The profession of mining engineering encompasses a wide spectrum of engineering work –  from mine evaluation to industrial control. For instance, mining engineers may undertake the evaluation of a new mining project as soon as the discovery and geological confirmation of a mineral deposit have been completed. If such a mineral deposit is found to be viable mining engineers will design the mine to exploit the mineral deposit. Where the mineral deposit is close to the surface an opencast mine will be preferred but for deeper deposits an underground mine will be planned. Mining engineers will coordinate the construction of such a mine and bring it to the stage where it starts producing.

Mining engineers have a wide range of opportunities, namely mining (mine management, technical management of ventilation, rock mechanics, rock breaking, mineral resources), financial evaluation and management (mine design, mine financial evaluation, mine feasibility studies, mine environmental impact studies), mining and drilling contracting (mining, tunnelling, shaft sinking, mine development, ore evaluation), mining research, mining equipment design and manufacture, mining marketing and mining administration at national, provincial or international level.

• The following persons will be considered for admission: candidates who are in possession of a certificate that is deemed by the University to be equivalent to the required Grade 12 certificate with university endorsement; candidates who are graduates from another tertiary institution or have been granted the status of a graduate of such an institution; and candidates who are graduates of another faculty at the University of Pretoria. 
• Life Orientation is excluded when calculating the APS. 
• Grade 11 results are used in the conditional admission of prospective students. 
• A valid qualification with admission to degree studies is required.
• Minimum subject and achievement requirements, as set out below, are required. 
• Conditional admission to the four-year programmes in the School of Engineering is only guaranteed if a prospective student complies with ALL the requirements below. ?
• Note: Candidates who do not comply with the minimum requirements, set out above, but who have obtained a minimum APS of 30, an achievement level of 5 for English, 6 for Mathematics and 5 for Physical Science, will be considered for conditional admission to either the four-year programme or the ENGAGE programme based on the results of the NBT. 
• Admission to ENGAGE in the School of Engineering will be determined by the results of the NBT, NSC results, an achievement level of 5 in Mathematics and 5 in Physical Science, as well as an achievement level of 5 in English, together with an APS of 30. 
• Students may apply directly to be considered for the ENGAGE programme.
• Tuition will be presented in English only.

* Cambridge A level candidates who obtained at least a D in the required subjects, will be considered for admission. International Baccalaureate (IB) HL candidates who obtained at least a 4 in the required subjects, will be considered for admission.