Jump to content
The Corroboree
Sign in to follow this  
PhoenixSon

Mining careers

Recommended Posts

Hi,

I was wondering if any here work in the mining industry?

I am trying to start an electrical apprentice hopefully with one of the mines for the 2012 intake.

Have a CV and cover sheet sorted and have applied to a crapload of mines/recruitment agencies

I am also starting a GIQ cleanskins induction and metalliferous and possibly a welding course by the end of the year.

I also understand ive got to do a health check :innocent_n: which of course will be smooth sailing.

Any tips, help?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Most mine jobs have an aptitude test and as far as I know all apprenticeships have one too, so you can guarantee that you will have to do some sort of test.

For an electrical apprenticeship you have to be proficient in maths, with algebra being the main focus.

It will help to familiarise yourself with Ohms law and some basic electrical concepts.

You could expect to be asked to calculate the resistance & current(load) of a circuit, so it will pay to know the difference between a parallel and a series circuit.

Series and Parallel circuits

Most apprenticeship tests involve a range of topics like maths, pattern sequence tests and basic comprehension questions to weed out the morons.

There are many online tests that will give you a fair idea of what they will want.

If you want to be an electrician you will also be screened for colour blindness as there are many shades of green that can be confused and potentially lead to fatal wiring jobs. People generally don't know they are colourblind until they get tested and there are many degrees of colour blindness.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Getting an apprenticeship straight on a mine , at least in W.A is very unlikely . The best way to do it is to complete your apprenticeship and then start sending the feelers out, and thats not necessarily just for your known trade. I started off on a mine as a general labourer, and did the hard yards. Once i was there and proved my worthiness all kinds of opportunities arose, in fact one of the guys that i started with was offered an Electrical apprenticeship. Im on a gold mine now and totally love my current job (Process operator), no trade was required just alot of patience and hard work. At the previous mine i worked at I saw so many "Green" people come through as general labourers and they are now thriving and making very good dollars. So yeh, do your trade first then chase anything you can get, Sooo many people are queing up.. once you are on a mine work hard, wave your trade ticket around, they will pick you up and you'll be laughing.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

they prefer to take labour from overseas and rip it off in various ways.

 

This is true if your talking about the oil/gas industry.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The mining Industry would have to change before I entered into it. Its pretty sickening the carnage thats left behind and I don't think I could live with myself if I visited these areas in my older years.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The mining industry is one of the worst things that has ever happened to Australia. I could write you an essay on the topic. It inappropriately props up an economy that has nothing else, pricing out manufacturing and allowing the liberal-voting, baby-booming minority Australian shareholding to become rich at the expense of the rest of us.

Gina Reinhart bought a 10% stake in Channel ten purely to push for a television show for Andrew Bolt so we can hear about how a few fucking boats coming in to Western Australia are a much bigger issue than the degradation of volumes of land throughout Australia, raped, left scarred and where profits are taken up as dividends by shareholders overseas.

For me the survival needs of needing a job and decent pay to survive comes miles behind the ethical debt one would accrue through working for the devil / Mammon. Karma is everything afterall - if you dont believe me go visit Terrance Mckenna's Transcendental Object.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

there are THC mines in some people's back yards,.... start mining you fools,.... the illuminatydreads want you to be irie.... hahahaha

build a bunker under your garage for 2012!

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You do what you have do support your wife and baby.

------------------------------------------------------------------

a welding course by the end of the year.

I also understand ive got to do a health check :innocent_n: which of course will be smooth sailing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_a_person_be_a_victim_of_syphilis_and_gonorrhea_at_the_same_time

[Can a person be a victim of syphilis and gonorrhea at the same time?

In: Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Gonorrhea, Syphilis [Edit categories]

Answers.com > Wiki Answers > Categories > Health > Sexual and Family Health > Sexually Transmitted Diseases > Can a person be a victim of syphilis and gonorrhea at the same time?

Answer:

Yes, people can have multiple Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD's). In fact a person could have multiple diseases of any kind, not just STD's. One disease does not prevent the other. You can have a cold, the flu, cancer, leprosy, syphilis and herpes, all at the same time (I'd sure hate to be that person, though).

With STD's, the likelyhood of someone having more than one at a time is probably higher than for other diseases because the high risk activities that led to the contraction of one STD, also leads to contraction of the other STD's as well. Someone who engages in high risk activities, often does so repeatedly.]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But after many years underground mining you will have have successful career and retire.

I rather go into the coastguard.

Got better uniforms [for the women] and better equipment and medical and always need welders.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well im sorry if it doesnt agree to some people , but mining is the best thing thats has ever happened in my life financially. happy wife, happy life. :rolleyes:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well im sorry if it doesnt agree to some people , but mining is the best thing thats has ever happened in my life financially. happy wife, happy life. :rolleyes:

 

Honesty is a wonderful thing, 'tis respected caapi even if opinions don't meet eye to eye. I reckon it's hard to work in a job these days that isn't destructive and unethical in some way shape or form, even environmental fields seem to degrade localised environments in their own unique way, mining may just be more in your face and obvious, i don't like mining, but it can be an easy head to put on a pike, a location for a good finger pointin' session, whilst hypocrisy is weaved within the air around us feeling like a plumped up marshmallow with no where to escape :P

