National
| Median wages (2008) |
$19.94 hourly, $41,480 annual |
| Employment (2006) |
8,000 employees |
| Projected growth (2006-2016) |
Slower than average (3% to 6%)
|
| Projected need (2006-2016) |
3,000 additional employees |
47-5042.00 - Mine Cutting and Channeling Machine Operators
Operate machinery--such as longwall shears, plows, and cutting machines--to cut or channel along the face or seams of coal mines, stone quarries, or other mining surfaces to facilitate blasting, separating, or removing minerals or materials from mines or from the earth's surface.
Sample of reported job titles:
Miner Operator, Longwall Shearer Operator, Shear Operator, Coal Miner, Bore Miner Operator, Shearer Operator, Underground Heavy Equipment Operator, Underground Miner
Tasks
- Position jacks, timbers, or roof supports, and install casings, in order to prevent cave-ins.
- Reposition machines and move controls in order to make additional holes or cuts.
- Cut entries between rooms and haulage-ways.
- Observe indicator lights and gauges, and listen to machine operation in order to detect binding or stoppage of tools or other equipment problems.
- Replace worn or broken tools and machine bits and parts, using wrenches, pry bars, and other hand tools, and lubricate machines, using grease guns.
- Press buttons to activate conveyor belts, and push or pull chain handles to regulate conveyor movement so that material can be moved or loaded into dinkey cars or dump trucks.
- Move planer levers to control and adjust the movement of equipment, the speed, height, and depth of cuts, and to rotate swivel cutting booms.
- Cut slots along working faces of coal, salt, or other non-metal deposits in order to facilitate blasting, by moving levers to start the machine and to control the vertical reciprocating drills.
- Signal that machine plow blades are properly positioned, using electronic buzzers or two-way radios.
- Drive mobile, truck-mounted, or track-mounted drilling or cutting machine in mines and quarries or on construction sites.
