4.00 AM

A graduate mining engineer's day begins early. The alarm rings, prompting a swift rise from bed and the start of the morning routine. At the mess, I choose from a large variety of breakfast options and make my lunch for the day before heading to the bus. Whilst on the bus, I organise my paperwork before the prestart meeting.

5.30 AM

The day officially starts with a morning briefing at 5.30 AM. This meeting is crucial as it sets the tone for the day's activities. This meeting includes Charge Up, Truck Drivers, Deeps Development, Supervisors and Superintendents and I discuss what my jobs will look like for the day. Once getting my PPE for underground at the store, I sign out the Gas Monitor and complete a Fresh Air Test.

6.00 AM

We conduct a pre-start on the bomb ute and drive to the tag board. Here, we retrieve the firing sheet from our cross shift, fill our water bottles and tag on the board. Ensuring the “Tag Board Closed” sign is up until we re-entries are complete. We ask Mine Control for the Re-entry Package over the radio. This ensures louvers are open and fans are operating so re-entries can clear as quick as possible. We turn the Gas Monitor on completing a Pump Test, this ensures us that the monitor is sucking the air/gases in.

7.00 AM

By this time, we have called re-entries clear down to the middle section of the mine, this allows workers to start their shift while we continue clearing the mine below. We go level by level clearing it if the gasses are under a certain threshold, calling in all signage as we go.

8.00 AM

We then go on to water down every heading that is fired, which is a dust suppression technique. One crew usually takes care of this and the other starts organising the Charmec rigs and bomb. We conduct a prestart check on both rigs and drive them to the Emulsion Bay. Here, Orica tops up our rigs and we top up the gasser solution.

10.00 AM

By this time, the boring Jumbo or one of the bolting Jumbos would have bored out their first cut. The Jumbo operator gives us the plan, we call in the numbers to the Magazine Keepers and they arrive to the job with the bomb components.

We then set up the rig at the heading and prime the hose ready to charge. Once we have charged bottoms and tops, we flush the hose and pull the rig out. The electric rig must be plugged into 1000V power to use the Orica unit. We ensure signs and cones are out so people are aware of our cable, then we move on to the next heading ready to be charged.

1.00 PM
Around this time of the day, we test for leakage on a handheld device called a Logger across both declines. If there is leakage, we find it and fix it.

4.30 PM

Crews double check the charged heading if required and then the information on the Loggers transfers to the boxes and then relayed via a Wi-Fi system to a computer in the Shotfirers office at the surface tag board.

5.15 PM

Time to wash the Ute and arrive at the tag board. We place the ‘Tag Board Closed’ sign on the board, enter the Shotfirer room and log onto the computer to ensure all boxes and dets are picking up.

5.30 PM

Once all personnel are off the tag board, we follow the firing process. Placing portal gates and signs up, the Shotfirer then starts the firing sequence to fire the desired headings. Once firing is complete, we lock the room and place the correct signage up. It’s cool listening and feeling the rumble beneath us while firing is in progress.

We then communicate with the incoming shift what is needed. I enjoy chatting with them as most of the time they set us up for our shift. We have a good relationship and trust each other.

6.15 PM

I usually get the bus back to camp at this time. The afternoon varies between playing pickleball or having a swim. The Prominent Hill camp site has amazing sporting and gym facilities. I enjoy friendly competitions with co-workers and having dinner with them as we debrief about our days. The best part about living at camp is not having to cook, I usually devour the ice cream and dessert bar after dinner. The last hour of the day is generally catching up on socials, family messages and washing. I require at least eight hours of sleep to be functional the next day, so I’ll be getting some shut-eye.

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