Question:
I have been contemplating a career as a Mining Engineer for about a
year now and I would like to get some information from people that
actually work in the industry. I have talked to several different
representatives from Universities and they have stated that they have
high-nineties or 100% placement rates and that due to retirements and
the small number of schools with a mining engineering program that
jobs are readily available. When I search through the Internet
though, I see a lot of people talking about how cyclical the mining
industry is and I seem to see more resumes posted on sites such as
InfoMine than I do jobs. So I am going to post my questions to people
with knowledge of the industry and have nothing to gain (ie. tuition)
from their answers. My questions are:
1. What are the best schools for Mining Engineering, and in particular
mining automation, in Canada, Australia or the US.
2. What is it REALLY like working in the mining industry. I am
interested in finding out about your guys actual experiences with
employment, salaries, and how the companies are to work for.
3. Do you guys get the sense that mining is a vibrant, growth industry
or does the general consensus among Mining Engineers seem to indicate
a contracting industry with limited opportunity.
Answer:
Here is some answers, at least from my persepctive.
1. What are the best schools for Mining Engineering, and in particular
mining automation, in Canada, Australia or the US.
Canda: Queens and U of BC
US: U of Alaska - Fairbanks, U of West Virginia, Penn State, U of Ky, U
Nv - Reno, U of Az,
Oz: Curtin (WA School of Mines), U of Queensland
Note this is in reverse rank order (IMHO) wirth UQ being best.
3. Do you guys get the sense that mining is a vibrant, growth industry
or does the general consensus among Mining Engineers seem to indicate
a contracting industry with limited opportunity.
It is a growth industry, with a large potential, with one caveat - NOT IN
NORTH AMERICA. Tremendous opportunity but mostly in southern hemisphere,
particularly Chile, Peru, Argentina, Austalia, and South Africa.
What is it like, a lot of hard work with minimum resources in isolated
areas, doing dangerous jobs under adverse conditions. But I like it.
As to the companues, each company is different, and no two will treat thier
employees the same.
A few other possibilities for you:
Laurentian (Sudbury, Canada) is ramping up their mining automation lab
quite a bit. They're located right next to Inco so there's a lot of
industry interaction and projects.
http://www.laurentian.ca/lumal/
http://www.laurentian.ca/newsrelease/2002/january2002/jan9_robot.htm
Also, the Australian Centre for Field Robotics at The University of Sydney
has been doing a lot of mining automation work:
http://www.acfr.usyd.edu.au/
IMHO, the best schools in the Eastern U.S. are Penn State and WVU.
The University of Pittsburgh once had a good school, I am not sure of their
status now.
I think the field of mining engineering is a good field to go into. As with
any profession, it has its ups and downs. Have you thought of a co-op
program. I have worked with a number of co-op students over the years that
have ended up with good positions in both government and industry.
You need to examine your career goals. Where do you want to be 10 years
from now? The mining field has a lot of committed professionals in the area
of health and safety. A degree in mining engineering with an advanced
degree in health and safety is a good foundation to build on.
