Inspiration Mining

A recession and a sagging metals market have failed to dampen the annual salaries of Canada's mining industry CEOs, which have increased almost nine per cent over the last year, according to an industry-wide survey released Sept. 14.

Researched and produced by Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP and Coopers Consulting Ltd., the survey shows the average annual base pay for Canadian CEOs rose from $443,000 in 2008 to $484,000 in 2009.

These overall numbers show that the industry is perhaps faring better than some have speculated, say survey producers.

"I think that, from my perspective, that the industry has gone through a tough time in the latter part of 2008 and going into 2009, but I certainly don't see evidence that the downturn was quite as dramatic as it was in the latter part of the previous century and the early 2000s," says Lou Vujanich, survey leader and principal of the Vancouver-based Coopers Consulting.

"I think the industry's on a slow uptick in terms of its recovery."

The 2009 Mining Industry Salary Survey represents 107 mine sites throughout Canada, including operations in Sudbury and Timmins through participants like Vale Inco and Xstrata.

The range of jobs included in the study is broad, covering 44 typical corporate mining office positions, 58 salaried mine site positions and 11 field exploration positions. In all, it covered 6,160 individuals in the Canadian mining industry.

This is spread across a broad range of commodities, from industrial minerals to base metals, though the results are "weighted towards gold more than anything," says Vujanich.

These gold companies maintain plans to increase salaries, even as the exact budgeted percentages shrink.

Most downward changes to bonuses are somewhat due to the curtailment of various base metal operations across the country, he adds, rather than any actual decrease in overall salaries.

These changes were seen through Canadian mining CEOs. Although salaries went up, bonuses paid to such CEOs dropped during last year from 79 per cent of base pay to 61 per cent.

The average CEO cash bonus payout was $303,000, while the average total CEO cash compensation package, combining base salary and bonuses, was roughly $670,000. However, only 34 of the 54 companies that disclosed CEO salaries in the survey reported having paid out the cash bonuses.

Bonuses remained much more static for mine sites' salaried staff, who received an average bonus of 15 per cent, down just two per cent from 2008. However, the total bonus actually received was lower in 2009 than in 2008, says Vujanich, "which is a reflection of the state of the industry more than anything else."

Eighty per cent of salaried mine staff were eligible for some kind of short-term incentive plan in 2009. This matches the figures seen in 2008, which represented a 21 per cent increase since 2002.

However, once bonuses are added to salaries, the cash compensation level for salaried employees is smaller this year than last, marking a "smaller than expected increase," says Vujanich.

It's a trend he says may also apply to employees who are hourly rated, as more and more companies look to apply gain-share or productivity improvement plans for competitive reasons.

Despite the downturn, he says there's a drive among mining companies in both Canada and the United States to lead staff to the realization that they as individuals have a stake in the success of the operation.

"Increasingly, mining companies are looking to implement some form of property-wide incentive plan and that trend is something we've seen growing on a fairly consistent basis," says Vujanich. "That's very prevalent."

Here's another one:

http://technology.infomine.com/articles/1/1408/mining.wages.salaries/canadian.mining.wages.aspx