Example Career: Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers

Career Description

Conduct sub-surface surveys to identify the characteristics of potential land or mining development sites. May specify the ground support systems, processes and equipment for safe, economical, and environmentally sound extraction or underground construction activities. May inspect areas for unsafe geological conditions, equipment, and working conditions. May design, implement, and coordinate mine safety programs.

What Job Titles Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers Might Have

• Engineer
• Geologist
• Mine Engineer
• Mining Engineer

What Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers Do

• Select locations and plan underground or surface mining operations, specifying processes, labor usage, and equipment that will result in safe, economical, and environmentally sound extraction of minerals and ores.
• Design, implement, and monitor the development of mines, facilities, systems, or equipment.
• Inspect mining areas for unsafe structures, equipment, and working conditions.
• Examine maps, deposits, drilling locations, or mines to determine the location, size, accessibility, contents, value, and potential profitability of mineral, oil, and gas deposits.
• Select or develop mineral location, extraction, and production methods, based on factors such as safety, cost, and deposit characteristics.
• Prepare technical reports for use by mining, engineering, and management personnel.
• Monitor mine production rates to assess operational effectiveness.
• Prepare schedules, reports, and estimates of the costs involved in developing and operating mines.
• Lay out, direct, and supervise mine construction operations, such as the construction of shafts and tunnels.
• Devise solutions to problems of land reclamation and water and air pollution, such as methods of storing excavated soil and returning exhausted mine sites to natural states.
• Evaluate data to develop new mining products, equipment, or processes.
• Design, develop, and implement computer applications for use in mining operations such as mine design, modeling, or mapping or for monitoring mine conditions.
• Supervise, train, and evaluate technicians, technologists, survey personnel, engineers, scientists or other mine personnel.
• Select or devise materials-handling methods and equipment to transport ore, waste materials, and mineral products efficiently and economically.
• Implement and coordinate mine safety programs, including the design and maintenance of protective and rescue equipment and safety devices.
• Test air to detect toxic gases and recommend measures to remove them, such as installation of ventilation shafts.
• Design mining and mineral treatment equipment and machinery in collaboration with other engineering specialists.
• Conduct or direct mining experiments to test or prove research findings.

What Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.

What Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers Should Be Interested In

• Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
• Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

What Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers Need to Learn

• Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.