A quarry manager is meant to ensure the seamless daily operation of the quarry. Employing qualified quarry manager support can improve in delivering on works that are efficient, safe and effective at reducing costs. Every quarry has its unique challenges and requirements but there are some principles that stay relevant across the board. Things like ensuring that the quarry runs smoothly, meeting production quotas, ensuring worker safety, and overseeing equipment management all apply. While many quarry manager duties can be carried out from a desk, there are many instances of hands-on expertise. Regardless of the project scope, quarry managers are responsible for many tasks including maintaining budget and production management. We’ll unpack everything involved in quarry management below.
Typical tasks in quarry management
- Overseeing quarry operations
On any major industrial plant or facility, we’ll need to order equipment and supplies. These orders need to be taken and filled, and proper personnel levels maintained. Quarry managers will have to oversee these things and then ensure their safe integration into the function of daily employee work. In Western Australia, quarry managers need to acquire a certificate of competency which ensure that they’ll keep up with work safety requirements for their work site. This helps to ensure worker safety when around hazardous machinery. To ensure this safety, good quarry managers will spend their time in the quarry itself to inspect the vehicles and check for maintenance logs. While it may seem like tedious work, quarrying operations must be observed and monitored for safety, efficiency, and product quality very frequently.
- Quarry team building
Quarry staff need to manage staff and team members too. The manager will also have to undertake regular performance and adherence evaluations and root out potential issues quickly. Team building and management are there to maintain optimum efficiency and profitability.
- Stakeholder communication
Quarry managers will also have to communicate with key stakeholders, ownership, and clients, about information that impacts profits, efficiency, safety, and production and implement the directives and desires of ownership in all of these areas as well.
How to become a successful quarry manager in Australia
- You’ll need experience working in a quarry
This is the first step in becoming a manager of a quarry and an essential industry standard. To become a quarry manager anywhere in Australia, you need at least two years of experience, including one year of practical experience, in production operations.
- Education requirements
You’ll need a complete education related to mining, quarrying, or geology to qualify for this aspect. Industry-wide recommendations call for potential managers to hold a degree in mining engineering, a diploma in surface operations management or an equivalent institutional certificate.
- Complete a certification
We briefly mentioned this earlier, but you require a quarry manager’s certificate of competency to work in Western Australia.
Is the quarry work hard?
This is a highly immersive entry-level job that includes certain levels of intensity when it comes to stakeholder engagement. In remote locations, quarry managers need to understand the lay of the land throughout and therefore take on the responsibility of being onsite for long periods without rest. This is also a difficult line of work because there are no typical work practices among all quarry managers at all mines. Managers are encouraged to develop their own approach and work practises based on the requirements specified by the mine operator and safety regulations.
You need a high level of awareness and attention to succeed in a role as the manager of a quarry in Western Australia and throughout the country. While a large majority of the role’s responsibilities include observation and supervision, you need to be actively attending to all areas of the mining site.
Local quarry management consultancy or more
If you’re reading this guide because you’re looking for a qualified quarry manager for your site, you’ve come to the right place. Complete CM Solutions isn’t just an effective mining management consultancy company, we can also provide you with a registered quarry manager in no time. No matter what extent of support you need, we’re ready to assist you in the facet of management solutions. If you need a daily expert to supervise daily operations, then we can help! But many of our partners also require assistance in the way of management consultancy to prepare them for a big project.
