What does a mining engineer do?

Question

What does a mining engineer do? how much do they get paid approximatly?

Answer 1

A mining engineer has various roles. Most often they work in a drawing and mine plans office, where data from drill cores and geophysical data is used to build up an accurate picture of an ore body or coal seams.

From the gathered data, the Mine engineer plans and organizes the mining of the ore body; they will decide how the ore body is mined (open cast, underground, stopes), where tunnels are drilled and blasted, where the crushing and ore processing machinery is sited and where the tailing ponds goes. Numeracy is required to calculate ore recovery costs and profits and they may need to use AutoCad or specialist mine design software. One specialist niche role is finite element analysis of underground mines, calculating the maximum ore recovering without compromising safety (causing a collapse).

The very best job to aim for is a Super Quarry, the biggest operate for ~100 years, its a well paid job for life.

Answer 2

I am a masters student in mining engineering. its a pretty vast field. it is a combination of a lot of other engineering disciplines such as civil, electrical and mechanical. we have an all-around knowledge of many subjects. like i said before, it is a huge field, but some of the things that a mining engineer might do is designing mines & mine planning (ie when to take out certain blocks of ore at certain times to optimize the value of the mine), rock mechanics (ensuring the mine won't collapse), ventilation (people have to breathe, and machines do not help), mineral economics (analyzing the trends in the market for minerals, and evaluating the potential for a mine). how much you make is entirely dependent on your experience, the company you work for, and the region you work in. typically, we start off around $50-60k but that does not include a bonus. after a couple years, its not uncommon to see $80-100k. The sky is the limit - there is a HUGE demand for mining engineers right now and companies are throwing money at us. It is a great career an I wouldn't do anything else! I've worked all over Canada and in Australia - free flights everywhere. If you love to travel and want the possibility to work anywhere in the world, its a great choice!

Cheers!