Mining & resources salary guide
How much do FIFO, DIDO, and residential mining jobs actually pay? It depends heavily on commodity, site type, and roster: a 2:1 swing on a remote iron ore or gold operation pays differently to a residential coal role, and international postings add currency and cost-of-living into the mix. Use this guide to see what's typical for each commodity before you apply, then compare it against the roster and site details on the job ad itself.
Typical pay ranges by commodity, drawn from live job ads posted on FiFoDiDo, not a formal industry survey. Figures are shown separately by country, currency and pay period rather than converted, and only once there are enough ads to be meaningful.
Gold
26 live job ads with salary data
Iron Ore
4 live job ads with salary data
Coal
5 live job ads with salary data
Copper
13 live job ads with salary data
More commodities coming soon
A commodity needs at least 3 live job ads with salary data before we show a typical range for it. Still building up: Lithium, Nickel, Bauxite Alumina, Uranium, Mineral Sands, Rare Earths, Zinc Lead, Oil Gas, Other.
Or browse by role
What you do day to day (haul truck, drill & blast, trades, geology…) moves pay more than the commodity does.
Browse salaries by role →Industry benchmarks
A public reference point for context while live job-ad data builds up: national average mining pay vs. the whole-economy average, from each country's own statistics agency. Figures are shown in each country's own currency and period rather than converted, and only for countries where a credible official source exists; not every mining country is covered yet.
Australia: mining vs. all industries
Mining
$3,224.20/wk
All industries
$2,083.70/wk
Mining Industry Award 2020 (MA000011) sets a Level 1 (Basic) minimum of $1,047.30/week before allowances; most employers pay well above this, especially FIFO/DIDO and enterprise-agreement sites.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics: Average Weekly Earnings, Australia (full-time adult ordinary time earnings, May 2026, released 13 August 2026), Fair Work Ombudsman: Mining Industry Award 2020 (MA000011) (as of 1 July 2026). Checked 6 September 2026.
How we calculate salaries
- Two sources, kept apart
- Ranges marked From employer ads come only from live job ads on FiFoDiDo where the employer stated the pay. Country benchmarks, and the official pay by occupation on role pages, come from national statistics agencies, with the source and date shown on each one.
- Country first
- Pay differs far more between countries than within a region, so ads from different countries are never pooled, and we don't show figures for whole continents.
- No conversion
- Each range stays in the currency and pay period the ads used (per year, month, day or hour). We don't convert currencies or turn hourly rates into annual pay.
- At least 3 ads
- A range only appears once at least 3 ads in the same country, currency and pay period state their pay. Below that we say there isn't enough data rather than guess.
- Typical range and full spread
- The typical range runs from the average of the lowest figures in those ads to the average of the highest. The full spread runs from the single lowest figure to the single highest.
- Base pay or full package
- We show the figure as the ad gives it. Ads don't always say whether it includes retirement contributions, allowances or bonuses, so check the ad itself before comparing.
- How fresh it is
- Ranges from employer ads update automatically as ads go live or close. Country benchmarks were last checked on 6 September 2026.
- What we don't do
- We don't estimate pay for ads that don't state it, we don't use paid salary surveys, and we don't copy figures from recruiters' salary guides.