diggerop wrote:
"Greg G." wrote in message
...
J. Clarke said:

Holy crap did _I_ ever go into the wrong field.

That's what I was thinking... Do they hire old farts over 50?
I've wanted to live in Oz for decades - just for a change of pace.




Yes they do. Standard entry path without prior skills is as a haulpak
operator. (Dumptruck weighing anywhere between 100 and 240 tons empty
and 185 and 480 tons loaded.)

Always wanted to drive one of those things.

Need to be fit and healthy.

Need to get back in shape--if I can I might just apply for this.

Need to be able to cope with working a
week of 12 hour days followed by a week of 12 hour nights.

Actually that's not too bad for me--sometimes I think I'm a Martian with a
25 hour biological clock.

Need to be
able to do as you are told.

Now that's been a problem for me, but mostly in an office setting where I
was supposed to be a decision maker and others with less information would
overrule me.

It gets *really, really* mind numbingly
boring.

That actually appeals a bit.

Lots of people try it and can't hack it for a variety of
reasons.

Not easy for older people without prior mining experience to get in
when things are static, but the whole industry, gold, nickel and iron
ore along with huge new natural gas developments is gathering pace
for what they are saying is an even bigger boom than the last. We
don't have the people to cope with that, so we'll train new ones. One
of the main qualifications when there are huge labour shortages is
having a heartbeat. : )
One of our more common sources of operators has traditionally been
Kiwi's, but the *******s are already all over here now. (I hope the
last one to leave NZ remembered to turn the lights out : )

diggerop