------

don't know if this helps but, re employment, i've known family get in as a lower end truck drivers at the lesser preferred mines and work their way through tickets leading to different vehicles/responsibilities and better condition mine sites. These people are mature workers with trades under their belts, though not related to their work on site, and personal friends/contacts in the industry seemed to help out. Were willing to do long hours of hard work in hot conditions (i.e. lowest ranks), but didn't have to in a sense and entered a bit higher. Anyhoo good luck with whatever.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Im sure the people that work for the logging industry in Tasmania are just doing it to support themselves and their families. An industry that has been unprofitable for 17 years and which relies purely on government subsidies to survive (lucky its in a swinging seat).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Honesty is a wonderful thing, 'tis respected caapi even if opinions don't meet eye to eye. I reckon it's hard to work in a job these days that isn't destructive and unethical in some way shape or form, even environmental fields seem to degrade localised environments in their own unique way, mining may just be more in your face and obvious, i don't like mining, but it can be an easy head to put on a pike, a location for a good finger pointin' session, whilst hypocrisy is weaved within the air around us feeling like a plumped up marshmallow with no where to escape :P

------

don't know if this helps but, re employment, i've known family get in as a lower end truck drivers at the lesser preferred mines and work their way through tickets leading to different vehicles/responsibilities and better condition mine sites. These people are mature workers with trades under their belts, though not related to their work on site, and personal friends/contacts in the industry seemed to help out. Were willing to do long hours of hard work in hot conditions (i.e. lowest ranks), but didn't have to in a sense and entered a bit higher. Anyhoo good luck with whatever.

 

I can understand the negative opinions on mining , and i agree on most of them, im just in the unfortunate position where family comes before enviroment. sad but true.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mining is great. Mining for the inner human in the outer machine, etc. Just great. :P

mr b.caapi - Have you seen Red Dog? If not, then I recommend that you do. :wink:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mining is great. Mining for the inner human in the outer machine, etc. Just great. :P

mr b.caapi - Have you seen Red Dog? If not, then I recommend that you do. :wink:

 

No, but i plan to. Looks really good.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

goddamn hippies!

I'm in mining, and have no issue with it. Booyah, Caapi :) gotta love the processing plants... Base metals concentration, myself...

I take the environment i work in seriously, and hold others to account to do the same. I know the place i work at cares about the environment. out of interest, we pastefill the mined stopes with our tailings, so there wont even be any holes at the end...

The mining industry has it's cowboys, but by and large the companies need to be good community and environmental citizens, otherwise they lose their right to mine. It aint all about the money nowadays. All the companies bar one that i've worked with were good with regards the environment.

You all have some influence in your life based on the mining idustry... if it wasn't here, aus would be a poorer place.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As bad as mining is, agricultural has done far more damage to this country than mining could ever hope to do.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i know a couple women who work in/on the mines... Getting an apprenticeship, 1st year? .. No, not a hope... They usually/always put on fully qualified people (Its very dangerous)... :\ sorry.. perhaps tough it out for 2 years as someones "shit-kicker" then go for a 3rd year with the major electrical company in your area? :scratchhead:

That's what i would do and is what a friend of mine is doing :).

Best of luck, F.Friend.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As bad as mining is, agricultural has done far more damage to this country than mining could ever hope to do.

 

Probably true currently but time will tell.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

goddamn hippies!

I'm in mining, and have no issue with it. Booyah, Caapi :) gotta love the processing plants... Base metals concentration, myself...

I take the environment i work in seriously, and hold others to account to do the same. I know the place i work at cares about the environment. out of interest, we pastefill the mined stopes with our tailings, so there wont even be any holes at the end...

The mining industry has it's cowboys, but by and large the companies n eed to be good community and environmental citizens, otherwise they lose their righ t to mine. It aint all about the money nowadays. All the companies bar one that i've worked with were good with regards the environment.

You all have some influence in your life based on the mining idustry... if it wasn't here, aus would be a poorer place.

 

-

True, [what would be the a metal to invest in if not a base metal[iron.copper,zinc aluminum]] after a total destruction of civilization].

Silver is the obvious choice[ antibiotic propertys on silver plates], but whats second.

Not gold or other rare metals or rare earths[phosphors -old TV tubes] no electronic industry for a while.

Edited by devance

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The old 90 year of age judge pronouces a 50 years sentence on the convict.

The convict says .

The very old judge says [ Just do as long as you can son.]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ttp://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/MI01Ag01.html

Exxon wins BP's lost Russian Arctic fields

By Robert M Cutler

MONTREAL - ExxonMobil, the United States oil major and the world's biggest company, and Russia's Rosneft have signed an agreement to develop the three offshore areas in Russia's Arctic shelf.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whoever makes makes the money, is no to going to be the convict, just us after the fact and conviction / realization too late then.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info and thoughts everyone!

Booked another course @ tafe testing/tagging course.

From what employment agencies are telling me there is heaps of apprenticeships available but fark all for sparkies..

Im really keen on the electrical field as i find it interesting and practical. So i am just going to skill up as much as possible + apply for as many jobs as i can. If i dont get in for the 2012 intake ill be going for a restricted electrical license @ tafe.

Ill get there, eventually :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

g'day spacemonk,

I was in your exact situation once. I found it really hard to get in direct with a mining company, instead I ended up with an electrical contractor who specialised in industrial electrical / automation. I'd highly recommend this step instead as you'll get a heap more experience over a huge range of equipment - I ended up working in mining, power generation, water treatment, manufacturing, robotics, oil/gas all during my apprenticeship.

two big tips I can give you:

-do your electrical pre-apprenticeship at TAFE (basically 1st year of your electrical apprenticeship)

-go to centrelink and sign up for jobnetwork - they will then assign you to an employment agency of your choice. for example I signed up with CHR, attended all their jobsearch courses and showed I was keen. In return they paid for all my interview clothes and shoes, advertised me in the paper, actively searched for jobs for me, even offered to buy all my tools so I was more attractive to an employer!

try to avoid doing a domestic apprenticeship if you want to get into mining as making the step is a lot harder - even though the TAFE course is the same there is so much more to know with industrial electrical and I'm still learning every day

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×