Occupation
Underground miner
Underground miners drive tunnels and extract ore below surface, operating drills, bolters, loaders, and haulage equipment in confined and dark conditions. Ground support, ventilation, and escape routes are constant considerations rather than background rules. Shifts are long, physically demanding, and often worked on a rotation away from home.
Also known as: Hard rock miner · Development miner · Production miner · Underground mine worker
Occupation content
Part of Utilities, energy, mining and resources
What the work involves
- Drill blast patterns and install ground support such as rock bolts, screen, and shotcrete.
- Operate loaders, haul trucks, and rail or shaft haulage to move ore and waste.
- Check the working face and back for loose ground and bar down before work starts.
- Extend services along the drive, including ventilation ducting, water, air, and power.
- Monitor gas, dust, and ventilation conditions and report anything outside normal.
- Record production, equipment hours, and hazards observed during the shift.
How people commonly enter
- An entry-level mining common core or induction programme followed by supervised on-the-job training.
- A college certificate in mining or heavy equipment operation.
- Transferring from construction, tunnelling, or heavy equipment work into a mine crew.
- A mining apprenticeship or trainee programme run by an operator.
Typical training: Short course or on-the-job training
Licensing: Regulated in some jurisdictions — confirm the current requirement with the regulator in your province, state, or country.
Typical work context
Physically active · Shift work · Team based · High responsibility · Varied work
Related interests
Realistic (hands-on) · Conventional (organizing)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
- Mechanical comprehension
- Safety judgment
- Spatial reasoning
- Technical reasoning
- Attention and concentration
Practice suites
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Utilities, energy, mining and resources.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- US BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Construction and Extraction Occupations · United States
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- O*NET OnLine — occupation search: underground mining machine operator · United States
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- Employment and Social Development Canada — National Occupational Classification (NOC) · Canada
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Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Utilities, energy, mining and resources in Canada, not a figure for Underground miner. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Utilities, energy, mining and resources family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Utilities, energy, mining and resources: education pathways
Some roles in Utilities, energy, mining and resources may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Utilities, energy, mining and resources: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Underground miner”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)