A mining recruiter has revealed the entry-level job that is paying as much as $150,000 – but warned it requires gruelling work.
Alana Mohi said driller offsiders would rake in the cash this year with huge salaries on offer for the entry-level job.
‘This is the job that if I was going to say to anybody, “get this job” that’s the job,’ she told Yahoo.
‘It’s an entry-level job. It’s a hard job. But I’m telling you, that job walks into $120,000 to $150,000 a year, and is one of the best entry-level jobs.’
Drilling offsiders are required to help mining drillers in their activities.
They must prepare drill rods for the holes and maintaining the systems that lubricate the drill bit.
They also must record the performance of the drill and log operations and samples among other tasks.
Offsiders work long hours in day and night shifts, in dirty and muddy conditions.
She said a entry-level job as a drilling offsider could fetch Aussies a salary of about $150,000
Drillers operate outside in hot, cold, and rainy weather.
‘It is a bloody hard job. You’ve got to have a very intense level of physical fitness,’ Ms Mohi said.
‘But anyone who meets the criteria and follows the framework and protocols that we can set out can actually get one of these jobs.’
One advertisement for an offsider role likened the task to preparing for a season of sport.
However, new workers can enter the job with relative ease in terms of qualifications and tickets.
Prospective drilling offsiders would only need to take a White Card, unrestricted manual C-class licence, a Heavy Rigid truck licence and a national police check to the job.
The recruiter said she expects companies will be in need of more drilling offsiders as the government supports mineral exploration projects in Australia.
Australia has large deposits of important minerals needed for growing industries, like electric vehicles.
In the 2024-25 federal budget, the Labor government introduced a tax incentive program to support the production and refining of critical minerals, set to cost about $7billion.
Additionally, they will allocate up to $1.2billion for important critical minerals projects through the Critical Minerals Facility and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.
