Hi, I'm an electrician in England with 7 years experience across the board. I am interested in going to work in a mining town and don't know where to start. Can anyone give me any advice?

First port of call is http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/ to see if you qualify for a visa.

The next step is to ask yourself why?

Do you realise that you wont be able to work initially as you need to jump through hoops to get licenced. During which you cant work as a sparky. Then, if you think you are going to get a super high paying job in the mines, think again. The industry are laying people off at the moment.

unless you mean doing domestic sparky work in a mining town and not the mine.

Strictly speaking Gladstone is not a mining town ( although we have a coal terminal and another being built), but its not easy getting someone to your house to do a job. So at the moment i'd say there is a demand here.. couldnt give you any idea on wages... but what the companies charge for work aint cheap

There's plenty of construction work (including mine sites) in WA at the moment. I think there's a fair bit in QLD as well. Yeah, getting a license isn't the most straight forward process but I'm sure most people who come here think it's worth it in the end.

By the way Chris Sparks, there's an electricians forum with a lot of useful info here: http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=97

Good luck

Once you're licensed you'd need to find the work - best off trying the big contractors to see what they've got going like Leightons, Downer, Thiess, Monodelphous to name a few.