Mining Engineering

Hi Anil,
Mining Engineering is a specialized branch on offer in our country at some IITs and Indian School of Mines. One cannot find tons of colleges that offer mining engineering courses in India. It is also obvious that the number of students graduating with this course will also be less. Mining is a vast field that deals with identification, extraction, production and processing of valuable minerals like coal, petroleum, metallic minerals and non-metallic minerals, from natural reserves. Mining engineering covers techniques and technologies related to a range of mining activities like exploration, feasibility study, production, transportation and marketing of minerals. It covers maintenance of mines including removal of toxic gases and ensuring air circulation. Land restoration and rehabilitation of mining sites are also part of mining engineering. Mining engineers have a number of careers to choose from.
Based on the role they assume, these professionals are responsible for activities like planning, designing and construction of mines, managing and controlling mining operations, ensuring safety, ventilation and cooling in the mines, segregation and transportation of minerals, designing engineering structures and dealing with environmental aspects of mining. Mining engineers can assume roles of mine designer, mine planner, mine manager, health and safety manger, mine ventilation engineer, consulting engineers, sales engineers operations manager, mining investment analyst, production manager and petroleum engineer. Jobs are available in both government and private sector.
Mining engineers usually work in collaboration with geologists and civil, mechanical, metallurgical and industrial engineers. Apart from mining industry, they can work in fields like construction, waste management and environmental conservation. Some of the organisations that hire mining engineers are The Indian Bureau of Mines, Geological Survey of India, Coal India, ONGC, HCL, NALCO, Tata Steel, Reliance and Neyveli Lignite. Middle East countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and UK also provide lucrative career opportunities for interested candidates. However when compared to streams like Mechanical Engineering or so career opportunities are somewhat limited for Mining Engineers.
Hope it helps. Please feel free to revert.
Wish you luck.