Bogger Jobs in the Australian Mining Industry

Mining activity thrives in areas with rich mineral deposits, irrespective of the climate or the terrain in general. Mining industry in Australia operates hundreds of mines spread across a variety of terrains and climate. Some of the mines are located in swampy areas with a lot of wet mud and gravel. The terrain could by itself be swampy in nature or in some cases, the water pumped out the mines also make the area extremely wet and swampy.

Transport across these wetlands is very dangerous as conventional vehicles will not have the engine capacity or the power and build to maneuver. Boggers come to the rescue in such a scenario. A Bogger in general is a high powered vehicle with a huge set of tyres. The tyres are of enormous sizes and are referred to as boggers.Boggers are built to excel in only one task: mud bogging.

The mining industry in Australia uses bogger of varied diameters based on the wetness of the terrain. A bogger's huge lugs are similar to the paddles of a boat and are involved in almost the same job, helping the vehicle move forward. Normally, the boggers have three stage lugs and deep voids extending down into the sidewalls to ensure much more than a bite in the damper terrain. Boggers are puncture resistant and the side walls are tear resistant. Boggers are often preferred for operation in rocky swamps as their performance levels are pretty high in a rocky swamp terrain. The aggressive maneuvering ability of boggers make them indispensable in the slippery & snowy terrains and in the dense forest trails.

Mining industry in Australia uses boggers of varies diameters ranging from 36 inches to 54 inches. These boggers are highly complex sophisticated and sophisticated machinery to handle. Some of the common bogger models used in the mines of Australia are 36'' Extreme Trekker,  37'' Super Swamper Bogger, Super Swamper TSL, 54" Super Swamper Bogger, Interco SS-M16 Swamper, Super Swamper Narrow.

Bogger Operators are responsible for transporting or bogging, soil and waste rock or the mineral ore onto the trucks or to a different part of a mine site. Bogger operators are expected to have a great hand - eye co ordination and should exercise extreme caution so as to avoid slipping and rolling over of the boggers. The work environment is almost always humid, dusty and hot and mostly in the underground mines. Mining industry in Australia expects the Bogger Operator to multitask. In addition to bogging, the bogger operators have to take care of the general maintenance of the bogger including minor repairs and oil over hauling. Sometimes, the bogger operators have to operate the bogger remotely using the fiber optic control kit. Caterpillar Elphinstone bogger commonly operated by remote control. The remote light source module, comprising of the lamps and electronic control gear, is mounted in the cabin and the bogger operator has to turn on and control the bogger using fibre optic system.

Aspiring Bogger operators should posses a valid HR truck license and a six month of mining experience. In addition to the passing a stringent medical and physical fitness test , a bogger operator must hold or should be able to obtain a latest first aid certification. The Bogger operators are paid from $80000 to $13000 along with other perks like FIFO, health care and life insurance, by the mining industry in Australia.