Do mining engineers have to apply a four year college?

While a four-year college degree is the most common and generally required path to becoming a mining engineer, it's not strictly universally mandated. There might be very rare exceptions, such as:

* Apprenticeships: Some countries or regions might have apprenticeship programs that lead to a mining engineering role, though this is less common than a formal degree. These apprenticeships may still require some formal education beyond high school.

* Extremely Specialized Roles: A highly experienced individual with a significant amount of on-the-job experience in a very niche area of mining might conceivably find a role without a four-year degree, but this is exceptionally rare.

* Legacy Employment: In some cases, long-standing employees in a mining company might have advanced into roles historically without formal degrees, but these situations are becoming increasingly infrequent with the growing professionalism and technical demands of the field.

In summary, while technically there might be very limited exceptions, practically speaking, a four-year college degree in Mining Engineering or a closely related field is absolutely essential for the vast majority of aspiring mining engineers.