Is there any mining workers out there?

Hi True Blue
Mate going open cut or under ground ???? as they are very different trucks and environments I spent a small time at BHP cannington under ground and one of my jobs was driving Haul/dump Wagner 444 and toro 40d dump trucks

Gday Blue, get your resume on an email attachment, & send it to Skilled Group in Karratha, attention to Lee Smith, he is in charge of putting truckies bum's on seats in the Pilbara. Good Luck.

Be prepared to be known as or called a "bonehead", "rockape", or "boon" by the fitters.

Mate just look on seek.com or infomine.com under the right categories and with your experiance I would be suprised if you had trouble getting a start. Although you need to be prepared to put up with a lot more crap than the average town job but I guess the money makes up for it for a while, thats why I'm still doing it.Other sites worth checking might be Hays resources, DT workforce or any others that you could google.

Cheers, Scott

True Blue,

We are intending on spending some time in NW WA working and intend on having a crack at getting into something similar. Problem is we have no experience. BUT-We are willing to learn/train etc, have our own accommodation and will go anywhere.

Would you mind saying who you trained with and if they were good?

I've gotten everything from "you've got no chance without at least 6 months experience" to "you'll be on $100k a year in no time" sort of thing. Guess we'll find out soon enough.

Anyone else have any advice would love to hear it also..

Sorry for the hi jack TB.

Cheers

Matt

True Blue,

We are intending on spending some time in NW WA working and intend on having a crack at getting into something similar. Problem is we have no experience. BUT-We are willing to learn/train etc, have our own accommodation and will go anywhere.

Would you mind saying who you trained with and if they were good?

I've gotten everything from "you've got no chance without at least 6 months experience" to "you'll be on $100k a year in no time" sort of thing. Guess we'll find out soon enough.

Anyone else have any advice would love to hear it also..

Sorry for the hi jack TB.

Cheers

Matt

Gday True Blue

In the current environment, you should have no trouble finding work. Look for a roster that suits you. A lot of the jobs with contracting companies have less favourable rosters than direct employment with larger mining companies, but they have more jobs, and generally (not in all cases) the worse the roster the better the pay.

In the last 6 years I have worked 2weeks on/off, 8days on/6 off, 4 days on/3days off, and a few months of 3 weeks on/1 week off. In our situation (4yo and 2yo) the 2 weeks on/off is great, and what I am working at the moment. The 2 weeks off is about the equivelant of the annual leave I used to take when I had a normal job! The 8/6 days wasn't that good, and the 4/3 days was bad....but the 4/3 would be great in a few years time when the kids are into weekend sport etc and you can't go away during the week due to school.

On the truckdriving, I was OK for 6 months, then the boredom drove me crazy. I was lucky to progress to more interesting positions in the company. There are plenty of oppertunities out there. Most of the time, trucks are the first machine, and you can get experience and training on a wide range of gear....

As others have said, you will have to put up with a lot of rules and general red tape etc (the safety nazi's are trying to stop people from thinking for themselves), but overall its a good industry to be in.

Cheers Andrew

PS I am all for a safe workplace, just a bit annoyed at the way it is trying to be achieved in some cases.

Thank you Wayne M, earwig65, Sarg, TroopyTracker and Andrew B for all of your responses and especially for your words of encouragement and guideance.

I'm taking all of it on board and have started sending out my resume to various mining employers around the country, and there are hundreds and hundreds of them. One of my trainers where I did my truck course told me there are around 1,055 mines in WA alone, and it's only going to get bigger.

TroopyTracker, a company called Mining Training Services of Neerabup (north of Perth) WA conducted my course. Contact them as follows :-

website: www.miningtrainingservices.com.au
email: info@miningtrainingservices.com.au

They cover training for all sorts of equipment that is used in mines.
The 2 dump truck instructors that covered my 5 day course were themselves ex-mine dump truck operators and first and foremost they were operators not trainers.
But they succeeded in getting the message across so I passed thankfully. It's not cheap, around $3,000 for the course alone.

On a personal note, eventhough I have been driving heavy road going tippers for over 20 years, even the smallest of these dump trucks (CAT.773) is intimidating, or at least I found so. At the end of the first day I could have walked away and returned to Melbourne, I found it that scarey. I guess I'm a woos because none of the other boys said anything about it. But you do become confident with the machine fairly quickly and I'm treating my fear of it as something "healthy" which may help to keep me alive.

I'm going for it and I reckon you should too.

Cheers to all and thanks again, True Blue.

You may have to move out to there doorstep to get a better chance.
The mine working game aint what it used to be. Everyones cottoned on to it. any manager will tell you he is innundated with resumes everyday.
There is a good reason decent pay is on offer - Youve really got to be in the right place at the right time to get a go with no (mining) experience. otherwise its just a big poaching game with companys offering more money and better conditions to lure others workers. Very little training generally gos on.
You may struggle with the agencys which alot of companys use as they wont look at you without 6-12 months experience.
My Girlfreind drove those U/G dumptrucks for a few months and reckoned after driving metro Delivery and Agi trucks round the city full of idiots behind the wheel it was a doddle in comparrison

True Blue
I wish you luck. I am a middle aged female who wants to embark on a completely new career. Having also undertaken the Haul Truck course last week in addition to also doing my Marcsta Induction. renewing Senior First Aid, have a National Police Clearance, HR Licence and Forklift ticket I am still getting the same responses: these are NOT trainee positions, require minimum 6 month experience. While I don't have the experience that you have driving road going tippers I have worked in mining/resources/constuction albeit in an admin capacity both fly in/fly out and residential during the last 10 years but this seems to account for nothing. They say there is a skill shortage but noone, it seems, wants to take on those who have the ambition, drive and persistence to go after what they want. My husband fully supports me but I am getting a bit tired of the same excuses. Agencies say that their clients want value for money but they won't hire trainees. The companies themselves seem to resort to a who you know mentality when it comes to the limited opportunities that do become available. I sincerely hope you are successful so that the rest of us novices who are still trying might have a glimmer of hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. It won't stop my trying but I really hope an opportunity presents itself so that skills, knowledge and enthusiasm isn't lessened by the passage of time.

Regards

Weeksy.