The U.S. Department of Labor will fund $30 million in grants to encourage people to work in high demand jobs in emerging industry careers such as mining.
These new grants from the Industry-Driven Skills Training Fund are among a wave of efforts across the federal government under the Trump administration to develop a domestic supply chain for critical minerals.
Priority industries for the grants include:
- Domestic mineral production,
- AI infrastructure,
- Information technology.
- Advanced manufacturing, and
- Nuclear energy.
The grants will also include awarding at least $5 million to build a pipeline of skilled American workers in shipbuilding.
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer announced the grants recently to “ensure employers drive workforce training that is critical for their business needs, while also upskilling workers and developing a critical talent pipeline to fulfill this Administration’s goal of putting American workers and employers first.”
Other Grants for Mine Safety Training
In another economic incentive for mining jobs, the Department of Labor made available $250,000 in Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants to develop materials and train miners for mine emergency preparedness and prevent accidents in underground mines. The grants are being administered by the agency’s Mine Safety and Health Administration.
The funding notice, announced Aug. 21, stated that these grants are to promote workplace safety and educate miners about potential health hazards in areas where critical and other minerals are mined. Such hazards include:
- Electrical issues,
- Insufficient training of new and inexperienced miners,
- Inadequate training for managers and supervisors overseeing mining tasks,
- Lack of personal protective equipment to prevents falls from heights and other workplace injuries,
- Mine emergency and mine rescue preparedness,
- Pillars in underground mines,
- Powered haulage and mobile equipment, and
- Respirable dust, crystalline silica and other environmental hazards.
Mining Jobs
Mining jobs (excluding oil/gas) primarily consist of mining, developing mine sites, and preparing metallic and nonmetallic minerals.
Annual salaries in 2023 averaged $101,020 for mining engineers (who devise extracting methods for metal/minerals) and geologic engineers (who identify possible areas for mineral deposits), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Other mining jobs include continuous mining machine operators, excavating/loading machine and dragline operators, and construction equipment operators. Average salaries per year range from $65,000 to $60,000.
The DOL identifies the states where the highest concentrations of people working in excavating/loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining as:
- Wyoming—average yearly salary of $73,960
- Utah—$52,410 yearly
- Nebraska—$51,690 yearly
- Vermont—$52,460 yearly
- North Dakota—$74,930 yearly
The top paying states for those jobs are New Jersey, Alaska, California, North Dakota and Minnesota, according to the DOL’s 2023 statistics.
