Question:
Compare the jobs of a mining inspector and a mining engineer?
Answer:
It may be different in the US, but in Australia a mines inspector is a mining
engineer, employed by the State Government Department of Mines to ensure that
a mine is operating in accordance with legislation and safety rules.
A mine inspector is usually someone employed by the federal or state
government and is required to enforce the laws of his/her agency. They
have no prerequisite education/skills (that I am aware of). The
inspectors I have dealt with have been nearly technically illiterate,
but (like some police officers) seem bent on an ego/power trip over the
"big corporations". Many are just "good 'ol boys" passing their
remaining years until retirement. A few, the ones that are easiest to
deal with and are the most helpful, are well trained/qualified. BTW -
the laws they are supposed to uphold are generally vague and just a
compendium of do's/dont's that have been aggregated over the years,
usually after a post-mortem examination of some incident.
A mining engineer, on the other hand, is usually a degreed professional
with a college degree involving geosciences and other basic engineering
skills. Some nondegreed/nonprofessionals I've worked with have gained
significant knowledge through years of experience and could easily be
termed mining engineers. A mining engineer's job is to analyze pertinent
data and decide the most economic methods for doing a mining process.
This could include, but certainly is not limited to, mining systems
selection/design, equipment specification, cost estimation, long term
planning/scheduling, reserves estimation, and a myriad of other topics.
