I am miner. I learned that anyone who works for a mine is called a miner. If you were a nurse or a doctor in a clinic own by the mine, you are a miner.
I work for Round Mountain Gold Corporation located in Nye County, Nevada. It is owned by Kinross Gold Corporation, a Canadian based company. My position is Assay Lab Technician and I do different kinds of stuff but my main job is fire assay. I have been in the company for 5 years and 8 months as of this posting.
Because the mine is not that far from the subdivision where I live, the driving is only 7-10 mins to and fro. I knew lots of miners who have to ride a bus for an hour or so before they could get to their workplace. Actually, my husband who is now retired, had experienced it before from a different mining company. No fun.
I would arrive in the Assay Lab before 6:00 AM during day shift, before 6:00 PM during night shift. At 6:00 everyone is expected to be at the lunch room for a safety meeting. It's like an everyday briefing for everyone or an everyday reminder to work safely because SAFETY is a big thing in RMGC. It is a number one priority. The lunch room slash break room is cozy. We have oven, refrigerator and cold water/ ice machine. We take turns in sharing a safety topic, anything about safety or anything going on at the mine can be a safety topic. Whoever gives the safety topic would say something about it or would elaborate it and write it down on a predated paper with all our names on it, then affix our initial next to our respective names.
Then I'd go to the locker room to change. It has 2 bathrooms and 2 shower rooms but we use the latter rarely. I actually never used it. The locker room is big and I have 2 lockers under my name. We wear scrubs (tops and pants) at work and the company provide them. If you do not want to wear scrubs, it is up to you. But why would someone not?
Afterwards, with the inspection sheet on hand, I would do a workplace inspection, write down notes if I find any hazards and correct it right away and sign it before submitting it. Sometimes I would do this first before changing my work clothes. After that, I'd start working. We take two breaks: breakfast and lunch.
At the end of the day, I would change clothes and the oncoming crew would take care of our scrubs (drying and folding) after we put them in the washer before we leave. I work 12 hours per shift for 7 days then I get 7 days off afterwards. The schedule is perfect. We feel like we are on vacation every other week. The operation in the Assay Lab is 24 hours, hence, the weird schedule.
Like any other jobs, there are fun days and there are challenging days at work but I love my job and I like the people I work for and I work with. I can not imagine myself working in another company so I would safely say, I am not going anywhere, unless the mine will shut down.
Thank you for taking time to read my blog. Have a good one!
Bechay
