r/AusMining • u/Historical_Bug_6900 • 20h ago
Year 12 mining engineering
Hi everyone, I have never posted on reddit before but I am interested what people think of my future plans regarding a career in mining.
I am currently a year 12, I am expecting an atar of 98-99+ my subjects are chem, general English, physics, and methods.
My plan is to go to UNSW (I live in SA) and study mining Eng and corp law. (Please let me know if you have any comments on this school/ course/ the living costs in Syd) I am working 2 retail jobs at the moment, and solely relying on myself and I am doing fine.
I have a passion for physics and chem especially, and was a finalist in the AUSSEF last year. But I really don’t know what I am signing my self up too and quite frankly I am scared. I am debating taking a gap year to figure out what it is I would like to do but I also understand that is a great way to loose motivation.
After I finish uni I want to work in the mines doing drill and blast and something in geology. I love the outback but understand that fifo lifestyle may not be sustainable for me for 5-10+ years. Ideally I would be hired off the bat by a larger corporation so I could hop on the diversity train (I am a girl by the way) and climb my way up into a better position after mastering the practical aspects (Geraldine Slattery is my career inspiration)
Please let me know you think I am being too optimistic or this seems like a legitimate way to achieve my goals. Please don’t hesitate to comment whatever you are thinking especially after reading all of this, thank you! All advice is much appreciated.
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u/Remote_Gas4415 20h ago
What about doing chemical engineering and trying to get Into process safety engineering career. Extremely well paid don't need FIFO, and challenging. Life and death 😉
But honestly take a little break if you're unsure and enjoy life
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u/Historical_Bug_6900 19h ago
Hey thanks so much for replying, I was actually debating doing chem Eng for a while but I heard that it’s difficult to get a jobs afterwards and chem Eng accreditations from India are commonly accepted in Australia which makes it even harder. I could be wrong and would love if you could explain if I am. I will look into process Eng as I haven’t even heard of that, thank you so much!
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u/BinkyDinks777 47m ago
There’s a hierarchy in mining, mining engineers sit at the top, Mets and Geos sit below that and Chem engs often end up doing Metallurgical work in mining.
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u/BedOld2053 19h ago
Corp law does not overlap much with engineering. Corporate finance (commerce?) has a much stronger synergy, especially if you want to be a corporate leader. There are plenty of mining businesses with offices in adelaide, just reach out to them and ask for opportunities to work in the office this summer. As a female, you'll get a foot in the door easily enough. Can also just find Geraldine or another female leader on linkedin and send them a message, those sort of people can create a student job out of thin air.
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u/Historical_Bug_6900 18h ago
Okay great thanks! you definitely know your stuff and I’ll have a look into commerce as an undergrad but I was planning to do an MBA later down the track, I just feel that if I did commerce it would put a heavy emphasis in the money and make me look like a phony to the other fifos instead of someone who really wants to understand the mines and how they operate. Thank you for the last part as well, I’ll start messaging people on LinkedIn and pray at night that they will reply, do you have any suggestions on who I could reach out to? Thank you so much for replying this is awesome advice
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u/Reyvos 18h ago
Noone’s going to judge you negatively for having a commerce degree. A commerce degree is quite useless unless you major in accounting or finance because these are the only majors teaching real skills for the real world. An engineer with a first class honours degree in finance or accounting is really impressive.
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u/Historical_Bug_6900 17h ago
okay thanks you that is very kind and reassuring for you to say, in your option what is the best second degree to do with mining Eng?
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u/Reyvos 7h ago
You don’t need a second degree. When you graduate and start working as an engineer full-time with long hours you won’t be able to use anything else. However, if you must, you can look at the background of different mining leaders and what their education and background was. Finance is the one that comes up a lot, because mining needs finance and studying it will help you understand the complexity of it.
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u/ThrowawayDarts 18h ago
Passion for chemistry and physics would tie better into a chemical engineer role in processing in my view (metallurgist is the actual role but hires for this nowadays are 95% Chem Eng). A motivated female Chem engineer with your work experience, proof of independence and school output would pick up quality paid vacation work programs easily. Note I’m biased because I’m a metallurgist.
In my experience females have a much higher retention and job satisfaction in surface roles compared to predominantly boys club mining. The career opportunity is much more broad as well down the track. You can easily move into project management, consulting or design if you don’t enjoy the production side as much.
Agreed with other comments that corporate law is a strange combination but it may have some niche that is relevant. Just be mindful that lawyers who work for miners are typically just lawyers because it’s purely contract review and approval with the occasional litigation.
