83100 Underground production and development miners

What this occupation covers

Underground production and development miners drill, blast, operate mining machinery, and perform related duties to extract coal and ore in underground mines and to construct tunnels, passageways and shafts to facilitate mining operations. They are employed by coal, metal and non-metallic mineral underground mines and by specialized contractors in mine construction, shaft sinking and tunnelling. Apprentices are also included in this unit group.

Official main duties

The NOC profile lists 7 main duties for this code.

• Set up and operate drills and drilling machines to produce a designated pattern of blasting holes
• Operate diamond drills or other specialized drills such as raise boring machinery to test geological formations or to produce underground passageways
• Set up and operate mining machinery to shear coal, rock or ore from the working face
• Load explosives, set fuses, and detonate explosives to produce desired blasting patterns and rock fragmentation in underground mines
• Operate scooptram, load-haul-dump (LHD) machine or mucking machine to load and haul ore from stopes, drifts and drawpoints to ore passes
• Perform duties required to ensure safety and to support the mining advance, such as scaling loose rock from walls and roof, drilling and installing rock bolts, extending and installing air and water pipes, operating ore loading machinery, inspecting mine shafts, operating hoists that transport people, equipment and materials through mine shafts, and constructing timber supports and cribbing if required
• Perform routine maintenance of mining machinery.

Do not copy these lines into your reference letter. The letter has to describe what you actually did, in your employer’s words. DUTYPROOF flags wording lifted from the NOC as something to review, and an officer reading a letter that mirrors the NOC reads it the same way.

What DUTYPROOF screens for

This is DUTYPROOF’s screening threshold, not IRCC’s decision. For this NOC, screening requires at least 2 of its 7 official duties to be evidenced in your own words, plus the required letter elements. IRCC asks that you performed the actions in the occupation’s lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties — so treat the duty coverage as the number that matters, not the badge.

Codes this one is confused with

The NOC profile names these itself. Choosing the wrong code of a look-alike pair is the most common way genuine work experience fails to establish eligibility.

• 73402 Drillers and blasters - surface mining, quarrying and construction
• 85110 Mine labourers
• 82020 Supervisors, mining and quarrying
• 84100 Underground mine service and support workers

Excluded from this code

• Drillers and blasters - surface mining, quarrying and construction (See 73402 Drillers and blasters - surface mining, quarrying and construction)
• Mine labourers (See 85110 Mine labourers)
• Supervisors, mining and quarrying (See 82020 Supervisors, mining and quarrying)
• Underground mine service and support workers (See 84100 Underground mine service and support workers)

Job titles filed under this code

A title on this list does not by itself put your experience in this code — the duties in your letter decide that.

apprentice miner · bench blaster - underground mining · blast hole driller - underground mining · blaster - underground mining · blockholer - underground mining · bolter operator - underground mining · brine well tender · chute blaster · chute blaster - underground mining · coal miner · continuous mining machine operator · core driller · core driller - underground mining · core-drill operator · core-drill operator - underground mining · cutting machine operator - underground mining · development miner · diamond driller - underground mining · diamond-drill operator · diamond-drill runner - underground mining · diamond-point drill operator · diesel loaderman/woman - underground mining · downhole loader - underground mining · drift driller - underground mining

Employment requirements

• Completion of secondary school is usually required.
• Formal training of up to six weeks followed by extended periods of specialized training as a helper or in support occupations is usually provided.
• Previous experience as a mine labourer or in other mine occupations is usually required.
• Provincial blasting licence may be required.
• May be certified in the basic common core program or as an underground hard rock miner in Ontario.
• Trade certification for miners is available, but voluntary, in Quebec.
• Company licensing or certification is often required for occupations in this unit group.
• Certificate in first aid may be required.