FIFO Dump Truck Driver Jobs
One haul truck operator with years in the seat said what keeps him there: the pay, two weeks at home at a time, a cab to himself with music or a book, and driving a machine that size. A FIFO dump truck job is twelve hours on a loop between the digger and the dump, mostly alone, on a roster that flies you home. A manual car licence is the floor, and most ads also want hours on a haul truck. If you have those hours, the ads are there, and if you don't, the way in is a traineeship or a site job that gets you on site first.
What a FIFO dump truck driver is
A FIFO dump truck driver drives a haul truck in an open pit on a fly in fly out roster. The truck carries ore and waste between the digger, the crusher and the dumps.
FIFO dump truck jobs: Where to start
- No experience, want to startStart here
- Have hours on a haul truckStart here
- What the work is likeStart here
- Hold an HR (heavy rigid) or MC (multi-combination) licenceStart here
- What it paysStart here
- Drive other machines tooStart here
Find FIFO dump truck jobs
Search FIFO dump truck on SEEK (opens in a new tab), on Indeed (opens in a new tab) and on Jora (opens in a new tab), and also "haul truck" and "production operator". The miners and agencies post their own roles too.
Before you apply, check where each ad's flights leave from, called the point of hire. Getting there is usually up to you.
FIFO dump truck jobs at a glance
| Pay | $50 to $65 an hour on the operator ads; trainees $38 to $46 |
|---|---|
| Rosters | 2:1 on most ads; 2:2 and 8:6 on several |
| Flies from | Perth for the WA ads; Kalgoorlie on some |
| You'll need | A car licence, often manual, a police clearance, and a medical with a drug and alcohol test |
| Experience | Six months to three years where an ad gives a time; traineeships exist |
| Who hires | Miners, mining contractors and labour hire |
Pay and listings checked October 2026, from the pay snapshot and the three boards.
Can you get FIFO dump truck jobs with no experience?
Short answer
FIFO dump truck jobs with no experience are hard to find, though a few entry level ads and traineeships exist, and most traineeships go to people living near the mine. Another route is a different site job first, and the truck after.
Entry level FIFO dump truck operator ads
A Goldfields mining services firm's entry level ad for dump truck and loader operators wanted people "to train on mobile equipment". Its Jora listing asked for a full WA car licence and a police clearance, on 2:1 (two weeks on, one week off) from Perth.
The four trainee dump truck ads in the pay snapshot were in Queensland and the Hunter Valley in New South Wales.
A video from a FIFO job-help business said a dump truck isn't the way in with zero experience. Dump truck traineeships exist, it said, but you must live in a rural or remote community, and some are DIDO (drive in, drive out) only. It suggested a utility or driller's offsider job first, then the truck once you're on site, and said traineeships are open to citizens and people with permanent work rights, not working holiday makers.
FIFO dump truck traineeships: one trainee logged 100 hours a stage
A trainee haul truck operator described her program in a video. She spent 100 hours in the passenger seat watching an experienced operator, then 100 hours driving while the operator watched her. Some night hours came next, then the trainer signed her off to drive solo, and she did 100 hours on her own.
She said the only qualification she needed was a manual driver's licence, because many of the light vehicles on site are manual.
How do you become a FIFO dump truck driver, step by step?
Short answer
You become a FIFO dump truck driver by getting the licence and police check the ads ask for, then a traineeship or any site job that takes beginners. Most dump truck ads ask for seat time, so without it a site job comes first. In WA it starts with living near Perth or Kalgoorlie.
From no experience, in WA
- Get a car licence that covers manuals, and a national police check, which the Australian Federal Police and WA Police do online. The ads want both, and many site vehicles are manual. Check your work rights too: the ads want full work rights in Australia.
- Base yourself in Perth, or in Kalgoorlie if you're after the Goldfields. The WA ads fly from there, and agencies such as Fetch Recruitment won't pay a flight from interstate.
- Apply for a beginner's job on site: camp utility, driller's offsider or trade assistant.
- Watch for the few entry level and trainee truck ads at the same time. Traineeships mostly go to locals near the mine.
- Don't pay for a haul truck course before an offer. A short course doesn't make you experienced, and the big operators train their own drivers.
- Apply once the licence and the police check are done, and put them at the top of your resume. Register with the agencies that place operators too.
- After the offer, do the pre-employment medical and the drug and alcohol screen. The employer books both.
- On site, expect to be trained in stages: riding as a passenger first, then driving with a trainer beside you, then signing off to drive alone. One trainee's program ran in 100-hour stages.