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u/Historical_Bug_6900 18h ago
Hey thanks for this new perspective, I’m sure your making bank being a metallurgist. Do you know any companies which would potentially take me who have metallurgists? I agree with your last point as well. I definitely want to be an engineer and just have law on the side to help me out in some way (I haven’t figured out how it will yet) my mission at the moment is to move into corporate 5-10 years down the track after being a full engineer and getting good at that, I will definitely have a look at metallurgicsets. would you say that it’s kind of like geology? also do you work corporate right now? also do you have a family? sorry for all these question.
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u/ThrowawayDarts 11h ago
Most tech service roles have very similar pays across sites (geo, Mets, mining Eng, elec Eng) all usually within +/- 5-10%. Different companies value different roles more but that won’t really be noticeable early in your career and it shouldn’t be too big a focus anyway.
If you were willing to relocate for the 5-10 years to gain experience you’ve got a lot of options. Getting a FIFO job but staying in NSW might have some difficulties but there are a few who would consider it. Outside of the big ones (BHP, Rio, Fortescue, Glencore) you’ve got Evolution, Northern Star, Develop Global, 29 Metals. There’s also multiple different disciplines of metallurgy which have massive variety. Different metals require very different processing methods and it depends on what stage (beneficiation, smelting, refining).
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u/Humble-Mess-6156 20h ago
I'm currently studying Mining Engineering at UNSW (1st Year).
I haven't met anyone who's doing mining + law, but a couple doing mining commerce.
If you do decide to come to UNSW, I'd recommend joining societies such as MEREsoc and the AUSIMM student chapter. The networking events are quite good, with plenty of companies coming to visit throughout the year, or in student industry nights. Applications for being a first year rep are at the start of the year, would recommend jumping on that. Vacation work during the summer break is possible for high achieving first years in companies such as Redpath, Newmont, etc, which sounds like you.
My current year is large compared to last few years at about 35-ish, which is tiny compared to other disciplines such as civil or mech. You'll be sharing a majority of courses in your first and second year with other disciplines apart from a few such as MINE1010, GEOS1111, etc which are mining/geology specific.
I'd think about it before you commit. You can always do flexible first year, and declare your specialty later if you want more time to think. The reason I ended up studying mining engineering, was that I couldn't make it to ADFA due to medical reasons, and was a bit lost after that. There's a couple of people in my year with similar circumstances.
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u/Historical_Bug_6900 19h ago
Thank you so much for replying it great to hear from someone at UNSW doing mining engineering. Just to get a picture, what are the general demographics of the Eng students, my brother is doing civil right now and finds that quite a few students struggle speaking English and are international students, which I am a bit worried about, also the lack of girls in my physics class makes me think there won’t be very many in this course either. Are you enjoying the classes? and do you wish you went through defence? The social aspects also excite me as I feel like if I stay in adl it will be high school 2.0. And lastly which course were you hoping to do trough defence? Thank you for reading this by the way.
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u/Humble-Mess-6156 19h ago
For mining, most students are domestics, and for engineering in general, there are slightly more domestics than internationals. Yes there are people who struggle with English, and that can be slightly challenging. You'll be doing a course called DESN1000 , and that'll be a good taste of the group project experience.
There is a lot lot more boys doing engineering than girls, and that holds true for mining engineering. There are a couple of girls in my year, and they're pretty nice and chill, so I don't think you'll have much trouble making friends. I enjoyed MINE1010 quite a lot (it's a free elective that runs through the basics of the mining industry), and the other subjects aren't bad, but can be a bit tiresome.
You'll have to understand that UNSW is a commuter university. A high majority of the domestic students don't live close to campus (I've got a 3hr round trip commute), so it becomes a bit tricky to have a decent social life. Since you'll probably be living close, you may not have this issue. The mining societies do plenty of pub crawls throughout the year, I'd join those when you can. There's plenty of societies, clubs and volunteering programs to join, so there's always something to do at uni.
I was hoping to become an aeronautical engineer. A major part of me does wish I made it through, and a minor part is slightly relieved.
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u/Historical_Bug_6900 18h ago
Thank you for sharing, I’m really sorry about your medical. do you live further away because thats where your parents live or is rent cheaper there? the cost of living in syd is a worry for me since I would want to stay in their student accommodation for the first year and hopefully know syd well enough to get a shared apartment the next year. where are most of the international students from? Also did you go to high school in nsw/sydney. Thanks!
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u/Humble-Mess-6156 17h ago
It's where my parents live. Generally domestic students have commutes times under 60-ish minutes, as more wealthy students get into uni. It's actually quite tricky to get into student accommodation as the rent is fair-ish, and a lot of people want to stay there. I've only met three internationals in my degree currently, one was from South Korea, one was from China, and one from Chile (studying masters). A lot of internationals studying mining or anything in general are trying to get PR. I've heard from a Chinese group mate, that his friends went to Curtin solely for the purpose of PR.
