Mining pay vs other camp and resource jobs
“Does mining or oil sands pay more?” is one of the most common searches in this space. Here's what we can actually answer with a source, and where each niche's own pay page picks up from here.
Key facts
- Ontario miner median wage
- $39.70/hr
- Source: Job Bank NOC 83100, checked 2026-09-07
- Ontario miner wage range
- $27.52-$56.00/hr
- Source: Job Bank NOC 83100, checked 2026-09-07
- Oil sands rotation
- Camp-based FIFO, often 14/14
- Source: Oil Sands Jobs Guide
- Pipeline work structure
- Project-based "spreads"
- Source: Pipeline Work Guide
- Ice road trucking season
- Seasonal, roughly Jan-Mar
- Source: Ice Road Guide
One honestly sourced figure, not seven invented ones. Underground miners in Ontario (Job Bank's "Miner" wage report, occupation code aligned to NOC 83100, Ontario) show a wage range of $27.52-$56.00 per hour, with a $39.70/hour median, published by Job Bank and last updated 19 November 2025 (checked 2026-09-07). See /salaries/ for role-by-role figures on this site.
For every other niche in the table below, we're linking to that site's own sourced pay page rather than restating a number we haven't verified ourselves -- wage data changes often enough, and our rule is simple: leave a number out rather than guess at one. No income claims either way -- none of this is a promise about what you personally would earn.
How pay is structured differs more than people expect
Before you even get to a dollar figure, the way each niche pays people is genuinely different, and that's useful to know without needing new wage numbers to say so.
| Niche | Pay structure | Rotation | Their pay page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Underground mining (this site) | Hourly; major Sudbury operators are unionized (see /unions/) | Commonly 14/14 or 21/7; varies by camp vs town (see /rotations/) | /salaries/ |
| Oil sands | Hourly/salaried; major operators and building-trades construction crews are commonly unionized | Camp-based FIFO or drive-in/drive-out, commonly 14/14 or similar | /oilsands/salaries/ |
| Ice road trucking | Typically paid per load/trip; work is concentrated into a short winter season | Seasonal (roughly Jan-Mar), not a year-round rotation | /iceroad/pay/ |
| Pipeline construction | Often unionized building-trades scale (UA, IUOE, and related locals) for welders and equipment operators | Project-based "spreads" rather than a fixed year-round schedule | /pipeline/wages/ |
| Forestry | Mill and logging roles are often hourly; tree planting is commonly piece-rate (paid per tree, not per hour) | Strongly seasonal, tied to planting and fire seasons | /forestry/pay/ |
| Offshore oil (Atlantic) | Salaried/hourly, NL-specific (Newfoundland and Labrador is the only ALC-only province in this niche) | Long offshore rotations, commonly around 21/21 or similar | /offshore/pay/ |
| Commercial fishing | Crew pay is very often a share of the catch's value, not an hourly wage -- a fundamentally different pay model than every other niche in this table | Short, intense seasons tied to the species and licence | /fishing/pay/ |
| Long-haul trucking | Typically paid per mile rather than per hour | Multi-day hauls rather than a fixed camp rotation | /trucking/pay/ |
Sources
- Job Bank -- Miner (Ontario) wage report — accessed 2026-09-07; data last updated by Job Bank 19 November 2025, reference period 2023-2024, Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey.
- Job Bank -- Miner (Ontario) occupation summary, NOC 83100 alignment — accessed 2026-09-07.
Frequently asked questions
Does mining or oil sands pay more?
We don't have a verified dollar-for-dollar comparison across niches to publish here -- see below for why. What we can say with a source: Ontario underground miners (Job Bank's "Miner" wage report, NOC 83100, Ontario) ranged $27.52-$56.00/hour with a $39.70/hour median, current as of 2026-09-07. For oil sands, check Oil Sands Jobs Guide's own sourced salaries page directly for their current figures -- we haven't checked those against this page's numbers, and wage data changes often enough that a stale comparison would be worse than no comparison.
Why doesn't this page just give a dollar-for-dollar comparison table?
Because we'd rather be honest than complete. Several of the figures we'd need aren't sourced yet, and our rule is to leave a number out rather than guess at one. What we can compare honestly right now is how each niche's pay is structured -- hourly, per-mile, piece-rate, or share -- which matters as much as the raw number when you're deciding what to apply for.
Which of these niches has the most different pay structure from mining?
Commercial fishing, by a wide margin -- crew pay is very often a share of the boat's catch value rather than a wage at all, which means your pay depends on the season's catch, not hours worked. Tree planting in forestry is the other big outlier, paid per tree (piece-rate) rather than per hour. Mining, oil sands, and pipeline construction are all closer to a conventional hourly-or-salaried model, often with a union scale behind it.
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