mining contacts
Mar 22nd 2007, 2:17 pm
#1
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: Victoria Point Qld
Posts: 373
mining contacts
Hi Just seeing if anyone has info on sparky jobs in the mines,are there many in QLD? Any info would be great.
cheers John
cheers John
Mar 22nd 2007, 2:19 pm
#2
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2007
Location: was Preston now sunny Perth
Posts: 158
Re: mining contacts
we also would be interested in this as hubbie wants to work in the mines, but we will be in Perth
Mar 22nd 2007, 2:42 pm
#3
Sparky Stu
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 612
Re: mining contacts
Iv copy and pasted this write up fro salerys and wages thread in the electricians forum. There was another big write up after this one on the same thread. Hope it may help.
Stu
Re: Sparkys wages/salary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi All
I don't really belong here as I was born in Aus, my folks are brit expats though. Actually my Aussie husband and I are looking to go elsewhere in the world for a couple of years and I happened upon this site during my research.
Despite your 'high' opinion of the local electrical talent I have a few things to say that might give you some leads hopefully.
My husband is a sparky in the Goldfields of WA, working in underground mining. I just wanted to reply to say there is no myth - he is an A class sparky and is on 130,000ish PA salary plus packaging. He got that after a couple of years experience in mining. Prior to U/G mining, he did a bit of heavy industrial and a bit of construction, a bit of marine etc - not much domestic. However plenty of domestic sparkies cross over to U/G mining no probs.
Green people, newbies or whatever, including people fresh from the UK would probably start out on less than 100K but not much less and that doesn't include package benefits like perhaps accommodation, vehicle etc.
You can find jobs by going to www.seek.com.au and looking in "mining, oil and gas" for electrician jobs. Some actually state 'live and work in Australia' so are calling for O/S applicants.
A few people my husband has met who got their jobs straight from O/S started out onsite as trade assistants while their licence was sorted out - but that isn't bad money anyway and when you factor in the long days (most places are 12 hr days and rosters like 7 days on, 3 off then 7 days on,4 off) it is going to work out to good money. First year apprentices are apparently on 27p/h so an experienced sparky who just needs to get their license sorted can negotiate a decent wage even if their title is not yet A class sparky.
Umm, just some terms of reference in case you look into it and aren't sure what they are talking about in the job adverts.
FI/FO means fly-in/fly-out. In WA it means you (and family) can be based in Perth or another city and fly onto the minesite for your days on. You might do 2 weeks on and then fly back to perth for a week off. There are plenty of rosters going, 3 on/1 off, 6 on/2 off the hallowed 7on/7off. The company arranges/pays for your travel and accomodation while onsite, usually in single persons quatres with all food included.
MARCSTA - is a special ticket that is essential in WA to get on to mine sites. It costs (from memory) about 100-150 AU dollars. simple to get in Perth.
MHS - mine health surveillance (sp) is a physical you have to do before going onsite. It is pretty standard and in many cases the company will pay. In any event it is cheap and easy to get in WA.
NO DRUGS is the golden rule. Make sure you haven't even sat in a room with someone else smoking pot in a long leadup to the MHS examination. Urine tests before getting jobs and spot urine tests at any time when onsite mean no pot & pills ever (unless you can afford to loose you job) and no booze at 4am in the morning if your shift starts at 7am. You will get booted offsite and you can end up unable to get a job anywhere in the WA mining industry.
Aside from FI/FO there are also loads of in-situ jobs. Not sure about O/S relocation but if you are in perth, some companies will relocate you to their mining towns.
Here is a list of some to look at:
Goldfields towns (Central and south east part of WA. mainly gold and nickel mines, most underground but also there is the Kalgoorlie superpit which is a huge open pit gold mine):
Kalgoorlie (largest inland city in Aus, but small 30,000 people, plenty of expats)
Kambalda
Leinster
Pilbara Region (north west of WA)
Karratha (natural gas project, cushy work for sparkies, great town with lots of expats, great money, hot to tropical climate)
Newman (massive open cut Iron Ore mine)
Tom Price (iron ore)
anyway that is a start - this state is full of natural resources.
To get a start, go through a HR company like extraman hays or any labour hire company. They will help you get your foot in the door, get the MHS and MARCSTA and get a bit of experience. Of course once you have experience then you can dump the labour hire mob and negotiate with mine companies and contractors direct if you wish.
Another thing to consider if you want to stay in Domestic and Construction is that the shortage of sparkies and the lure of the big $$ in the mines means that sparkies in the city of Perth are commanding good $$ too. There is also a home building boom here so first fixing work is plentiful.
Okay - hope that helps.
For What It's Worth - Aussies DO say they have higher standards than the UK - maybe that is not true. However it is worth pointing out that QLD is considered an exception to that rule (by people living anywhere but QLD). In many industries peoples eyebrows are raised at the standard of work in QLD.
