Exploration drilling offsider Q's

[thommo]

I have a friend who is offering me a job doing this, i want a change in job but want to find peoples thoughts on this position if theyve done it before..

Hopefully the feedback is positive!

Thanks

[vk-308]

Just started with DDH1 drilling 3 months ago. If your based on a minesite (i am) you go home to your room every night and eat at the mess have normal toilets to shit in etc......If your drilling out bush you do the same thing but when you finish your shift you have to cook your own meals, shit in a longdrop or take a shovel and go bush. All food and piss is supplied

Work wise some days you have your ring hanging out and some days you do 10-20mins work an hour once you have drilled a run. Be prepared some days to get covered in rod grease, diesel and drilling mud.

Pay for me once im off probation is $305 a day plus metre bonus which on my rig is an average of $42 a day then you get super ontop of all that.

Depends what background you have come from, you might find it easy and enjoyable or you might find it boring and hard.

[thommo]

how much is your pay now then ?

i think theyre workin all over the show

hmmm $$ vs work and conditions might not be to good

[vk-308]

$290 a day no bonuses.....probation was 3 months im off after i fifnsh this swing im on now....I work 2weeks on 1 off ....bush guys for my company work 4 and 2 same money.....when you work 84 hour weeks it works out to fukall per hour......I took a pay cut to come here but was a nice change from running your own business to being able to switch off as soon as your shift is up and not have a worry in the world.

You will have to do night shift to.

It is definitly not the glamour job of mining.

Im just hoping that once i have 6 months experience, if i feel drilling is not my future then atleast you have opened up other oppurtunities in the mining industry....It seems hard to get in anywhere without 6 months mines experience.

[Yarms]

personally i think its a pingpingpingping of a job for what it pays and wouldnt do it.. u/g truck drivers get 375 a shift and they dont even break into a sweat and then you can work your way up to service crew charge up etc etc..U/g is pretty easy to get into without experience if you aint scared of the dark..

[thommo]

Yeh they do seem to bust their arse for fk all money, hence why they always need more workers.. pay peanuts get monkeys

[ho57ile]

Been trying to get my foot in the door underground/ as a drillers offsider for a while now. Come from a labor intensive background and its bloody hard unless you know someone or already have experience.

[Yarms]

www.barminco.com.au apply on there..always hire green people to operate u/g trucks.

[SircatmaN]

I offsided for 2 years and left when I was a trainee driller. I was promised I would be drilling after a year. Bullshit.
It's the worst job in the mine, you do all the work while the driller sits there talking down to you smoking and reading magazines. I met about 3 cool drillers who I enjoyed working with over that 2 years. Drillers think they are the ducks nuts - they aren't.
I was meant to work a 12 hour shift, instead I started at 5:30 and didn't leave the mine until 5 meaning by the time I had cleaned the ute and got the stores etc it was well past 6. No overtime. The reason for leaving late was the driller wanted more meters, he did t have to do fuck all after we got out of the hole though.
I seriously don't recommend this job at all, you are pad peanuts to do what is easily the worst job in the mine, you are always at the bottom and depending onthe mine it's fucking hot.
Getting out of that industry was the best thing I ever did, now I'm in Perth earning more than my drillers and I go home everynight and hang out with my mates every weekend, a much better lifestyle.
Nothing beats fly out day though when your an offsider!

[JBAE]

if your not a genius you gota work DO IT imo does open alot of doors and potential for money i looked at it breifly when i got the shits with working offshore with last company but a fair few guys i work with offshore have backgrounds on shore drilling of some form ect

if you have nothing to lose do it its all experience and its all $$ worst case scenario if you come away with some coin and some experience and snatch it best case you progress make more money and take it some where...

not the easiest thing to get into at times so its a good offer for a noob!

[Buckets]

The amount of guys who come asking to leave exploration companies and move to drill and blast or production is huge. Over half my D&B team is ex Boart Longyear. I'll be honest I would never want to work on a rig but if I was looking for a job to get me in I'd take it. The pay is rubbish compared with what the expectations of a mining wage are, the conditions are usually shit and you do slog your guts out, but if you can put up with offsiding you'll put up with almost anything else.

[farris]

Heaps of work out there for offsiders at the moment, I just started as a u/g offsider. Been back from site 3days and had boart longyear and mosslake offering me jobs. Money wise its not too bad, good way to get your foot in the door for other opportunities I reckon

[V70R]

So FIFO - 2 weeks on and one week off.
IIRC you only get paid for the 2 weeks you're working too.

