Luke241294 Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Hello people! I have a few questions for anyone with mining experience or anyone with some knowledge of the mining world. I'm a British soldier shortly terminating my service to try pursue a career in the mine, in WA. Below I'll list some qualifications I have and i would like to know if they would be valued In the mines. Moblile Crane license NPORS (experienced with Terex AC35 medium mobility 30T crane) Slinger & signaller Crane supervisor Self loading dump truck Full hazardous goods license. HGV licenses. I'd really appreciate any Info given it means a lot! Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 Do you have a visa? You do know that there was a big downturn in mining in WA with loads of redundancies over the past few years. Someone from WA will be along shortly I'm sure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 As above, do you have a visa? If you do, then first, I am afraid most of your tickets mean nothing in Australia and would need to be redone. The majority also mean little to mining. Any that might, would mean you are up against thousands of highly experienced miners with Australian tickets who are currently unemployed since being laid off since the downturn. Mines will always take someone who is an experienced miner above a none experienced miner as it is a unique environment. Hence why these days not only when mines recruit do they ask for experience, but will demand someone is already inducted to a particular site. By the way, I am an experienced miner now back in the UK after eight years in Oz in WA in mines and then being unable to get work and now back in the UK. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 If you are desperate to get to Australia, have you considered looking at Lateral Transfers? I have no idea whether your skills are in demand or not but it's an avenue that several folk have managed to take to get in to Australia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke241294 Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 3 hours ago, VERYSTORMY said: As above, do you have a visa? If you do, then first, I am afraid most of your tickets mean nothing in Australia and would need to be redone. The majority also mean little to mining. Any that might, would mean you are up against thousands of highly experienced miners with Australian tickets who are currently unemployed since being laid off since the downturn. Mines will always take someone who is an experienced miner above a none experienced miner as it is a unique environment. Hence why these days not only when mines recruit do they ask for experience, but will demand someone is already inducted to a particular site. By the way, I am an experienced miner now back in the UK after eight years in Oz in WA in mines and then being unable to get work and now back in the UK. Thanks for replying, very helpful. Do you think it would be easy to know someone currently working in the mines/can put me in touch with companies? How did you first get onto the mines, what is your trade? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke241294 Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 1 hour ago, Quoll said: If you are desperate to get to Australia, have you considered looking at Lateral Transfers? I have no idea whether your skills are in demand or not but it's an avenue that several folk have managed to take to get in to Australia. A lateral transfer with in the army do you mean? I don't intend to stay in Australia indefinitely. I appreciate your reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 28 minutes ago, Luke241294 said: Thanks for replying, very helpful. Do you think it would be easy to know someone currently working in the mines/can put me in touch with companies? How did you first get onto the mines, what is your trade? My occupation is Senior Geologist, though I have also been a registered manager for mining projects in Australia and have ran projects in Australia and around the world. My last project in Australia was as a registered manager for a medium sized gold mine in WA. To be honest, without a permanent visa, no mine would even consider you. The main job site for mining is infomine.com and the main general job site for Oz is seek.com.au. But, without a visa it is irrelevant. Even looking for a job does not get you a visa that allows you to work in Oz unless you pass a lot of criteria. The biggest of which is that you need an occupation on the skilled occupation lists. Which, from what you have posted, I am afraid you don't. If you are under 31, you could look at a working holiday visa which would allow you to live and work in Australia for up to twelve months and if you undertake certain work for 3 months such as fruit picking, obtain a second 12 month visa. But, this isn't going to get you a mining job as you are limited to working for one employer for 6 months. In mining, inductions can take a month, site familiarization the same again and then training for even entry level, 1-2 months. So, there is no reason why a mine would hire you for 6 months, when they will only get maybe 2 months of actual productive work. At the same time, you really need to appreciate that there have been tens of thousands of people made redundant from mining in WA recently. Hence why the WA economy is having a serious problem. At the same time, of the tickets you mention, I cant think of one that remotely appeals to me as someone who was a manager in mining and hired staff. There just not relevant. That is before the fact that there also not valid in Australia. Let me go through them: Moblile Crane license NPORS (experienced with Terex AC35 medium mobility 30T crane). Mines only have cranes during shut downs or construction phases. Shutdowns last 2 weeks and a crane might come in for a day or two. Also, this ticket isn't valid in Australia Slinger & signaler As above Crane supervisor As above Self loading dump truck Pretty irrelevant. A mine haul truck could on its own carry several of them. Also, your license isn't valid in Oz Full hazardous goods license. The only hazardous goods are the dets for explosives - the explosives themselves are regarded as hazardous (not unusual to see a shot firer get on a plane home with amfo (the explosives all over him) The dets are transported by a shot firer which is a highly specialized ticket and not easy to get HGV licenses. Not applicable. Haul trucks are the only real HGV's on site with the exception of exploration, who usually have one or two people that have a license. The mine trucks are haul trucks which don't use HGV licenses. Also, HGV licenses from the UK are not valid in Oz and need to be fully re done. I don't wish to disappoint you, but you have pretty much no chance of a job in mining in WA at the moment. When the boom was at its height, things might have been different and I have hired one or two Brits on working holiday visas for entry level roles. But those days are long gone as the boom is long gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke241294 Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 25 minutes ago, VERYSTORMY said: My occupation is Senior Geologist, though I have also been a registered manager for mining projects in Australia and have ran projects in Australia and around the world. My last project in Australia was as a registered manager for a medium sized gold mine in WA. To be honest, without a permanent visa, no mine would even consider you. The main job site for mining is infomine.com and the main general job site for Oz is seek.com.au. But, without a visa it is irrelevant. Even looking for a job does not get you a visa that allows you to work in Oz unless you pass a lot of criteria. The biggest of which is that you need an occupation on the skilled occupation lists. Which, from what you have posted, I am afraid you don't. If you are under 31, you could look at a working holiday visa which would allow you to live and work in Australia for up to twelve months and if you undertake certain work for 3 months such as fruit picking, obtain a second 12 month visa. But, this isn't going to get you a mining job as you are limited to working for one employer for 6 months. In mining, inductions can take a month, site familiarization the same again and then training for even entry level, 1-2 months. So, there is no reason why a mine would hire you for 6 months, when they will only get maybe 2 months of actual productive work. At the same time, you really need to appreciate that there have been tens of thousands of people made redundant from mining in WA recently. Hence why the WA economy is having a serious problem. At the same time, of the tickets you mention, I cant think of one that remotely appeals to me as someone who was a manager in mining and hired staff. There just not relevant. That is before the fact that there also not valid in Australia. Let me go through them: Moblile Crane license NPORS (experienced with Terex AC35 medium mobility 30T crane). Mines only have cranes during shut downs or construction phases. Shutdowns last 2 weeks and a crane might come in for a day or two. Also, this ticket isn't valid in Australia Slinger & signaler As above Crane supervisor As above Self loading dump truck Pretty irrelevant. A mine haul truck could on its own carry several of them. Also, your license isn't valid in Oz Full hazardous goods license. The only hazardous goods are the dets for explosives - the explosives themselves are regarded as hazardous (not unusual to see a shot firer get on a plane home with amfo (the explosives all over him) The dets are transported by a shot firer which is a highly specialized ticket and not easy to get HGV licenses. Not applicable. Haul trucks are the only real HGV's on site with the exception of exploration, who usually have one or two people that have a license. The mine trucks are haul trucks which don't use HGV licenses. Also, HGV licenses from the UK are not valid in Oz and need to be fully re done. I don't wish to disappoint you, but you have pretty much no chance of a job in mining in WA at the moment. When the boom was at its height, things might have been different and I have hired one or two Brits on working holiday visas for entry level roles. But those days are long gone as the boom is long gone. I appreciate you took the time to write this. I wanted some info and you gave me more than enough. If in not qualified, I'm not qualified simple as that. I thought it was worth a try but I haven't really been informed as much about it as you have just done. I guess I'll stick to operating in the UK! Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eera Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 Things are not so dire (at the moment) In Queensland coal; there is, at least temporarily, an upturn in the industry and several sites are recruiting greenskin (inexperienced) operators again. Saying that, they come through labour hire companies like Workpac so there's every chance that come the next blip they'll be laid off. Personally I've recently worked on the preliminaries of four new mine projects within three hours of me - we are at the stage of designing haul roads and hard infrastructure so they are pushing ahead. You tend to get the booms when construction is on the go and that's probably the time your tickets might be of use; under our legislation ( which is possibly different in WA) while a site is under construction you require civvie tickets, when it turns into a mine proper they become irrelevent and you need the RII mining ones. But again, you'd have to see if you can convert your tickets over through an RTO who may charge a motza to do so, and unless you have a visa already you may not be given the chance. Other avenues you might explore could include large international project management companies like Bechtel who seems able to get their workers on major projects anywhere in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 Bottom line for the OP, still needs to have a visa strategy and may well not get one unless those skills are on the list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgt Posted July 23, 2017 Share Posted July 23, 2017 all about who you know in WA im afraid, and thats when times are good..... pretty much covered by Very Stormy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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