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The talk of replacing miners is everywhere in the media today, but how much automation do our Australian mines have left to do? The short answer is none, because all these advancements we read about in overseas mines have already happened here. The large advancements in automation that are being reported on around the world were all developed here, in the Australian Hardrock industry more than a decade ago. Only now are mining companies from around the world adopting the equipment and mining methods of our industry.

The big advancement was the remote underground loader that can drive itself back to the stock pile once the operator has got the bucket of dirt. That’s right the boggers (underground loaders) still need an operator to get a bucket of rock and this is the story not being told. Yes, some machines can work by themselves but what happens when something goes wrong, how much damage can be done? When you are talking about mining equipment, lots. Often the cost of repair is as much as an operator would cost for a whole year or more. Take what happen when they tried to get a loader to bog its own bucket of rock. It ended up stripping the front tyres, at $18,000 a tyre it didn’t take long for them to give up and the technology hasn’t advance any further since. Yet we still get stories from around the world about these “new technologies” that are going to replace people working in our mines.

As far as an underground mining crew goes, no one, including the truck drivers, are going to be replace any time soon. Charge up still needs people to fill the holes and tie everything in, service crew has to plum the mine with vent, power, air & water, offsiders to load bolts or rods, boggers to move the rock and nippers to run around after them all. What about the drills I hear you say? Yes, a lot drills do operate on an auto pilot like system but still require an operator, in the same way a plane requires a pilot, for when things go wrong. It has been shown that you don’t stay in business long if you let your 3million dollar drill rigs run unattended for any length of time, companies that have tried this all failed in a short amount of time.

The current method of Hardrock mining isn’t going to change any time soon, so anyone thinking about getting into the industry should look at doing it soon, as there is no competition for someone that has the right mining knowledge. If you wait to see this information on the news or get it from the cab driver, you will have left it too late and will now be competing with thousands of people. If you want more information about how I can help you get into the Australian Hardrock underground mining industry check out our “Do it yourself” package or leave your details in the link provided. Good luck hope you get your dream job soon.

Having read a number of different articles about jobs in the Hardrock mining industry that just give generic answers to many of the important questions, I wanted to pull back the curtain and explain who is hiring and why. There are over 100 large Hardrock mines all around Australia, these mines all use the same systems of work/procedures to mine different metals. This means once a person is trained on one of these large Hardrock mines, they become employable on all the others.

These mines are run by a small number of employers. Made up of owner operators (like Newmont and Goldfields that use their own workforce) and contract companies (like Barminco, Byrnecut, Pybar and Redpath). Today these employers find themselves in the position of having to hire new starters to fill the lowest paid jobs on their mine sites. I really don’t want to call them new starter jobs because all employers will hire an experienced person over a new starter, if they are available. I call them the lowest paid jobs on crew because they are, even though these jobs pay between $300-$500 a day.

So how did the employers get here?

From the end of 2012 to 2015 a number of these large mines were put into care and maintenance, this forced large numbers of miners to be laid off. The number of large mines dropped to as low as 80, this meant that miners had nowhere to go if their mine was one of the ones that closed. Much like a game of musical chairs, when the music stopped at the end of 2012, if you didn’t have a seat you were in trouble. Many miners got large pay outs from a number of the own operators that closed, but most and this is important, moved on from the industry into other careers.

This bust reduced the experienced workforce by 20%, most of who moved into other jobs that allowed them to be home every night. Then at the end of 2015, when a number of the large mines reopen, hundreds of miners were once again required. Employers thought that all those people that were tossed out in 2012 would come running back, they didn’t. Left with no choice, the employers had to fill the gaps to keep the mine running. This meant new starters had to be hired to fill the lowest paid roles. Employers have been trying to catch up ever since, but when 3 out of 5 new starter fail in the first 6months it becomes an ongoing problem.

