The Vincennes University Board of Trustees Monday approved a contract for $2.074 million dollars to build Indiana’s only underground mining simulation center.
It will be located at VU’s Gibson County Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Logistics.
Krempp Construction of Jasper, was awarded the contract to build the almost 40,000 square-foot mock mine. VU received funding for the project in the state’s biennium budget.
In addition to coal, VU President Chuck Johnson says the new center will be useful for other types of mining as well as for fire and rescue training.
VU officials expect the new facility to attract miners from throughout Indiana as well as Illinois and Kentucky.
V-U is Indiana’s designated recipient of federal grant funding from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration to provide assistance in the training and retraining of Indiana’s miners.
Johnson said construction of the mock mine will take about seven months. He expects construction to begin soon.
