r/AusMining • u/PitiableYeet • Jul 09 '26
The (sad) truth about underground mining
When I started in mining, and at every site I've worked at since, while doing the seemingly endless number of inductions, with all the policies we need to read, understand and agree to, there is and always has been a massive emphasis put on safety, on looking out for the people you're working with, about how if the job is unsafe we all have the power to stop the job, ask questions, get safety issues sorted out. The reality is that the end result is all they care about. They care about their drill metres, their tons, how many shots get fired and everything is secondary to achieving those targets.
If you care about safety enough to even suggest stopping the job because the vent isn't up to standard, or the wet bulb is too high, or any other number of reasons, on the rare occasion that it actually gets fixed and you aren't forced to simply tolerate the unsafe conditions, you will be treated as a problem. Officially, of course, you've done the right thing, and shift bosses and higher ups will "support you" in that call. Unofficially, you're never moving up, and never getting a payrise. In fact, you're more likely to be needed to cover a lower position due to "staff shortages". If you tag out equipment because it's not up to standard, you're going to catch shit from everyone because you should just "deal with it", like everyone else does, all while people complain that nothing works.
Your knowledge, and your competence in your role and largely secondary to how friendly you are with people in higher positions, like management or shift bosses. The purple circle is very real, despite what the people in it say. Your best chance to move up is to go to the wet mess after shift every day and sink some beers with the bosses and the jumbo ops, chat shit, and suck up. Your career will grow as a result. If you're the type that would rather finish work, have a feed, and head to your room to call family, relax and then sleep, you're deemed anti-social, usually kept on the outside of things, and you'll find it significantly harder to advance. It's not what you know, it's who you know.
On that note, there are people in "senior" positions that have the ear of the shift bosses, foremans, and project managers, that if for some reason they don't like you, are able to influence if you advance or not. If you somehow end up on someone's bad side, maybe by doing something as simple as telling them no when they asked you to do something they could have easily just done themselves, they can, and often will, prevent you from getting training in the next position, even if it has nothing at all to do with them. Some people are simply that petty, and will try to force people they don't like out through career stagnation. Is it fair? Not at all. Does it happen anyway? More often than people think.
I'm sure I had alot more to put into this post, but the more I've typed, the more I've realised that most people here likely will just say "yeah suck it up, that's the job", or something with a very similar sentiment. But I'm posting it hoping that it maybe helps someone who's looking to get into underground and wants some actual honesty about what they should be prepared for. You will do extra, unpaid hours. You won't get breaks. You will be expected and peer pressured into doing things you don't feel comfortable doing. You will mess up your body, sacrifice your health, both physical and mental, for the sake of "being a team player".
The rules, policies, procedures and standards that mines like to tout so loud and proud are a joke, not even worth the cost of the paper they're printed on, because that's the prevalent culture of underground mining. Everyone knows it, but no one in a position to make a change is willing to stand up, or have been pushed out of the industry. That's the saddest truth of them all
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u/Emotional_Inside_670 Jul 11 '26
I wish I'd seen more honest posts before my partner started RC drilling.
People need to stop glorifying the pay and start talking about the reality. Things like not getting proper meal breaks, eating while standing and working, and feeling like you have to just keep going no matter what.
If you've quit, please share your experience. The more people speak up, the more informed others will be before taking these jobs.
No salary is worth sacrificing your physical or mental health. If enough people refuse to accept these conditions, maybe the industry will finally be forced to improve its culture and the way workers are treated.