the laboratory and computing facilities and a recently developed scheme will allow successful undergraduates to take part in industrial projects carried out by the Department. The Department has mineral processing, rock mechanics, mine ventilation, industrial raw materials, surface chemistry and chemical analysis laboratories. The students have to complete two summer practices of 40 work days' duration for graduation.

Careers
Graduates are employed in various metal and coal mines, processing plants, quarries, marble industry, ceramic industry, tunnelling and cement industry as well as government and engineering offices. They also find jobs in various countries such as Canada, Australia and Republic of South Africa.

Further Study
The Department offers a broad range of postgraduate research opportunities leading to the degree of MSc and PhD in two and three year full time study respectively. Research reflects the requirements of the industry, and the students are sponsored by various governmental research councils. The postgraduate research programme is available in rock mechanics, excavation engineering, mining geostatistics, reclamation, comminution, classification and separation processes, solid-liquid separation, processing of industrial minerals, computer modelling and simulation of mining and processing activities.