Mining Engineer CV Examples & Writing Guide

This sample is for a UK-based mine planning engineer working on rotation at an overseas copper operation who started underground. Names, mines and universities are invented. Underground engineers and mineral processing engineers should keep the shape and swap the technical detail; there are personal statements for both further down.

• Mineral and method. Open pit copper, underground gold, hard-rock and sand-and-gravel quarrying, potash and polyhalite, salt, gypsum, lithium, tunnelling. Method transfers far better than mineral, so lead with the method and say the mineral right after.
• Software. Deswik, Maptek Vulcan, GEOVIA Surpac and Whittle, Hexagon MinePlan (formerly MineSight), Datamine Studio, Micromine, Ventsim, Deswik.Sched. Say which you use daily versus have touched. Employers often buy one package and will screen on it.
• Which end of the pipeline. Short-term production engineering is a different job from long-range planning, and both differ from technical services, geotechnical and study work. Say clearly which one you have done, because the adverts do.
• Numbers. Tonnes moved, strip ratio, cost per tonne, metres advanced, dilution and recovery percentages, capital in a sanction paper you wrote. Mining runs on unit costs and a CV without them reads as a student's.

“Tell me the mine, the method, the rate and the software in your first three lines. When the reader has to reach the bottom of the page to find out whether you ever built a schedule, that CV is already on the no pile.”

People search for a mining engineer career objective, but a personal statement works better at every level, including students. An objective says what you want; a personal statement says what you can already do. Here are five you can adapt.

Each bullet should answer: what did you design or schedule, how big was it, and what changed because of it? Eight rewrites from real duty statements.

There is no licence to practise as a mining engineer in the UK, and Chartered Engineer (CEng) status is useful but not universal. Many production engineers never apply; consultancy, study and reserve reporting work often expects it. List where you are on the path, whatever that is.

• Accredited degree. A mining or minerals engineering degree accredited by a licensed institution, usually IOM3, is the standard first step towards registration. Say accredited on the CV.
• Chartered Engineer (CEng). Registration is granted by the Engineering Council through a licensed institution, for mining engineers usually the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), after supervised experience and a professional review. Requirements change, so check the institution's current guidance and give the year you were registered.
• Site safety training. Quarries in Great Britain work under the Quarries Regulations 1999 and the few underground mines under the Mines Regulations 2014. Give your induction and refresher dates; engineers go underground and into the pit too.
• Professional bodies. IOM3 membership and the grade you actually hold, plus SME (Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration) or AusIMM if you work internationally. Competent person work under reserve reporting codes depends on membership of a recognised professional body, so name yours.
• Reporting standards. If you have contributed to reserve or resource statements, name the standard: the PERC Reporting Standard in the UK and Europe, the JORC Code in Australia, NI 43-101 in Canada, SEC subpart 1300 in the US. Say what you contributed, not that you signed it, unless you did.
• Extra tickets worth a line: mine rescue, shotfiring training if you hold it, First Aid at Work, a CAA drone qualification such as the GVC for survey work.

Mining recruits hard at a small number of universities, and graduate CVs are read by engineers who did the same degree. They know what a final-year design project is worth, so describe yours properly.

1. 1Education first: degree, accreditation, graduation date, classification (or predicted grade) if it is a 2:1 or above, and one line of relevant modules such as rock mechanics, mine ventilation, mineral processing, surface mine design and mine economics.
2. 2Placements written like jobs: the mine or quarry, the mineral, the rate, what you built or measured, and a number.
3. 3Final-year design project with the scale: "4,000 tpd underground gold project: mine design, schedule and a discounted cash flow model showing a 22% IRR at US$2,100 per ounce."
4. 4Software with an honest level. "Surpac and Vulcan: modules and placement use. AutoCAD: daily. Python: pandas for production data."
5. 5Site safety training and any cards you already hold. A quarry site induction or IOSH Working Safely before graduation is a cheap advantage.
6. 6Student mining society roles, mine rescue or mining competition teams, and any fieldwork. These are all recognised signals in this industry.

One more thing for graduates: say where you are willing to work. Mines are remote, on rotation, and often far from a city. "Open to remote sites and a 14/14 or 8/6 rotation in the UK or overseas" is a genuinely persuasive sentence in this field.

• Length: two pages is standard in the UK; graduates can keep to one or two. Consultants with long project lists can add a separate project sheet rather than a third page.
• Order: header, personal statement, experience, software and technical skills, certifications, education. Graduates move education to the top.
• Reverse chronological, single column, no photo, no skill bars. Mining companies use standard applicant tracking systems and many roles are filled through contract recruiters who forward the raw file.
• Name the operation type and rate in the employer line rather than only the company. It is the fastest way to show scale without a paragraph.
• Keywords worth mirroring when true: mine planning, short-term planning, life of mine, block model, cut-off grade, strip ratio, pushback, stope design, ventilation, drill and blast, reconciliation, dilution, recovery, cost per tonne, capital sanction, Quarries Regulations.
• CV is the word used in the UK and in most Australian, African and Indian postings; North American mining companies say resume. The content is the same. On a UK CV, leave off the photo, date of birth and marital status that some international templates include.
• Applying internationally? Add a line for your right to work and your passport nationality, since expatriate mining roles turn on visas.