What are these offsider positions?

[Tikki]

Depends what type of rig you work on. RC Exploration rigs (not mine site) will f*cking flog you physically. I did this for 2 months before moving to mine site RC offsiding.

Diamond rigs are slow, mind numbing, and easy as to work on. Money is also way better than RC.

You'll get covered in sh!te and majority of offsiders don't stop for lunch - work 12 hours straight.

I did 7 months offsiding and 2 months trainee drilling before jumping ship to become a fieldy. Now at uni studying to be a Geo.

[mod]

where can we apply? what quals do we need, sick of office jobs

[Tikki]

Manual HR licence, Senior First Aid and Mine Workers Health ticket are the standard. Expect nothing without them.

Wallis Drilling is a good company to start with (i did). They pay peanuts but it's a doorway to better jobs.

[DT95WA]

So many pingpingpingpings wanna be Oxygen thieves....

Drilling/offsiding is a waste of time and effort. Push for underground truckie job, then work ya way up. 370 for truckie, 400-500 for service crew, 550 for charge up, 620 for bogger and 660 for remote bogger, jumbo between 800-1500 per shift.

[DT95WA]

ps: all you need for Underground is a valid licence, MWHS and First aid.

[farris]

^ Please tell me how you do this without fifo experience, Im looking for an entry spot (truckie) with byrnecut, barminco, amc etc. Been working fifo with ESS and as a underground drillers offsider and still little response. Got hr licence, MWHS and first aid so would love to know the easy way?

[Yarms]

If you have either company on site just walk in see the foreman or project manager. its what i did. Took a few attempts but they eventually said yes.

[farris]

yep, thats the plan. Just keen to know how attenseekr reckons you can go straight into a underground truckie spot? Im sure there's a way but I think its just knowing the right people. Just curious

[DT95WA]

yep, thats the plan. Just keen to know how attenseekr reckons you can go straight into a underground truckie spot? Im sure there's a way but I think its just knowing the right people. Just curious

pick up the phone, and call them. I know for a fact there is 11 spots going for truckies at my site at the moment. 08 9416 1000.

if you already have underground time, thats an advantage, even if it was being an oxygen thief diamond drillers offsider

[DT95WA]

If you have either company on site just walk in see the foreman or project manager. its what i did. Took a few attempts but they eventually said yes.

Fuck you was a shit truckie.... haha

[thommo]

So many pingpingpingpings wanna be Oxygen thieves....

Drilling/offsiding is a waste of time and effort. Push for underground truckie job, then work ya way up. 370 for truckie, 400-500 for service crew, 550 for charge up, 620 for bogger and 660 for remote bogger, jumbo between 800-1500 per shift.

800-1500 is some decent coin per shift !

obviously comes with experience and time

[farris]

pick up the phone, and call them. I know for a fact there is 11 spots going for truckies at my site at the moment. 08 9416 1000.

if you already have underground time, thats an advantage, even if it was being an oxygen thief diamond drillers offsider

lol I know diamond drilling is shit but ouch, Cheers for the info ill give them a call tomorrow

[mod]

800-1500 is some decent coin per shift !

obviously comes with experience and time

when you mean per shift is that the whole 14 days you are working(assuming you are on 2 weeks 1 weeks off) or for 12hr shift?

[DT95WA]

per shift = 12hours, and they only work 7/7

[thommo]

thats a good life style. not that i have any idea of what their job consists of

[SircatmaN]

800-1500 is some decent coin per shift !

obviously comes with experience and time

Good luck actually living long enough to get on a jumbo. Most Jumbo ops work until they die they are all old men haha, will most likely end up on a bogger for a loooooong time. Not that thats bad, I'd drive a bogger any day :)

[grogers]

mosslake drilling now known as "foraco" are always employing offsiders for exploration/mine sites.. i work for foraco in jundee.

[DBLDOSE]

I've been an offsider at argyle for 2 months now doing 8/6 for macmahons, and i tell you what, it is the easiest job I have ever had. From what I've heard argyle nippers have it cruisy as fuck and i would believe it.

Although, from what people have told me, it is best to avoid trucks as once your on them you might move to boggers, but that the easiest way up is nipper/services/chargeup/bogger/jumbo

[rb200zr]

i was a drillers offsider for a year doing exploration and on a mine site im a bricklayer by trade.its the shitest job i have ever done would not recommend it to any one.shit pay drillers are piss head wankers you are the scum of the mine site.there is so much better paying jobs on mine sites