Mining Professional Exam

Certain jobs in mining require passing a professional exam in mining to verify knowledge of relevant regulations in mining, geology, labor law, and other regulations important for the field of mining. The professional exam in mining is regulated by the Mining Act (NN 56/13, 14/14, 52/18, 115/18, 98/19), based on which the Regulation on the Conduct of the Professional Exam in Mining (NN 83/20) has been adopted. In the following text, briefly read about the conditions that must be met for taking the professional exam, the application process, the exam procedure, and the rights obtained after passing the professional exam.

Who can take the professional exam and what are the conditions? According to the Regulation on the Conduct of the Professional Exam in Mining (NN 83/20), the professional exam can be taken by a person who meets the following conditions and has:

• completed an appropriate undergraduate and graduate university studies or an integrated undergraduate and graduate university studies and obtained the academic title of Master of Mining Engineering or Bachelor of Mining Engineering, if during their entire studies they have acquired at least 300 ECTS credits, or a person who has successfully completed an appropriate specialist graduate professional study that grants the professional title of Specialist Engineer in Mining Direction or a person who has obtained an appropriate level of education in the mining profession by other special regulations and has at least one year of work experience in professional mining jobs,
• completed an appropriate undergraduate university study and obtained the academic title of Bachelor of Mining Engineering, or has obtained an appropriate level of education in the mining profession by other special regulations and has at least two years of work experience in professional mining jobs,
• obtained a vocational qualification of mining technician and has at least three years of work experience in professional mining jobs.

Application process and required documentation

The application for taking the professional exam is submitted to the ministry responsible for mining, i.e., the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, Mining Sector. The candidate submits the application on a form (available on the Ministry’s website) along with documentation serving as evidence of meeting the requirements. Along with the documentation prescribed by Article 4 of the Regulation, the candidate proposes two topics for a written task containing the processing of a task from mining practice.

The examination board for professional exams in mining reviews the application and determines whether the candidate meets all prescribed conditions. After meeting the requirements, the candidate is informed in writing of one of the proposed topics for the preparation of a written task.

Taking the Professional Exam

The professional exam in mining consists of two parts – written and oral.

The written part, or the written task of the professional exam, addresses a task from mining practice related to the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources, with a detailed presentation of appropriate occupational safety measures. The task must be prepared and equipped in a way that its content can be easily followed and must include graphic attachments and cartographic representations with an interpreter of mining operations by stages.

The oral part of the professional exam is taken before the Examination Board and consists of the verification of the written task and the knowledge of relevant regulations in the following examination areas:

• The first examination area – questions on regulations in mining, spatial planning, and environmental protection,
• The second examination area – questions on technical standards in mining, occupational safety, and fire protection in mining,
• The third examination area – questions on the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, regulations on companies, and labor relations.

The list of applicable regulations can be obtained and is available on the Ministry’s website.

Success on the professional exam is graded as “passed” or “failed”, and for each examination area, the grade is recorded as “satisfied” or “unsatisfied”. A candidate receives a “passed” grade if they are rated as “satisfied” in all examination areas.

Certificate of Passing the Professional Exam and Acquired Rights

If a candidate passes the professional exam, the Examination Board issues them a Certificate of Passing the Professional Exam, which includes: the candidate’s name, academic qualifications, date of birth, OIB (personal identification number), date of passing the professional exam, mining tasks for which the professional exam has been passed, and the registration number (entry in the register of passed professional exams).

Depending on the candidate’s qualifications (graduate mining engineer, mining engineer, mining technician) with a passed professional exam, they are allowed to perform certain tasks in the field of mining.

A graduate mining engineer with a passed professional exam can engage in the professional management of mining operations for the exploration of mineral resources and mining operations for the exploitation of mineral resources, act as a responsible designer for the preparation of mining projects, participate in the preparation of mining projects as a designer, etc.

The rights acquired by a mining engineer or the tasks they can perform include professional management of mining operations for the exploration of mineral resources and professional management of mining operations for the exploitation of mineral resources.

Mining technicians with a passed professional exam can engage in the professional management of simple mining operations for the exploitation of mineral resources (responsible supervisor) and perform professional supervision of mining operations for the exploitation of mineral resources (foreman).

For all other rights acquired by passing the professional exam, please refer to the Regulation on Passing the Professional Exam in Mining (Article 31, Article 32, and Article 33).

Additionally, for some jobs in the field of mining, a professional exam is not required. These are jobs that involve special authorizations and responsibilities; for example, to participate in the assessment of reports on mineral resource reserves as a member of the reserves determination commission, a member of the reserves determination commission must have passed a professional exam in geology and have at least ten years of work experience in exploration and exploitation of mineral resources after passing the professional exam in geology. All other jobs are listed and regulated in Article 34 of the Regulation.