GeologyRocks

Not one reply so no one knows ? On a site dedicated to attracting attention to the field of geology no one can tell me anything about the realities of working in exploration ?

I'm an academic geologist, so I'm pretty ignorant on the realities of exploration geology. I'm also pretty new to academia so pretty green too

Although academia does respond to cycles in exploration expediture, it also gets funding from other sources too; so it's modulated to some extent.

So I'm afraid I don't know what to say. Should have replied anyway

Well I wouldn't be too pessimistic although we are about due for a stockmarket correction (inverted yields and the Yanks going crazy with the printing press and wars).

I think that China and India etc will continue this boom for many years and resources are getting harder to find. I just spent six months in the Kimberly and I reckon there will be some elephants there!  A lot of sand cover in the valleys and over contact zones. Not easy easy country to prospect but "fortune favours the brave." Do your own prospecting in the busts. I have been well rewarded and I have no formal Geology training!

BTW - We (Oz) are terribly short of Surveyors! A Geo with some surveying knowledge would do very well! 

I believe that with resources becoming more scarce and harder to find, and requirements from emerging economies increasing, the law of supply and demand has to work here. The prospects for geological employment has to increase.

I'm not sure who did well out of the last bust/recession part of the economic cycle in the 80s and 90s - well, apart from people working in 'the city'!

I agree with the posts above in the sense of supply and demand. With a growing population and India and China in particular with rapidly growing ecomonies the immediate future looks good for everyone.

I don;t think anyone can really predict what will happen in 15-20years time.

 Bottom line if you're going into geology for the money your going into it for the wrong reasons. You'll make more being a banker, working in finance or being a lawyer. If you're going into geology because you're fascinated by the subject, by solving the challenges and puzzles it constantly faces then that's the right reason.

Look on the brightside - if the mining bubble bursts then the skills of a geologist are in demand by the financial/stock market sector: Numerate, logical, able to spot patterns, able to predict on limited data.

I was at a uni the other day, and they said that whilst the lawyers made more money when they are in a job, they have trouble finding the work in the first place! Therefore, over the time that you work for, scientists on the whole will earn quite a bit more.

Bit of usless info! (the smiley was for no reason!)

Aside from the obvious advice to do what you like and follow your passion, blah blah blah...

My first boss said to me in 1994: 'There's always work for good (exploration/mining) geologists."

I have often wondered since if the fact that I've had steady employment means just that...I don't think so, really.  I can name dozens of better technical geologists and smarter ones too.  I like what I do and maybe that shows somehow.  I can not speak to Australia's situation...I know a few who left the business there and a few who worked solid right through the last slump.  The ones who continued working didn't have impressive connections or weren't the brightest guys I've ever known but work continued unabated - they were happy with what they had chosen for a career and were still passionate about it.

If your having second thoughts, or looking for concrete empirical evidence of the inherent viability of it...well, maybe that says something about it as well...more work for us who enjoy what we're doing...

If not, best of luck and I'll see you on the next project.

I can't speak for the mining sector but I work as a geotechnical engineer (with a geology background). Only been doing it for 3-4 years but I'm constantly hearing of a skills shortage. It exists for a variety of reasons but one of which was the slump in the 90's causing a lot of engineers to quit the industry and become bankers instead. One result of the skills shortage is that salaries and working conditions are on the up and as the work load will remain high until at least 2012 (Olympics, crossrail, airports, nuclear powerstations etc.) I can't see enough new graduates coming in to cope with the demand. Hence the industry should be good for years to come.

I'm assuming the same applies to mining geology. A big slump, lots of geologists quit, major skills shortage, no immediate sign of reduced demand (China and India) means that salaries and working conditions should be on the up for a few years yet.

 I agree with the previous posts about doing something you enjoy rather than for the money. If you want the money then work 'in the city'. Also if you want a fantastically secure job then I guess become a teacher. But if you want something endlessly fascinating, essential to the modern world with opportunities to travel and create a better environment with reasonable pay and job security then become a geologist.

Be all you can be!  Join the US Army...I mean be a geologist...