In Queensland and New South Wales
On a Queensland coal mine you also need Standard 11, the coal mine safety induction, and a coal board medical. The employer pays for the medical.
In both states, the October 2026 trainee truck ads were mostly for locals, at Rockhampton, Mackay and in the Hunter Valley.
What are FIFO dump truck operator jobs, and who hires?
Short answer
FIFO dump truck operator jobs are on open cut mines, mostly gold and iron ore, with a few underground. Mining companies hire some operators directly, and labour hire agencies and contractors supply the rest.
Mineral Resources advertised full time, permanent dump truck operators flying from Perth, including at a lithium mine, with "travel on MinRes Air (selected sites only)". Thiess, Macmahon and Northern Star Resources advertised their own operators. The agencies advertising crews for other mines included Programmed, Fetch Recruitment, Techforce, Torquejobs, IronMerge, Chandler Macleod, Red Arrow Australia and Stellar Recruitment.
The roles in the ads
- Dump and haul truck operators in the pit
- Operators of electric-drive haul trucks
- Underground dump truck operators
- Trainee dump truck operators
- All-round operators who drive a dump truck among other machines
FIFO dump truck driver: what the ads call them
The ads used operator far more than driver, as dump truck operator and haul truck operator. Some were for mobile plant operators, and the dump truck was one of several machines. Torquejobs' ad said "Open cut experience required", so read the details and not just the title.
What do you need to be a FIFO dump truck operator?
The ads asked for:
- A car licence: C class in the Jora listings for Stellar Recruitment and Mineral Resources, a manual one as the minimum in Programmed's, and "Current WA drivers' licence" in MACA's
- Time on a particular truck. MACA wanted "12+ months experience in a production mining open pit environment" and the Komatsu HD785, and Thiess "a minimum of CAT785 experience"
- Six to twelve months in Fetch's listings, which named the 777, 785, 789 and 793 trucks, and three years or more in Thiess's
- Full Australian work rights, in Fetch's, Mineral Resources' and Programmed's
- A police clearance in several ads, and in Programmed's, a clean shave for the site's mask fit test
- Open cut experience in some, such as Torquejobs'; Thiess's called hard rock experience desirable
None of the dump truck ads asked for an HR (heavy rigid) licence: they wanted a car licence and time in the seat. The road licences are for the road trains and delivery trucks on the FIFO truck driver page.
FIFO dump truck: electric-drive and underground trucks are separate jobs
Red Arrow Australia advertised electric-drive dump trucks, Programmed electric Terex haul trucks, and Thiess's ad named a Liebherr electric truck as well as the CAT 793. Techforce's underground dump truck listing asked for 12 months or more underground, with time on its TH663 fleet preferred, and a WA or SA car licence.
FIFO dump truck rosters: 2:1 led, with 2:2 and 8:6 as well
Fetch's ads ran 2:1 or 2:2, the second giving two weeks off instead of one, with "12.5 Hour Days" and "Weekly Pay". Stellar Recruitment, IronMerge, Torquejobs and MACA ran 2:1. Techforce offered 2:1 or 8:6, and Programmed's and Chandler Macleod's haul truck ads ran 8:6 and 7:7 patterns.
The swing mixes days and nights. Thiess's 2:1 was seven days, seven nights and seven off, and Programmed's was a week of days, a week of nights and a week at home.
FIFO dump truck jobs fly from Perth, and some from Kalgoorlie
Most WA ads flew ex Perth. Fetch's added Kalgoorlie, or DIDO. MACA's iron ore project offered flights from Perth Airport or DIDO from Geraldton, and a gold miner's Indeed ad said "Fly direct to site!" and "Only 90mins".
Fetch wanted WA-based candidates with full work rights and paid no interstate flights, while Thiess offered salary sacrifice on flights for applicants outside WA.
FIFO dump truck operator jobs QLD: trainee and haul truck rows
The pay snapshot's Queensland dump truck ads were a haul truck job listed at Nambour and traineeships at Rockhampton and Mackay. Check each ad for its roster and whether it flies.
FIFO dump truck operator jobs Australia: beyond WA
An Adelaide contractor's FIFO dump truck ad said "Meals, accommodation & flights provided from Adelaide" and "Up to 12hr days".
What is the average wage for a mining dump truck driver?
