Chilean miners better off than most

Thanks to a vigorous economy and the abundance of large, high-grade deposits, miners in Chile are the highest paid in all of Latin America, according to a survey by Western Mine Engineering.

The study also found that benefits and rights-protection plans for workers are more progressive in Chile than in other Latin American countries. However, the country still lags behind the Canada and the U.S. in terms of wages, with a typical heavy-equipment operator earning US$20-US$40 per day.

And then there is Mexico. As a result of the devalued peso, miners in that country are among the lowest-paid in the West, with equipment operators collecting anywhere from US$4.25 to US$8.65 per day. By comparison, a similarly employed worker at a U.S. mine earns between US$72 and US$176 per day.