In the news
In the news
Drawn by helium-3, lunar mining companies prepare for initial missions
Chris Dreyer, professor of practice in the space resources graduate program, explained the most likely source for helium-3 on the moon is from ilmenite, a titanium-iron oxide that absorbs the gas.
July 29, 2026
Silicon Valley's empire state of mines
Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy, says that Silicon Valley can pour all the capital it wants into new-age mining: It won't change the fact that it's a tough industry plagued by a shrinking labor pool.
July 28, 2026
Physicists disprove decades-old Richard Feynman theory on 'silly' sprinklers
Brennan Sprinkle, assistant professor of applied mathematics and statistics, was a collaborator on a new study that disproved the age old "silly" sprinklers theory.
July 27, 2026
La Plata joins DOE mineral AI research
Metallic Minerals Corp.'s La Plata project has been selected as one of two initial test systems for a U.S. DOE-supported research initiative led by Mines to apply AI to critical minerals exploration.
July 27, 2026
AI's hidden mineral crisis: The next bottleneck isn't chips-it's the industrial supply chain
Morgan Bazilian co-authors this piece which notes that for several strategic minerals—plus rare earths—the greatest supply risk lies in processing, not geological scarcity.
July 26, 2026
Water hauling is the new chore no rancher asked for
Adrienne Marshall's study found climate change made the drought in the Western U.S. 14 times more likely in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Marshall is a computational hydrologist and an assistant professor of geology/geological engineering.
July 25, 2026
Climate change has made Colorado's severe winter drought far more likely, according to new study
Adrienne Marshall, a computational hydrologist and assistant professor of geology and geological engineering, says based on her study she expects droughts to become more common due to human-caused climate change.
July 23, 2026
Severe lack of snow this past winter made more likely by global warming
NPR's Mountain West News Bureau interviewed Adrienne Marshall, a computational hydrologist, about her PNAS study looking at the recent drought across the west.
July 23, 2026
Global warming unmakes winter in the US West
Adrienne Marshall, a computational hydrologist and assistant professor of geology and geological engineering, said it was a ”gut punch” when she discovered how much more frequent extreme global warming-caused snow droughts will likely be.
July 22, 2026
Colorado drought increasingly linked to long-term climate change
Adrienne Marshall, a computational hydrologist, said she hopes her study helps motivate people to think about how they can adapt to and avoid very low snow years.
July 22, 2026
Last winter’s extreme snow drought was a sign of the West’s future, Colorado study finds
Adrienne Marshall, a computational hydrologist and assistant professor of geology and geological engineering, published a study in PNAS connecting the West's severe drought this year to climate change.
July 22, 2026
2026 best value colleges in America
This ranking examined the best value for a student's money based on net price, alumni earnings, graduation rates, and student debt, using data from the U.S. Department of Education and millions of reviews; Mines ranked #48 for Best Value.
July 16, 2026
About Mines
Colorado School of Mines is a public R1 research university focused on applied science and engineering, producing the talent, knowledge and innovations to serve industry and benefit society – all to create a more prosperous future.