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Australian Geologist Salaries

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I repeat below the entire article from InfoMine’s Career Mine.  It is by Susan Kihn who does a fine job of setting out the facts.

Even with the downturn in mining worldwide which has seen massive job losses as a result of mining companies downsizing, putting mines into maintenance mode or closing down, it appears not all is bad for Geologists working in mining in Australia. Besides other mining professions, we know that there are a lot of Geologists who have lost their jobs worldwide and in Australia. What I thought may be of interest, was to see how this downturn has affected Geologist salaries in Australia.

The data used has been used exclusively from the CareerMine Salary Survey results, and I have shown a comparison between what Geologists were earning in 2012 and what they are now earning in 2014.


Geo SalariesAccording to those who completely our salary survey, it seems that those Geologists still employed in the mining industry in Australia are faring pretty well in terms of what they are earning and that surprisingly salaries don’t seem to have dropped. Actually, if anything can be read from the results from our salary survey, salaries in some cases have risen. According to the data, Geologists with less than 5 years’ experience are earning roughly the same in 2014 as what they were earning in 2012 with a median of AUD90 000. For Geologists who are more experienced, and who fall in the 6 – 10 year range, they are earning more now, with a median of AUD128 000 in 2014, in comparison to a median of AUD110 000 in 2012. For those with 10 years plus experience, Geologists are also earning more with a earning a median of AUD156 000 in 2014, whereas the median in 2012 was AUD138 000.

Although those Geologists who are fortunate enough to still have jobs appear to be earning reasonable salaries, one must not forget those who are unemployed, and there are many. Word has it that many Geologists who were based in Australia have left in search of new opportunities in other parts of the word, because of the lack of work in Australia. The cost of living in Australia is very high, so for the unemployed it’s not a good country to be living in. For this reason, it makes sense to leave in search of greener pastures and possible job opportunities. For those that remain and are lucky enough to still have work, salaries are still good, however one needs to keep in mind that Geologists live with the fear that they may be next to stand in the unemployment line. They are generally also overworked as they are forced to cover the shortfalls in employees that are becoming more and more obvious in many mining companies. Although salaries remain good, many Geologists are overworked and very despondent.

According to the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, at the end of December 2013 nearly 1 in 5 Australian Geologists were unemployed. Although it appears that in reality since then those numbers have jumped much higher. What has also been worrying is the trend that part time employment opportunities have also been drying up. Many of those that are now unemployed are being forced to seek work in other industries or outside of the Geosciences field. This could, when the industry turns, prove to be disastrous as the pool of Geologists will shrink, which will not be good for the industry as a whole. One needs to remember that from when a mineral discovery is found to when it will become a new mine, years will go by, often more than a decade. These new mines are what will provide employment to those in mining and many related industries. So every time a project is suspended and a Geologist is forced to leave the mining industry, we face losing years of knowledge and skills which could seriously impact the resource industry as a whole in years to come.

Even though it seems that salaries are on the rise, not all is sugar and spice for Geologists working in Australia, and the mining industry needs to protect these key players to the industry and try to devise ways to not lose those who are unemployed or have moved to other industries.



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