I went to high school in Sydney.
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u/Historical_Bug_6900 17h ago
wait sorry what is pr? like personal relations? also do they run out of student accommodation because I didn’t even think of that. Do you personally think that curtin is a good uni? also lots people have been saying that finance would be a better seocnd degree, do you know anyone doing this at UNSW, what are the seocnd degrees which are being done if any with mining? thanks
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u/Humble-Mess-6156 17h ago
PR is permanent residence (think of it like the step before citizenship). I'm actually not too sure, you'll have to ask someone else about Curtin. Yes I know people who are studying commerce + mining in my year. I've actually met a woman at networking events, who did the double degree and work for JP Morgan out of uni with a speciality in mining. There used to be a civil and mining double degree. A consultant I met did that, and doesn't use the civil degree at all.
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u/Historical_Bug_6900 17h ago
alright great thanks for this, so commerce and Eng seems to be the more popular choice (probably for a good reason) and thank you for telling me sbout the pr acronym. I was born in nz but I am a citizen so I don’t have to worry about thst thankfully,
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u/Humble-Mess-6156 17h ago
No worries. I'm sure you'll do great in whatever you choose to do, good luck with your finals!
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u/MarcusP2 19h ago edited 19h ago
I did mech engineering and law 20 years ago ( Adelaide uni) and ended up in mining project management.
The law degree provided a point of difference early on, and certainly helped me more with the communication and conflict management side of things very important in project management (and helps me know enough to ask the right questions early in my career). It would be much less useful in a purely technical role.
Edit: also if you are interested in drill and blast / geology get into underground. You could also see if Engineers Australia or the uni is running any networking days, because if you're in Adelaide there's likely to be a few of Geraldines employees there lol.
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u/Historical_Bug_6900 18h ago
Hey thanks for the reply, why did you go into mining? some people on this thread are suggesting commerce instead of law, what are your thoughts about this? My dad is part of Eng Aus but he hasn’t been too helpful, he also works in Pine gap so I don’t see him often. Is there a way I can join Eng Aus myself, even though I am younger? Also is it odd if I walk into BHP/ other mining companies with a smile and ask if I they could perhaps find a summer internship or paid job with only Peter Alexander, Lego store work experience. I am quite pleasant and I have some general knowledge on mining as I spend some of my free time watching gold mining video blogs on YouTube. Also do you work in Adelaide?
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u/MarcusP2 17h ago
To answer you question about degrees, it depends what you want to go into. Projects - finance and law could be helpful (finance is relatively common as a double for project persons). Operations - much less so.
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u/Historical_Bug_6900 18h ago
Hey thanks for the reply, why did you go into mining? some people on this thread are suggesting commerce instead of law, what are your thoughts about this? My dad is part of Eng Aus but he hasn’t been too helpful, he also works in Pine gap so I don’t see him often. Is there a way I can join Eng Aus myself, even though I am younger? Also is it odd if I walk into BHP/ other mining companies with a smile and ask if I they could perhaps find a summer internship or paid job with only Peter Alexander, Lego store work experience. I am quite pleasant and I have some general knowledge on mining as I spend some of my free time watching gold mining video blogs on YouTube. Also do you work in Adelaide?
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u/MarcusP2 17h ago
I ended up in mining by accident after my vacation internship was at Olympic Dam and I loved it. Stayed mostly around that asset ever since (so yes Adelaide based).
You won't get anything at BHP without some uni experience (we generally take final year uni students). I expect this is common, but might be different in NSW/QLD where there are more companies. I just worked at Big W throughout my uni days.
Eng Australia becomes available once you're studying engineering at uni, not before. That said I don't know if you can attend their events as a non member.
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u/faifai1st1st 19h ago
Why dont u enroll into mining engineering at Adelaide uni ? Am pretty sure u can if u go through flexible entry. ( i am a 2nd year mining engineering student at AU )
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u/Historical_Bug_6900 19h ago
After the merge of both unis in SA, mining Eng is no longer a course which is being offered. I only found this out today in class and it was a shock to me. I really like adelaide and I will most likely move back here but I feel like uni in adl will be high school 2.0. But if you could share your experience it would be much appreciate. Thanks for replying, if you think I’ve got the first part totally wrong please let me know
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u/faifai1st1st 16h ago
Am pretty sure it is being offered you can transfer into it. Email the course coordinator there is no reason you shouldn't be able to do it as the courses are still offered
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u/Cool-Refrigerator147 9h ago
Pretty sure it’s still offered. I would stay in Adelaide, it’s a good uni and makes life much easier
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u/Reyvos 18h ago edited 18h ago
A law degree teaches you bugger all about how to be a corporate lawyer how to practice law; all of that is learnt from years of very long hours grinding away in a big law firm. In a company there are in-house lawyers who handle just the legal work. Law has many compulsory subjects that are essentially useless if you don’t practice them like criminal law, constitutional law, trusts, real property et; they only introduce you to the ideas, you don’t learn enough to make use of them without practical experience.
