Mining Engineer (excluding Petroleum)
What the work is
Plans and directs the engineering aspects of locating and extracting minerals from the earth.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Plans and designs mining operations, including the location and layout of the mine development
- Researches and improves the efficiency and safety of mining methods and equipment
- Monitors and evaluates mining operations to ensure compliance with safety and environmental regulations
- Assesses mineral reserves and analyses production costs to determine the viability of mining projects
- Conducts geological surveys and analyses data to identify mineral deposits
- Optimises procedures to extract raw materials from the ground using blasting, drilling and other excavation methods
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a mine site in outback Australia, with a planning office, a pit and a camp. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A plan you worked on for months is carried out on the ground exactly as designed
- A tricky area is mined safely because the whole team talked it through first
- You walk the pit at dawn and see what a few lines on a screen became
Hard days
- Rain closes the roads and the production plan has to be rebuilt overnight
- Long rosters away from family, and a lot of time in a small camp
- A plan that is cheaper conflicts with what the safety team will accept
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 243631, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.