Geologist from mining breaking into finance (Mining & metals?)
Hi WSO, I came across here and thought it'd be a good place to ask for some advice from people already in the industry.
I'm 28yo, 4-5 years into the mining industry as a geologist/geotechnical engineer. From work I have a good grasp of the mining life cycle, mine operation and cost involved, etc for a couple of commodities. And I've been always interested in the finance in it and hope to work in the finance/banking space in the future (ideally combined with my experience in mining/engineering).
I've enrolled in CFA lv1 for this year and found myself dedicated to going towards this direction. My plan is to start applying for roles when I finish the CFA Level 1 test. I don't have a previous degree/qualification in Finance though. My questions are:
- What are the potential career paths for someone with my background? For now, I understand the obvious possibility/path is probably ER covering the mining stocks? Are there other paths out there like asset management etc?
- Is it with a good odd in the current market to break into the industry after my CFA lv1? Or what are the usual requirements for someone with a more technical background?
- What is the work-life balance like? Sounds stupid and I know it varies a lot between location/person/firm.. but I'm currently working 40-45 hr week, so it's just for me to have an idea of what my life will be like if I do break into finance.
Any advice/answer is greatly appreciated!!
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Seen a guy with geology background hack out as an ER associate, found his niche, and got promoted quickly to analyst. He then leveraged that to climb his way to MD in IB. Can be done with tremendous talent.
PS. Guy even skipped CFA. True story. Calculating option adjusted spread (and most other topics) is useless to valuing an early stage ore body or interpreting drill cores.
Thanks heaps - can I ask where are you / this guy based out of?
Yeah that sounds encouraging cuz I’m interpreting cores / mineral reserve reports everyday.
I won't say more for the sake of privacy, but there are only several major mining finance hubs across North America / fairly concentrated globally as well.
Hi all,
I've begun coverage of mining companies and no one on my team has experience doing this so I am having to learn from scratch. Are there financial models on mining companies out there I can leverage? I searched the WSO resources and mining doesn't appear to be an industry they cover.
Thanks!
I’ve looked into the CFI mining & metal modeling course. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/course/mining-industry-financial-…
I gave this a try and it was a good primer, but it left a few unanswered questions.
Definitely possible. If you look at the big 5 Canadian banks' mining teams (IB, ER, CB), they hire many people with Geology/Mining engineering backgrounds. I would say it's almost half and half.
Appreciate it! From what you’ve seen, do the mining engineers at banks commonly have or need further qualifications (Master of Finance, CFA etc) to get into banking?
For IB, no! I've seen people go straight into banking after working a few years in the field. Also seen people come in after an MBA (probably be the easiest route). It matters more that you understand the IB technicals and network.
A master in finance isn't useful in my opinion and a CFA isn't either (unless you are interested in asset management but for most sell-side roles it isn't).
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