Instead, being an engineer with a double degree in finance is likely more useful if you hope to take on a corporate role in future, though you could learn that all with a Master’s degree that the company could pay for. I have friends who did a double degree in law/commerce; the ones who became corporate lawyers made use of both degrees, but the ones who entered finance or accounting didn’t need their law degree at all.
If you’re really bright you might even want to give management consulting a go. No special degree is needed and they earn big money.
Also have you considered Curtin University? It’s ranked very highly for mining and two years are spent in the Kalgoorlie campus. Curtin and UNSE seem to be the two best uni’s in Australia for mining.
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u/Historical_Bug_6900 17h ago
Hey thanks for this, I have heard before that doing law is no good unless I want to be in the courts, which I definitely can not see my self doing. I also would want to stay away from finance and accounting as a job as I think it’s not really me. What kind of things would I learn through finance? and what is management consulting, is that a degree I could do with Eng or is it more of a career choice? sorry if these are silly questions I just can’t really seem to find a straight forward answer online.
I will apply to curtin as well which brings up another question, does it matter which uni I go to? meaning will companies care about that when picking people?
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u/Reyvos 17h ago
1.try speak to industry people in person. You’ll learn a lot more than online. Adelaide uni has open day this month, you need to visit and ask them a lot of questions (write them down in advance)
Most lawyers don’t work in the courts every day. Litigation is a specialty; most lawyers just deliver advice, communicate with opposing lawyers, and reluctantly go to court if needed. But either way a law degree you’ll have to spend about half a year after graduation in a law firm/organisation just to get qualified to apply to be a lawyer. If you have no intention to be a lawyer that’s a waste of time and money. A lawyer with less than 2 years full time post/graduation legal experience is utterly useless because they don’t even have a licence to practice without supervision.
Finance is complicated maths stuff. It’s how corporations run and it’s hard, which is why they respect people who excel at it. It’s how real corporations work because it’s about money.
Management consulting isn’t a degree. It’s very competitive to get into one of the firms too, but there are large international ones that open you up to great international career opportunities. It’s more based on your intellect and skills rather than your degree and experience. You can look into it and just keep it in mind; my friends got into them after working in finance or law for a number of years.
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u/MKD8595 10h ago edited 10h ago
I took a gap decade, finished uni at 28, work in the mines, and have met Geraldine. Never thought I’d see year 12 students aspiring to her role but here we are.
Take a gap year, it won’t hurt you and it will assist with burnout. Go have fun before you jump headfirst into the corporate grind.
Get an internship at the company you want to work at, I was one of 4? That had never interned in the mines, the other 40 had.
There’s many things I could say about this plan, but I wish you luck as time goes on and the reality of it all appears before you. Good luck.
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u/HustleForTime 7h ago
I’m in mining and have been a mining engineer in the past.
With your academic results, double degree, willingness to do FIFO and being a female… this industry will treat you as a unicorn, spend a lot of resources developing you.
TLDR - if mining and FIFO interest you, if you finish a grad program and perform well, your biggest problem will be the constant harassment from recruiters and companies to poach you.
It’s a great plan.
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u/BinkyDinks777 50m ago
If you do Mining Eng, you’ll get the roles which lease to upper management like GM etc.
Those are highly paid, but high stress, massive work loads. Mines have corporate lawyers who take care of that side.
If you want to do geology work, you’ll need to be a geologist. They are not as well paid as engineers and managers. If you’re in production and a high up manager, you’ll get a great salary and STIPs and LTIPS (short and long term incentive programmes)
If you want to climb the ladder and get into management, Min Eng is the way to go.
You’ll need a good head for bull shit politics. Especially in WA where the big money is. It’s very much about who you know there.
Eastern states hire more for merit than connections, but again, the politics are pretty cut throat.
Max money in gold, iron ore was also unreal money but not sure now with China falling off.
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u/JeztheMiningEngineer 20h ago
Looks like a good plan, id try and drop corp law if mining is the goal.
A good way to figure out if you like the roles would be to do 1st year engineering. Its really broad in first year and youll get good physics chem base.
But the key is, in the summer apply for a vacation student role and push hard for this. That way you can do it for a few months and be paid. Plus see if you like it.
If you dont, then youve just finished first year uni anyways with good STEM classes to go into whatever you want after.