James J. Szalankiewicz

James J. Szalankiewicz, PE, PLS, began his fifty-two-year mining career with the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company in 1972 as a mine surveyor and ultimately as a division engineer. In addition, he served as a part-time instructor of Mineral, Land, and Mine Surveying at Penn State’s New Kensington Campus.
In 1982, he became chief engineer for Darmac Coal Company, overseeing the exploration, permitting, and design of five underground mines, numerous surface mines, and one coal preparation plant before forming TJS Mining, Inc. and Penn View Mining, Inc. in 1990. There, he led all mining operations and engineering designs associated with five underground mining operations and a coal preparation facility, overseeing approximately 125 employees. In 2007, he started Szalankiewicz Engineering, PC. He continued as part-owner of S & S Slides, Inc., a coal mine conveyor and design company with five U.S. patents.
Following the Quecreek Mine rescue in 2002, Szalankiewcz was appointed to the Governor’s Commission on Abandoned Mine Voids and Mine Safety.
On June 6, 2011, the Senate and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appointed him to the State Registration Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists. He is currently serving his second term.
Szalankiewicz is a member of the Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors, National Society of Professional Surveyors, the National Society of Professional Engineers, the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers, member of the National Society of Mining Engineers since 1982, and the Pennsylvania Coal Association where he was a past president.