Interest towards making a career in mining is less today: Hall

"I think both the countries (India and Australia) at this moment are struggling to find sufficient and better students to enter the mining  engineering studies..The high starting salaries are not there. It was there a few years ago. Certainly, the interest is less. So, both the universities and industries should try to improve this situation. This is an industry which is changing. New technologies have emerged.We need to do things than what we did in the past," Hall said.

However, he said that students can still find a challenging and diverse career in mining industry.

"It is still a challenging and diverse career. As it is a global industry, there are  lots of oppurtunity to travel," he said.

Hall said students can still have a rewarding career in this sector.

He said one can even make an IT career in the mining sector as 60 percent of of the world’s 'mining related software' is Australian.

He said in Australia significant number of people  are also employed in the mining service sector than in the production mines.

"Many graduates are finding jobs in that sector," Hall said.

He said mining industry is changing and it will be much different from what it is today in future years.

Hall visited  Indian School of Mines (ISM) in Dhanbad city and met representatives of key mining companies, educational institutes and industry associations during his trip to New Delhi and Hyderabad.