"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...


Holy crap did _I_ ever go into the wrong field.


diggerop


Heh. Yes, it's been really good. Ironic too, when many plant operators earn
more than the engineers, surveyors and geologists that control the pits.
It's all about supply and demand.
Huge demand for materials (think China) huge resources in the ground and a
seemingly perpetual shortage of skilled operators to fill that demand.

Those figures are the best of it, it's fair to say, but almost anyone
working as an operator in mining over here would get no less than $110,000
per year. Some rosters are not as good at some sites, two on and one off is
more common.

Those of us that have been doing it for many years and can produce, get
offered top dollar. After I stopped contracting in my own right, I went back
to machine operating. My sig comes from that more recent period.
The top operating job is as a production excavator operator. In mining over
here, we call them diggers. Therefore, I was a "diggeroperator," which the
crew traditionally shorten to "diggerop."

It's not all beer and skittles. Production digger operators in high
production outfits generally only stop for a break once in a 12 hour shift,
while the machine is being fuelled. Responsibility is huge.
Pressure to perform is unrelenting. Competition between operators to be the
"top gun" is never ending. (That's the fun part.)

The job involves sitting on a a piece of machinery that is the most
technologically advanced available at the time, weighing anywhere from 120
tonnes to 4 or 500 tons in big mines. They cost several million dollars each
for the small ones and truly obscene amounts for the big machines. It
operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Always. Christmas day included.
Breakdowns, servicing, accidents or pit closures due to bad weather are the
only exceptions. For as much of that shift as possible, that machine must
keep loading at the maximum rate it is capable of. Iron ore is the easiest
to produce from, but even that involves knowing exactly what is ore, what
grade of ore and where to send the truck once it is loaded. Waste, the
material that is not suitable for processing, is sent to a separate
location. Getting them mixed up, even for a short period can cost thousands
or even millions. (Waste mistakenly sent to the ore dumps can contaminate
the ore enough that the whole stockpile has to be condemned and removed.
That could result in the loss of several thousand tons of high grade ore.)
Digging gold ore is even more critical.

Damage to the machine or the truck being loaded is also the operator's
responsibility. A moments inattention can result in huge losses. (With the
cost of these things, not many mines have a spare machine available.) High
production is achieved by digging in exactly the right spot, filling the
bucket to maximum capacity (20 to 80 tons of ore) and then lifting and
swinging the bucket over the back of the truck waiting to be loaded, just
missing the side of the truck by a few inches, as hard and fast as that
machine will perform. For 12 hours. Nonstop. Misjudge that and production is
lost, or more seriously, the truck will be hit, resulting in damage,
possible serious injury to the truck operator and an inevitable accident
investigation. I equate it to a tennis player serving aces continuously for
12 hours, not once being allowed to hit the net. It requires that level of
concentration.

When I get my little health problem sorted, I'll go back to it if I can
: )

diggerop