Minerals and energy resources are essential for survival of humanity. They abolish poverty and help excel humankind, or more concretely enable farming, healthcare, communications, water and energy supply, transportation, space technology, renewable energy, and the construction of our cities. 

Engineers in minerals and energy sectors will undoubtedly become more important as they will deliver pathways for a greener, safer, and more sustainable future for all of us. 

Lack of critical minerals will be a bottleneck in rapid implementation of renewables. We need to produce critical minerals at the same pace as implementation of renewables. Otherwise, implementation of renewables will slow down or will be more and more expensive due to lack of critical minerals.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that current renewables such as solar, wind and hydrogen, will not be able to meet the increasing demand for energy. Development of other renewables sources will be required. The most widely available, but untapped renewable energy source is geothermal energy. 

Even if there is a full switch to renewable energy for household demand, there will still be industries that will not be able to switch rapidly. Also, even if we completely switch to renewable energy for household and all industries, we will still need to sequester CO2 for many decades in all net2zero scenarios. Without CO2 sequestration, there will be no carbon neutral future. 

We are going through an energy transition. Renewable energy will not be able to replace current energy sources immediately. In this transition, natural gas may replace coal and in doing so will play a critical role.

Our students will, therefore, be part of the solution and contribute to carbon free future in their careers as much, if not more than any other engineering disciplines. 

We are not just an ordinary engineering school, and we are not just a conventional School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering. In fact, we are the biggest school in Australia and all English-speaking countries producing outstanding engineers for:

  • Earth  and space minerals and energy resources exploration, 
  • technical services, 
  • computing,
  • data analytics, 
  • operations management, 
  • consultancy, 
  • finance, 
  • banking, 
  • business development, 
  • senior management, and
  • owners of their own corporations, and more ….

Come and study with the leading provider of world class education and research in Mining Engineering and Petroleum Engineering at the School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering and be part of the solution to a carbon-free future and help humankind to get future ready. 

Our graduates work with some of the leaders in the industry. More information on career opportunities with industry leaders can be found here: AUSIMM & SPE: Online Speed Networking | UNSW Engineering.

As part of your degree, you will also gain 60 days of approved industrial training in Australia or overseas. You will be able to apply the skills you have learned in a real-world professional engineering setting to become career ready. 

Is petroleum engineering right for me?

Learn the ins and outs of Petroleum Engineering, from a student perspective as well as the actual work practitioners do. This includes overseeing the various processes involved in extracting oil and gas, with an emphasis on efficiency, safety and sustainability.

Is mining engineering right for me?

Learn what Mining Engineering entails, both in terms of study and the career paths available to graduates. This diverse sector is about extracting minerals from the earth in a safe, efficient and responsible way. There are many parts to this, and many different tasks required to achieve that end result.

8 things you did not know about Mining and Petroleum Engineering

Minerals and energy resources are widely used within renewable energy for a carbon-free future and yet, mining and petroleum engineering is still generally misunderstood. Find out more about some things you might not have known or have misunderstood about mining and petroleum engineering.