Mining engineers inspect geologically unsafe areas in mining developments.
Mining engineers are at the front line of the industry which supplies the raw materials on which economies run, such as coal, gas, ore and minerals. They conduct surveys of mining, and potential mining, areas to determine the validity and safety of extraction. Mining engineers also fabricate plans for the support systems and mining processes for a particular mine to ensure that the cost of material extraction is allied to maximum safety precautions for mining workers.
Average Salary
For the purposes of its national employment survey carried out in May 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics classified mining engineers alongside other geological engineers and those involved in mining safety engineering. It concluded that the mean annual salary across the profession was $87,350, which translates into an hourly pay rate of $41.99. Those in the top 10 percent of earners received over $129,700, while their contemporaries in the bottom 10 percent earned less than $48,950 per year. As of August 2011, Indeed.com put the annual wage for a mining engineer, specifically, at $91,000.
Salary by Industry
According to the bureau's May 2010 figures, the largest numbers of mining engineers worked within architectural, engineering and related services. It gave the yearly wage for this sector of the industry as $86,030. Pay levels differed between types of mining. Individuals working in oil and gas extraction earned a mean wage of $116,280. This compares with mean wages of $83,650 for metal ore mining and $80,060 for engineers involved in the extraction of coal. Petroleum and coal products manufacturing paid a mean salary of $105,850, while engineers employed within non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying earned $76,090 per year.
Salary by Location
Location also impacts a mining engineer's salary. The bureau listed Illinois as the state in which, across all industry sectors, an engineer was likely to receive the highest wages, with a yearly mean salary of $119,870. California and Texas were also comparatively lucrative states, with respective mean earnings of $115,660 and $111,060 annually. Alaska and Colorado were reported to have similar wages levels -- $94,820 and $93,880, respectively -- while Pennsylvania was among the states with the lowest levels of pay, at a mean salary of $64,010.
Outlook
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that employment opportunities for mining engineers will increase by approximately 15 percent over the decade from 2008 to 2018. This compares with a projected growth rate of between 7 percent and 13 percent across all occupations in the country. Demand for minerals and natural resources is expected to rise, and this, coupled with the large numbers of engineers predicted to retire from the profession and whose positions will need to be filled, will create numerous vacancies. Wage levels for the occupation should remain very competitive.
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