You only have to look at the employment ads to see how often they are repeated. Once you find out, that to run one of these large mines effectively, the employers need 12 to 50 truck drivers, 3 to 12 Nippers, 12 to 36 Service/paste fill crew members and 3 to 24 diamond drillers offsiders on each site, it’s not hard to see how the employers have got into trouble. The numbers will vary depending on the mines size and number of crews but this gives you some idea of why the industry is constantly looking for new starters to fill these low paid jobs. There are hundreds of these jobs going constantly around the country.

With the number of mines expected to grow to well over 120 by the end of 2018 the problems for the employers isn’t going to stop any time soon. This means that the opportunities for people to start their mining career have never been better. So if you want to give it a go then get yourself trained in the Hardrock systems of work (really important to getting the job and surviving the first six months) and start applying. Any questions leave me a message in the link across the page. Good luck.

They will always take experienced miners first, however when experience people are few and far between, companies find themselves having to hire new starters to fill the lowest paid jobs on the crew. Jobs like Nipper, Truck driver and service crew all pay between $300-$500 a day (depending on who you are working for and where), are now seen as an entry point for new starters. With the next level of jobs (charge up, bogger, longhole) seeing pay jump up to $650-$900 a day, everyone is looking for that next promotion, this leaves employer’s little options with current employment conditions but to hire new starters. The trucks have to keep rolling.

The employers like people that have jobs, someone that has been in regular work for a while. They like people that have worked for big companies, that exposes a person to procedures and OH&S rules. If your job involves shift work, weekend work or 10 to 12 hours shifts, this is all employment history that is looked upon favorably by companies. People that are working for fast food, supermarkets, service stations, pubs and retail all should be looking at a underground mining career.  The foreman/mine manager like people that are motivated by the money, as it has been shown people into their money stay longer and endure the conditions.

Once the employer is happy that you are going to be able to work hard for them, new starters are broken into 2 groups, people with mining knowledge and/or special skills (like a grader driver or concrete sprayer) and everyone else. This is where the training we provide creates a pathway to employment. If you communicate through your resume to the employer that you have complete the training like this

Introduction to Underground Mining                                    Truck & IT Operations
Certificate of Achievement                                                       Certificate of Achievement

How a hardrock mine works                                                     Operating the Truck
Scaling                                                                                           Driving up and down the decline
Watering down                                                                            Getting a load/Dumping a load
Basic Service crew work                                                             IT Operations and attachments used
General Mining Information

Then they are going to want to talk to you because these are the exact skills/mining knowledge that the employers are looking for in an employee to be Nipper or drive a truck underground. As long as you studied hard and are across the information from the courses, then in the phone interview that you have, you will shine, impress the employer and they will hire you. If for some reason you haven’t retained the information and don't shine in the interview, then the employers won’t hire. It really is as simple as that, that’s why we call our entry level package “Do it yourself”, all you have to do is follow the instructions and study. As part of the package I teach you how to make a mining friendly resume and on graduation you are enrolled you in the Mining Coach’s Workready program.

The idea of the Workready program is to connect students with suitable employers. Once you return your new mining friendly resume I start sending it out to contacts and jobs that I know of within the industry. Workready also include a bi-weekly newsletter that has links to jobs that I want you to apply for. Many companies have strict rules about who has to send a resume to the foreman or HR department.

If the employers have interview everyone with a special skill or training and still have gaps to fill, then this is when they will start to look at all the other new starter resumes. Often numbering in the 100’s if not 1000’s it’s up to HR to pick 5,10 or 20 to interview, depending on how many jobs are left to fill. How HR chooses those resumes is often random, with stories being told of the trash bin lucky dip to just selecting every 18^th resume in the pile until you had the 20 you needed. Anyone that gets an interview at this point should buy themselves a lotto ticket because they have been extremely lucky.

So what’s the moral to the story? That there are great paying jobs in Hardrock mines all over the country, that employers are struggling to fill. Companies are now being forced to hire new starters and by engaging in training, you can create a pathway to employment for yourself. Giving yourself a big advantage over other new starters. To sign up for our “Do it yourself” package follow the link, if you have any questions on how to go about get a job in the industry leave your details and a brief message in the link across the page and I will get back to you. Good luck hope you find your dream job soon.