Unemployment among mining industry professionals has hit double digits in most fields.

While mining companies see big windfalls as production takes off, the workers that made it possible are heading for tough times.

Figures from the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) show unemployment for resource industry professionals is at 12.2 per cent.

Geologists face a 15.1 per cent unemployment level as exploration activities are reduced to almost nothing.

Experts say the big drop in exploration is particularly worrying, as there will be a significant lag between any large-scale discoveries and the creation of mines to access them.

The round-up of AusIMM’s 14,000 members highlights the pressures those in the industry face, with 17.5 per cent of workers saying they expected to put in more work for the same pay.

16.6 per cent said they had been offered lower pay and reduced conditions to do the same job, and 8.4 per cent reported being asked to reduce their hours.

No good news for those trying to enter the sector either, with just 49.1 per cent of the institute’s student members confident they will find work once they graduate. 

“The impacts of cost-cutting in the minerals sector have been particularly broad, deep and sustained,” says AusIMM president Geoff Sharrock .

“There are minerals professionals with many years’ experience who are struggling to find work.

“The need for long term thinking is clear. There must be a focus on supporting and developing minerals professionals to ensure the future of the minerals sector and Australia’s economic wellbeing,” he said.

“Every highly-skilled minerals professional who leaves the sector or goes overseas to work diminishes the Australian minerals industry’s ability to continue to innovate, to lead the application of new mining technologies and to sustainably improve productivity,” AusIMM chief Michael Catchpole said.