The best job market for mining engineers in the US is in aggregates and construction materials. The industry has been consolidating like mad and really needs trained and/or experienced mining engineers. There are very few counties/parishes that don't produce construction materials of several types -- location isn't necessarily the issue it can be in hard-rock or coal mining.
Yes, but most aggregates producers still think they can get by with non-existent to half-assed reserves analyses and without even minimal short or long-range planning. Even the few far-sighted producers have not been as willing to hire engineers in the past few years as they were in the late 80s. Their justification is always cost and low profit margins.
Yes, but do you really need a qualified Mining Engineer to run a quarry? We get by very well with blokes who are registered quarry managers. They have years of experience in the quarry game before becoming managers. They are hands on and practical and, know what there workers want because, they were once a labourer themselves. I don't know of a single Mining Engineer managing quarries in the construction materials industry, in Australia anyway. I'm a qualified quarry manager and all I had to do was get my shot firers ticket, first aid ticket and do the quarry managers coarse. I'm a mining engineer now and was snapped up by BHP before I'd even finished the degree along with the 20 others who were in the same degree. There is a real shortage of engineers in Australia which is going to continue for some time. If you can stand the harshness of isolation and extreme heat in the outback then you may want to try here.
