Mining - A Bit of News

Things are looking fairly good in the mining industry - for companies, for new geologists, and for older, experienced geologists who aren't ready to retire yet (like me). Not only are the prices of metals up, but so are the prices of oil and coal. Consequently, geologists in the mining industry are finally making as much money in constant dollars as we were in the 1980's (no data on that last assertion, just some experience). There was a period of time after the price of gold went down in 1997 (and after the Bre-X scandal of 1997), that salaries stayed the same (in current dollars) and maybe even dropped a little. The AGI report compares geoscientist's 2005 salaries with 2004 salaries, and you can see a summary here. As was mentioned in Arizona Geology, the AGI data is really pretty old - out here in the mining fields of Nevada, salaries have increased considerably since 2004, and any geologist - good, bad, or ugly (or indifferent?) - is hard to find. In fact, maybe the name of the game should be exploring for geologists.

And it's also a good time to buy a gold mine in Arizona, I hear.

Update: A good summary of starting salaries for college graduates at Reporting on a Revolution, along with some information geology salaries in India and speculation about the future.