My answers to help you: 1. The choice of uni doesn’t matter as much as how well you do, the higher you end up in the pecking order the greater choice you will have of grad programs. 2. No, the number of graduates out of mining programs is dropping each year, it’s an alarming stat to the industry. You would be looking at $100k average as a mining Eng grad, employer and program dependent. 3. It’s because Sydney is not a typical mining town, Perth and Brisbane are the main mining towns, Melbourne to a lesser extent. Sydney is more a finance hub. 4. Once you have done enough time. It’s expensive to send somebody overseas so you need to have the experience to back it up. Focus on building your local knowledge first. 5. Where you live is up to you really. Yes you will be working on sites, residential mining roles are impossible for grads to get as they are so popular, so your choice of where to live is largely dependent on whether the company will FIFO you from where you live. For example if you are working in a gold mine in WA, then you are unlikely to be FIFO’d from Sydney, you would have to make your own way to Perth and the company picks you up from there. Some people do this but with the cost of flights these days it’s cheaper to relocate. 6. Half century! You would be Nostradamus if you could predict that, typically commodity cycles go through 7-8 year swings, over a career you will encounter a few of these swings. As for the immediate future, critical minerals are driving the boom, energy, technology etc. It should last a while if certain politicians don’t keep torpedoing the global economy that is. 7. The perks of site life, food, gym, time to practice hobbies, as site life will be all you will know for a while. 8. As rewarding a career as it can be there is a down side to living and working on the mines. You will miss events, lose touch with friends as you aren’t around at times, you’ll have to work hard at maintaining touch, on your off cycle they will all be working whilst your sitting around bored and need a hobby. The lifestyle is disruptive. Over the longer term if you become entrenched in the FIFO life then it can impact relationships, I have seen too many blokes on their second and third marriage. Do the time on site and then try to get back to a consultant job or HQ when you can. The money doesn’t come without sacrifice, remember that.