Pros
You will know more about the mine and how to make gold than the managers very quickly. Job can be interesting and personally challenging. Pay and benefits are good for someone out of school. Vacation time earned is better than most. You can be incompetent and become a manager. The contacts you make with contractors will land you a better job with another company.
Cons
Good old boys club. If you aren't a relative or best friend of a manager, you will never be respected or trusted. Most of the management is vastly under-qualified for the job. They waste millions on projects that a skilled person knows will not work while neglecting obvious low hanging fruit. Politics. Most managers are from a mining engineering or metallurgical background but show a surprising lack of understanding how to make gold. Absolutely zero focus on proper planning. The targets are shifted faster than proper solutions can be implemented. Our bonuses and raises are getting lower as the profits get bigger.
