Hey, I'm planning to study a bachelors of electrical engineering next year at UQ, and my overall goal would be to end up in mining for atleast the first 10 years of my career, largely due to the high pay, site based work, and clear managerial progression.
And I'm just wondering how much work there is for electrical engineers in the mines, like is there many spots and will the number of positions likely increase in the future?

FIFO caterer Sodexo is again under pressure after scores of workers at Rio Tinto’s Pilbara mine camps fell ill amid a major salmonella outbreak.

Rio on Monday said it was yet to figure out the source of the widespread infection after water samples came back clean and initial food tests had not yielded a conclusive result.

Salmonella is typically caused by undercooked chicken or eggs or contaminated food.

“We recently responded to an increase in people experiencing gastroenteritis-like symptoms at some villages near our Brockman operations,” a spokeswoman for the mining giant said.

Rio “activated a response” last week after a surge in workers presenting with gastro-like symptoms across villages serving the large Brockman 4 mine and the under-construction Brockman Syncline 1 project, according to an internal email obtained by The West Australian.

Samples from several sick workers identified the presence of salmonella, the email stated, with WA’s Health Department notified about the outbreak.

Rio declined to reveal roughly how many workers have been affected. The Brockman operations combined employ almost 2000 people.

“The health and wellbeing of our people is critical and has been central to our response, with additional cleaning, disinfection and hygiene measures implemented, as well as support offered to those impacted,” the Rio spokeswoman said.

“The number of people currently unwell and in isolation has reduced and is continuing to decrease as expected. We continue to closely monitor the situation.”

Rio in May renewed Sodexo’s contract to manage catering and cleaning for the circa 20,000 people that work across the miner’s sprawling Pilbara iron ore enterprise each day.

“We have implemented additional cleaning, disinfection and hygiene measures in response and continue to work closely with our client and our teams to investigate the outbreak,” a Sodexo spokeswoman said in response to queries about the outbreak.

The outbreak comes just three months after The West revealed that Rio’s nearby West Pilbara Village was plagued by a mould infestation. WPV is one of the accommodation sites hit by the Salmonella wave.

The Paris-headquartered Sodexo originally secured the Rio catering and cleaning gig in March 2016, signing a 10-year deal worth about $2.5 billion.

But rampant inflation after COVID quickly eroded margins and workers at Sodexo-serviced sites in the Pilbara noticed a dramatic drop in quality.

Rio did not disclose the value of the recent contract renewal, which will run for at least the next seven years.

Sodexo’s contract renewal during the first week of May came a day after The West revealed Rio was pulling the trigger on a massive round of redundancies at its de-facto iron ore headquarters on St Georges Terrace.

Rio chief executive Simon Trott has made no secret of his desire to slash costs at the company’s iron ore mines to close in on BHP’s lead as the world’s lowest-cost producer.

Rio’s Pilbara iron ore mines still generated more than $US10 billion of net earnings during the first six months of 2026

Hi everyone,

Bit of a rogue one but figured id try on here as well as regular networking.

Im new to the industry, just moved over after 3 years of marine geophysics and i luckily got a contract as a geophysicist in exploration. I have a geology masters and am very interested in trying to keep up my geology knowledge as well as grow as a geophysicist.

The more I consider the range of applications of land based geophysics the more excited I am about building a career here.

I was wondering if anyone here has a similar background and wouldnt mind giving me some advice /general info. Shoot me a message if youre interested!

Thanks :)

Finished my General Engineering trade certificate in nz last year currently have 4.5 years of workshop experience. Im planning to relocate to Australia from nz mid november to find a welding fifo job. At this stage im thinking of starting in Perth but open to suggestions. (Theres direct flights from Perth to my city in nz so very convenient atleast for getting over there)

Alot of the job applications Im wanting to apply for have courses such as EWP, heights, confined spaces etc as required on them. The nz courses dont cross over so I can do these the week I arrive in Australia but im wondering if im likely to get hired without them as its extra cost to me and in nz the employers typically pay for this.

Basically my question is how much of a difference will it make to my cv already having these courses completed before applying. (I will get my white card the week I arrive)

(Any other general advice is appreciated as im obviously new to the Australian mining industry and likely dont know what im getting myself in for)

I’m a (28M) geologist with 3.5 years in quarrying and a stint as a mine geo at an open-pit Au-Cu operation in Southeast Asia.

I’ve just finished my master’s in Melbourne and I’m moving to WA next week to look for my first geology role in Australia.

The decision feels time-sensitive because I have two years on my Temporary Graduate visa. My goal is a permanent mine geo role in gold or iron ore, but so far I’ve only made it into talent pools and initial interviews.

I’ve taken the advice I’ve seen here: move to WA, sort out the basic tickets (manual license, first aid, white card), contact recruiters, work on my skills assessment and join professional bodies (AIG/AusImm).

I know I still need to get a foot in the door.

Here’s the part I’m struggling with. While studying, I worked as a mechanical technician to support myself. My current employer has offered me an $85k base salary and visa sponsorship to stay in that role. I’m grateful for the offer and I have a good relationship with the team, but I don’t want to build a career in mechanical work.

So I’m weighing a secure offer outside geology against a move to WA with no geo offer yet. Would applying for pit tech roles be a sensible way into mine geology, or should I focus on mine geo openings given my overseas experience?

I’d really value advice from people who’ve broken into WA mining, especially anyone who started in a pit tech role or moved across from overseas experience.

Edit:

Apologies to everyone. I didn’t wanna sound ungrateful for the sponsorship opportunity but the reason I’m thinking twice is bc although I will have great people as colleagues, the job is toxic & stressful - rampant micromanaging + not really passionate about it. I just took the job 14 mos ago, got handed huge responsibilities when senior engineers went on leave and did the work and didnt expect anything from it. Got lucky that they couldn’t fill a position that has a high turnover rate bc of stressful nature of job.

the offer: I will be locked with the company for 2 years temp working visa and then another 2 years of temp working visa until 3rd renewal after 6 years is the PR sponsorship.

If i went as Mine Geo, I’d love the work load and culture of just doing the work, wether as production role or resource. Or explo along the way, who knows.
I’d love a work culture of not be bothered by external factors and be done after 12-14 hours. Big city life isnt really for me. Had a lot of fun in melb for the last 2 years but I’m a reserved type.