Rentals in Perth are affordable (average $275pw) - real estate is not (average $500,000+). Rentals in some mining towns esp karratha can run to 1000+ per week but you can get accommodation through companies as part of a package or in hotels/single persons quatres depending on the job. Kalgoorlie/goldfields isn't bad for rentals.
Hope it helps - there is PLENTY of work for sparkies in WA
Stu
Re: Sparkys wages/salary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi All
I don't really belong here as I was born in Aus, my folks are brit expats though. Actually my Aussie husband and I are looking to go elsewhere in the world for a couple of years and I happened upon this site during my research.
Despite your 'high' opinion of the local electrical talent I have a few things to say that might give you some leads hopefully.
My husband is a sparky in the Goldfields of WA, working in underground mining. I just wanted to reply to say there is no myth - he is an A class sparky and is on 130,000ish PA salary plus packaging. He got that after a couple of years experience in mining. Prior to U/G mining, he did a bit of heavy industrial and a bit of construction, a bit of marine etc - not much domestic. However plenty of domestic sparkies cross over to U/G mining no probs.
Green people, newbies or whatever, including people fresh from the UK would probably start out on less than 100K but not much less and that doesn't include package benefits like perhaps accommodation, vehicle etc.
You can find jobs by going to www.seek.com.au and looking in "mining, oil and gas" for electrician jobs. Some actually state 'live and work in Australia' so are calling for O/S applicants.
A few people my husband has met who got their jobs straight from O/S started out onsite as trade assistants while their licence was sorted out - but that isn't bad money anyway and when you factor in the long days (most places are 12 hr days and rosters like 7 days on, 3 off then 7 days on,4 off) it is going to work out to good money. First year apprentices are apparently on 27p/h so an experienced sparky who just needs to get their license sorted can negotiate a decent wage even if their title is not yet A class sparky.
Umm, just some terms of reference in case you look into it and aren't sure what they are talking about in the job adverts.
FI/FO means fly-in/fly-out. In WA it means you (and family) can be based in Perth or another city and fly onto the minesite for your days on. You might do 2 weeks on and then fly back to perth for a week off. There are plenty of rosters going, 3 on/1 off, 6 on/2 off the hallowed 7on/7off. The company arranges/pays for your travel and accomodation while onsite, usually in single persons quatres with all food included.
MARCSTA - is a special ticket that is essential in WA to get on to mine sites. It costs (from memory) about 100-150 AU dollars. simple to get in Perth.
MHS - mine health surveillance (sp) is a physical you have to do before going onsite. It is pretty standard and in many cases the company will pay. In any event it is cheap and easy to get in WA.
NO DRUGS is the golden rule. Make sure you haven't even sat in a room with someone else smoking pot in a long leadup to the MHS examination. Urine tests before getting jobs and spot urine tests at any time when onsite mean no pot & pills ever (unless you can afford to loose you job) and no booze at 4am in the morning if your shift starts at 7am. You will get booted offsite and you can end up unable to get a job anywhere in the WA mining industry.
Aside from FI/FO there are also loads of in-situ jobs. Not sure about O/S relocation but if you are in perth, some companies will relocate you to their mining towns.
Here is a list of some to look at:
Goldfields towns (Central and south east part of WA. mainly gold and nickel mines, most underground but also there is the Kalgoorlie superpit which is a huge open pit gold mine):
Kalgoorlie (largest inland city in Aus, but small 30,000 people, plenty of expats)
Kambalda
Leinster
Pilbara Region (north west of WA)
Karratha (natural gas project, cushy work for sparkies, great town with lots of expats, great money, hot to tropical climate)
Newman (massive open cut Iron Ore mine)
Tom Price (iron ore)
anyway that is a start - this state is full of natural resources.
To get a start, go through a HR company like extraman hays or any labour hire company. They will help you get your foot in the door, get the MHS and MARCSTA and get a bit of experience. Of course once you have experience then you can dump the labour hire mob and negotiate with mine companies and contractors direct if you wish.
Another thing to consider if you want to stay in Domestic and Construction is that the shortage of sparkies and the lure of the big $$ in the mines means that sparkies in the city of Perth are commanding good $$ too. There is also a home building boom here so first fixing work is plentiful.
Okay - hope that helps.
For What It's Worth - Aussies DO say they have higher standards than the UK - maybe that is not true. However it is worth pointing out that QLD is considered an exception to that rule (by people living anywhere but QLD). In many industries peoples eyebrows are raised at the standard of work in QLD.
Rentals in Perth are affordable (average $275pw) - real estate is not (average $500,000+). Rentals in some mining towns esp karratha can run to 1000+ per week but you can get accommodation through companies as part of a package or in hotels/single persons quatres depending on the job. Kalgoorlie/goldfields isn't bad for rentals.
Hope it helps - there is PLENTY of work for sparkies in WA
