Processing & Metallurgy salaries
Roles running and optimising the plant that turns run-of-mine ore into a saleable product: crushing, grinding, flotation, leaching or smelting depending on the commodity.
Based on live job ads posted on FiFoDiDo, not a formal industry survey. Grouped by country, currency and pay period rather than converted or blended together.
What this role involves & typical requirements →
CanadaCAD · 6 adsFrom employer ads
CA$121,354–CA$147,776/yrtypical range
Full spread across these ads: CA$73,500–CA$193,000/yr
Figures come only from ads with salary data supplied by the employer, and reflect what's currently live on FiFoDiDo rather than total industry pay. They're not converted across currencies or pay periods, so a range shown in AUD/yr and one in USD/hr are deliberately kept separate. Countries are never pooled together. How we calculate salaries
Official data, not FiFoDiDo job ads
Official pay data
What people in the closest official occupations earn, from each country's statistics agency. These cover whole occupations, so use them as context, not as the pay for any one job.
AustraliaAUD · May 2025
| Occupation | Typical |
|---|---|
| Other stationary plant operatorsAll industries | A$2,019/wk |
| Other science professionals (includes metallurgists)All industries | A$1,848/wk |
Typical is the median. Median weekly pay before tax for full-time, non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate, across all industries rather than mining alone. Only the median is published. Source: Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profiles, from ABS Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025. Copied 19 October 2026. CC BY 4.0; Jobs and Skills Australia, from Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
CanadaCAD · 2023-2024
| Occupation | Typical | Middle half |
|---|---|---|
| Machine operators, mineral and metal processingAll industries | CA$35/hr | CA$27–CA$42/hr |
| Central control and process operators, mineral and metal processingAll industries | CA$44.50/hr | CA$38–CA$48.30/hr |
| Metallurgical and materials engineersAll industries | CA$48.08/hr | CA$45–CA$61.06/hr |
Typical is the median; the middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile. Hourly wages for the occupation across all industries in Canada, before tax. Overtime, bonuses and allowances are not included. Source: Job Bank wages, Employment and Social Development Canada (Statistics Canada survey data), 2023-2024. Copied 19 October 2026. Open Government Licence - Canada; contains information licensed under it.
United StatesUSD · May 2025
| Occupation | Typical | Middle half |
|---|---|---|
| Crushing, grinding and polishing machine operatorsIn mining · 3,300 employed | $60,870/yr | $51,190–$71,060/yr |
| Separating and filtering machine operatorsIn mining · 840 employed | $67,210/yr | $52,290–$97,100/yr |
| Other plant and system operatorsIn mining · 1,370 employed | $60,670/yr | $48,630–$75,270/yr |
| Materials engineers (metallurgists)In mining · 310 employed | $101,330/yr | $93,140–$123,360/yr |
Typical is the median; the middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile. Yearly wages for all employees in the occupation. They include base pay and production bonuses but not overtime or shift allowances, which add a lot on many mine sites. "In mining" means mining, except oil and gas (industry 212). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Copied 19 October 2026. Public domain; credit to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
United KingdomGBP · April 2025 (provisional)
| Occupation | Typical | Middle half |
|---|---|---|
| Mining and quarry workers and related operativesAll industries | £38,301/yr | Not published |
| Engineering professionals n.e.c. (includes metallurgists)All industries · 140,000 employed | £48,776/yr | £39,653–£61,717/yr |
Typical is the median; the middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile. Gross yearly pay for full-time employees in the occupation across all industries, including overtime and bonuses. Where ONS hides a figure because the sample is small, it shows as not published. Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14), April 2025 (provisional). Copied 19 October 2026. Open Government Licence v3.0; source: Office for National Statistics.