A survey of this year's final year students at UNSW indicated the mean salary package for the 2006 graduates will be $81,950pa, ranging from $72,000 to $96,000pa*. So great is the demand for graduate mining engineers that there are reports of some salary packages exceeding $100,000.

While the demand is equally high across all the mineral commodity sectors, the employment preference of this year's students is the hardrock sector with a near equal split between opencut and underground operations. This year few have elected for employment outside of mining industry.

The majority of students will be involved in a graduate training program that provides exposure in a range of organisational roles over a two to three year period.

With the strong interest in working directly at mining operations, it is not surprising the majority of graduates will be living in rural or mining communities.

However, reflecting the growing number of mines opting for fly-in / fly-out (FIFO) staffing arrangements, a third of the graduates will be commuting to capital cities or regional centres on their rostered time off.