Making The Break Into A Boom Sector

Newcastle Herald

Monday August 11, 2008

GR

My father worked in the mines, my grandfather worked in the mines and my great-grandfather worked in the mines too ... I was told at the time it was a job for life and that sounded good to me when I was 16 and leaving school.

EMPLOYMENT in Australias mining sector is

set to boom over the coming decade with an

increase of 70 per cent predicted by 2020.

In May, a report commissioned by the Minerals

Council of Australia estimated there would be 90,000

more jobs by this date.

The greatest demand will be for skilled trades,

with the Minerals Council predicting another 31,000

skilled workers will be needed.

A career in the mining industry began 23 years ago

for Danny McDonald.

After finishing his School Certificate, Mr

McDonald started in the industry with an apprenticeship

as a mechanical fitter at Munmorah Colliery.

My father worked in the mines, my grandfather

worked in the mines and my great-grandfather

worked in the mines too, he said.

At the time I didnt really think about getting

into mining. I was keen to do an apprenticeship. I

applied at BHP and places like that and I managed

to get one with the mines.

I was told at the time it was a job for life and that

sounded good to me when I was 16 and leaving

school.

Three years studying at TAFE earned him qualifications

as a fitter-mechanic although he says he

learnt most of his skills on the job.

You definitely learn on the job.

TAFE taught me a lot of technical work and the

basis of a lot of machinery but the actual hands-on

stuff is where you learn everything.

After 10 years working as a fitter, Mr McDonald

moved into mine operations.

Experience repairing and maintaining machinery

in his previous role extended to his new position

operating shuttle cars and roof-bolting machinery.

It wasnt that big a change because as a fitter

youre expected to be able to operate all that

machinery as well so it wasnt a great change-over.

I had to undertake a little bit more training, but it

wasnt a big step.

For the past 3? years, Mr McDonald has been

working as an employee supervisor (deputy) at

Austar coalmine in Paxton.

This means he can have up to 10 men working

under him at any time.

Changes in technology have meant training plays

an integral role in Mr McDonalds career.

A lot of the mine machinery  that was 23 years

ago when I started doing that  was a lot more basic

than it is now, he said.

Things have become computerised and much

more mechanised than they were back then.

We are constantly being trained. Its more part

and parcel of the job now. In my new role as the

deputy Ive got to undertake a lot of training of the

workforce.

Mr McDonald said that job prospects in the

mining industry were the strongest he had seen.

Ive seen more cleanskins [new workers] in the

last three years than I have in the whole 20 years I

worked before that.

The industry is more buoyant now.

Theres a lot of training and mentoring and that

sort thing going on to try and get the new younger

blokes up to speed.

Theres a lot of blokes with fairly diverse backgrounds

[at Austar]. We had nurses, pastry cooks

and greenkeepers that were coming into the

industry.

None of them had worked with heavy machinery

or done shiftwork for that matter so it was a big

change for a lot of blokes.

Life underground is not for everyone, though.

Its dirty work. If people want to get into it they

have to be aware that its hard work.

Weve found that working with the cleanskins

some have found that its not for them. They just

dont like that kind of thing.

Being underground is a different experience but

its amazing how used to it you get.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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