Unless you have been living under a rock, you will undoubtedly be aware the Australian mining industry is currently doing it tough. Since late 2012, global commodity prices have fallen, average salaries have decreased and geologist unemployment has risen sharply. This downturn is nothing abnormal, albeit a more severe version than seen in recent memory. Mining is a boom and bust industry. The high salaries of four years ago were associated with a lack of experienced geologists, fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) rosters and long-term employment uncertainty. Current salaries are reflective of an oversupply of geologists, lack of investment and market uncertainty.