Short answer
Mining dump truck drivers were advertised at $50 to $65 an hour in October 2026, and the middle truck and plant operator ad paid $62.50. Trainees were advertised at $38 to $46 an hour.
| Role | Advertised pay | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dump Truck Operators – FIFO | 2:1 | Day & Night Shift | $50 – $55 per hour | SEEK, Pilbara Resource Group, Oct 2026 |
| Dump Truck Operators (20 wanted) | $55 - $65 per hour | SEEK, Fetch Recruitment, Oct 2026 |
| DUMP TRUCK OPERATORS | ASAP STARTS | LONG-TERM FIFO WORK | $57.79 - $60.89 p.h. | SEEK, Programmed, Oct 2026 |
| Haul Truck Operator - Open Cut Mining | $58.45 an hour | Indeed, MacKellar Group, Oct 2026 |
| Trainee Dump Truck Operator - Upper and Lower Hunter Valley | $38 an hour | Jora, Programmed, Oct 2026 |
| Trainee Dump Truck Operator, Rockhampton | $43 per hour | SEEK, WorkPac, Oct 2026 |
| Dump Truck Traineeship, Mackay QLD | $42 - $46 an hour | Jora, WorkPac, Oct 2026 |
Only ads that stated a figure are in the table. Most don't.
Most agency ads gave a rate. The miners' and contractors' own ads, such as Mineral Resources', Thiess's and MACA's, mostly didn't.
FIFO dump truck driver salary: what a year adds up to
Counting every hour of a 2:1 roster on 12-hour shifts, as the snapshot does, the operator rates come to about $146,000 to $190,000 a year, and the trainee rates to about $111,000 to $134,000. A 2:2 roster has fewer hours. The pay calculator turns any rate and roster into a year.
What does a FIFO dump truck driver do day to day?
A day on the trucks starts with a bus at five
The trainee got up at three or four in the morning. The dry mess opened at about four, where she made her crib, the meal she carried for the day, and the bus left from a meeting point at about five. At site there was a pre-start meeting in the crib hut, covering the day's machine, blasting and safety notices. Then she did the truck's own pre-start check before driving.
The truck goes to a digger or a loader, and the loads go to the ROM (run-of-mine) pad or a dump. She said to listen to the dozer operator on the dump about where to tip. The trucks came in at about half past five, and the crews left site for camp between five and half past.
The loop between the digger and the dump
A working operator's video explained the loop. Excavators dig, the truck is loaded, and dispatch says where the material goes. Waste, low grade and high grade each have a place.
At the ROM pad, loaders can put the ore back into the tray to tip at the crusher. Operators may also help build roads and fill holes.
What is a FIFO dump truck job really like?
Short answer
FIFO dump truck work is twelve hours in a cab, much of it alone, on the same loop all shift. A working operator named boredom and night shift fatigue as the hard parts.
He listed the long stretch alone with your thoughts, the sitting, which is hard on your body, and the fatigue of night shift, and said the trucks get monotonous after a few years. A truck operator at the St Ives gold mine, who buses out from Kalgoorlie, said the crew ends up "like your second family".
Camps vary. Thiess's ad promised "Exceptional Camp Facilities - Swimming Pool, Perm Rooms, Women's only Gym", and another ad listed a gym, pool and tennis. The trainee said the dry mess, the wet mess, walking trails and touch football were there after work, and that staying in touch with family helps.
If a long swing gets dark, Lifeline is 13 11 14, and the FIFO mental health page has the rest of the help.
Where does a FIFO dump truck job lead?
Short answer
A FIFO dump truck job leads to the bigger machines, such as the diggers, and to other mining work. A trainee in one video said the diggers were her next goal, and that mining opens paths such as production, blasting or geology.
Fetch's dump truck ads listed progression opportunities, on to other machinery. The operator page covers the machines beyond the truck.
Is a FIFO dump truck job right for you?
Three honest questions
- Can you sit in a cab for 12 hours? Fetch's ads ran to 12.5 hours a day, and one operator listed the hours alone as a con.
- Can you work nights? Most swings mix days and nights, and the operator said fatigue builds on nights.
- Can you get the hours first? Most ads wanted months of production experience. If you have none, plan on a traineeship first, or another job on site.
Ready to look?
If you've read this far and still want in, match your licence and truck hours to the ad. Put the truck models you have driven in the first line of the resume.
- FIFO dump truck jobs on SEEK (opens in a new tab)
- FIFO dump truck jobs on Indeed (opens in a new tab)
- FIFO dump truck jobs on Jora (opens in a new tab)
- All job boards, contractors and agencies in one list
Fake ads turn up on real job boards too. An ad that asks you to pay a fee before you start is a warning sign: report it to Scamwatch (opens in a new tab).
Seat time sorted, or on your way to it? The other question is whether the life fits. Six questions, three minutes, free.
Is FIFO right for me?