It's happening now $200k for an Electrician in the mining sector is your base starting salary. Electricians only have to do an extra year of uni to become engineers.
I've yet to see an electrical engineer master even the proper workings of a left handed screwdriver.
It might be happening, but the EE's designing the circuitry required are probably making 500k like I mentioned.
And No. There is a HUGE difference between electrical engineers and electricians. Electricians understand algebra, V=IR, and how to read a schematic. EE's deal with calculus, and design schematics so they function so an electrician can wire it up.
Seriously, please tell me what more you do as an electrician than:
1. Determine what circuits you will need
2. Determine how much amperage these circuits will need to be able to handle, the voltage drop that will occur due to resistance, and select the adequate gauge wire
3. Connect a box (junction) to a main supply
4. Determine the correct breakers if any to use so that you avoid hazards
5. Wire everything up...
Red to red, black to black.
It really isn't any harder than that. I've yet to see an electrician that can even draw the schematic for an amplifier, let alone explain how one works.
In a mine you might get more money due to hazard pay due to the possibility of death due to gas leaks and such. But electrons function the same in mines as everywhere else.