Working Mine Shutdowns

[Jock The Rock]

Well

Not sure if I'm allowed to post this here but here goes. I'm not asking for work, more asking how to find it

I'm a qualified diesel mechanic, I recently finished up with my previous employer on the proviso that I want more time to finish my Landrover project; so I can get on the road travelling. I'm currently working 3 days a week casual with a very relaxed boss. Good setup, but not quite enough money. I have always been interested in working shutdowns in mines. The idea of working hard for 2-3 weeks, being paid well and waiting for the next one appeals to me.

The only trouble is I'm not sure how to 'jump on the train' so to speak? I was thinking I might go and have a chat to Skilled tomorrow

Can anyone offer suggestions please

Thanks

[frantic]

Look at a lot of the smaller/mid sized contracting companies. My BIL works for coastwide who do down days inside the steelworks and then travel west and south for mine down days/weeks/major repairs.
Find a major plant like BHP's plant in Tassie or the mine in queenstown and then see who they call in for large scale repairs and major down time.
When I used go to the canteen during major down days the outside shirts would outnumber the BSL workers 10:1, Coastwide, K&R, Veolia, serco, skilled , hatch, always rigging, transfield(they are a big large scale contractor), etc.
With your trade you should have no issues finding work , but good luck anyway.

[BMKal]

As Frantic said.

We use companies like Skilled, Monadelphous, Lendlease (used to be Bilfinger Berger) and many other companies for shutdown works on our sites.

With your trade, you could also try with the likes of Caterpillar (Westrac over here - don't know who the Cat agent is over your way), Komatsu, Hitachi etc.

My young bloke is also a diesel fitter. He was working on minesites in a permanent role up until recently, but he now works for a small family owned business in town (Kalgoorlie) on basically a Monday / Friday working week, but they often supply fitters etc to some of the mines around the area for shutdowns or specific projects short term.

You could also have a look at some of the larger labour hire companies like Extraman, Mining People, Hays etc. A lot of them maintain a pool of workers, especially tradespeople, and supply them to both mining companies and engineering contractors for shutdown work.

I have a good mate (boilermaker) who now lives in Thailand - he lists his name and qualifications with a couple of labour hire companies in WA and comes across here once or twice a year to work on large (usually two or three week) shutdowns - then back to his casual lifestyle in ****et.