Also called: Tailings Engineer, Tailings Storage Facility Engineer
Designs and monitors the huge earthen dams that hold back a mine's leftover ground-up rock and water, where a failure could flood towns downstream.
You walk the crest of a tailings dam taller than a 20-story building, checking survey markers and water levels. Back in the office you review readings from pressure sensors buried inside it. Then you update the plan for raising the dam safely next year.
Estimated from mining company and consulting firm postings.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in civil or geological engineering; a master's in geotechnical engineering is common.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Civil Engineering, Geological Engineering, Mining Engineering.
Growing faster than average. Stricter global safety standards after dam failures have raised demand.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. Satellites and sensors help monitor dams, but engineering design and safety sign-off stay human.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, Earth science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2051.
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