Mining Camps

Mining Camps

Australia has large reserves of mineral resources, the vast majority of the Australian mineral resources are remote in nature and accommodation is a problem with the mining industry. With the mining oil and gas resources industry there is a lot of labour that is unable to be housed in towns due to either distance to towns and/or just the massive numbers of workers in the small towns that are close enough.


To overcome this problem, a lot of companies both mine owners and specialised businesses have set up Mining camps both on mining leases and other appropriately designated land through State and Local government levels.


Some of the Australian mine camps are quite basic while some are quite luxurious with gyms, bars, onsite stores and buffet style dining.

In this category Australian mining link is cataloguing as best as possible the camps, their locations and even some reviews.


With the relatively short supply of labour, the quality of accommodation, amenities and food available in the camps can be a contributing factor of whether a worker chooses to stay there or look for another job.


What Can you Expect Living in a Mining Camp

Accommodation

In later years for many reasons Australian mining camps have moved away from rooms with shared bathrooms that were common in the past. Rooms these days in mining accommodation camps usually consist of a medium sized bedroom with with an ensuite of varying sizes. Most mining camps have at the minimum a king single bed, some of the more luxuious mine camps are now including double beds.

Nearly all rooms in remote accommodation camps come with a TV and the majority of camps include some Pay TV channels as well as the available free to air available at the location. The usual Pay TV channels include a few movie channels, a few sporting channels and then a few other channels depending on what is chosen by the camp facilitators. Most rooms are air conditioned, include a fridge, desk and wardrobe.


Alcohol and Mining Camps

In respect to drinking, camps fall into two main categories. Mining camps that you can drink at or Dry Camps ( camps that alcohol is banned ) outside of the Wet mess. Nearly all camps have bar, pub, Wet Mess or what ever you want to call it. Mostly they also double up as the general store for items like cigarettes, tooth brushes and the basic essentials you might require.

Dry Camps usually are strict and you will find that if you are in a dry camp and are caught with alcohol in your room or even your car in the car park, you will most likely be evicted and that usually means no more job.

Due to having day and night shifts running, the mine camp bars or Wet mess will open at the end of shift or there bouts for around 2-3 hrs.


Sport and Recreation in Australian Mining Camps

Due to the recent push towards healthier workers, in an effort to give workers a social outlet other than drinking at the bar, most mine camps have a gymnasium with cardio and/or weight rooms for use, some of the larger camp management companies have started branding their gyms as if it was a gym chain. Depending on the size and management of a camp there may or may not be personal trainers available on site. Increasingly there are more and more Mining camps with swimming pools as well that are available for use for both recreation or fitness.


Dining in Australian Mine Accommodation

Mine camps usually cater for a large workforce that works around the clock, a typical camp kitchen/dining room will be open for service from around 4-8.30 am and PM to accommodate both dinner and breakfast for night and day shift workers.

The dining is usually buffet style, offering between 3-10 alternatives for meals depending on the camp size, quite often there will be several deserts on offer as well as varying cordials, juices or water for the thirsty diner.

For lunches there is usually a seperate room that has salads, pre made meals, sandwich making facilities and fruit, usually you can make quite a decent lunch for yourself in these crib rooms.


Access to Mining Camps

Depending on the location of the camp, there will be either car, bus or flight transit available to and from camps to the closest regional cities.


Other Amenities at Mining Camps

In the larger camps you will find other amenities like conference rooms, a common room usually with a larger TV for groups, sometimes a pool table or two. Quite a lot of camps these days have an outdoor BBQ area that is able to be utilised by workers that are staying on site, supplies for BBQ's are usually available from the kitchen with some notice.


Working in Australian Mine Camps

Due to the size and nature of remote mine accommodation camps there is usually a decent size work force attached, jobs range greatly with better pay for the same job in the city.

  • Management
  • Admin Staff
  • Chefs
  • Cooks
  • Kitchen hands
  • Cleaners
  • Bar staff
  • Security

Are all typical sorts of jobs available in the Remote Australian Mining Accommodation Camps.

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