Mining Industry Award: Pay Rates, Classifications, and Obligations

That includes new minimum wage standards; as of July 2025, pay rates went up by 3.5%.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything from base pay rates to employee classifications to common mistakes and essential compliance tips so you can keep up with all changes and avoid costly violations. 

The Mining Industry Award: A Quick Summary for Busy Managers

The Mining Award [MA000011] is a set of regulations that outline obligatory minimum wages and working conditions for employees in the Australian mining industry.

To ensure compliance, managers must consider:

• Award coverage: Who exactly is covered by this award and not a similar award, like the Manufacturing Award or the Cement, Lime and Quarrying Award.
• Employee type: The different entitlements for full-time, part-time, and casual employees.
• Employee classification: The different levels that reflect employees’ experience and responsibilities. These range from Entry Level to Level 7.
• Hours and timing of work: What an employee’s “ordinary hours” are, as opposed to overtime hours.

Watch out for the following:

• The Mining Industry Award also uses classification groups (like production, maintenance, trades, technical, or specialist roles) to further classify employees.
• One particularly common mistake is misclassifying “continuous” or “non-continuous” shiftwork, which can have big implications on penalty rates and allowances.

Coming up: Award dates and deadlines you need to know

Award Basics

The Mining Award or Mining Industry Award 2020 [MA000011] outlines the minimum working conditions for certain employees in the mining industry. Under this Award, the “mining industry” includes businesses that extract and process metals, minerals, ores, phosphates, gemstones, mineral sands, and uranium. The Award doesn’t cover all employees, but does cover those directly involved in these processes (labourers, operators, prospectors, drillers, etc.).

The Award includes essential entitlements such as minimum pay rates, break and leave rules, penalty rates, overtime pay rates, allowances, and more. But remember: these don’t automatically apply to all employees in a mining business (e.g., clerks wouldn’t be covered).

The Mining Industry Award works in conjunction with the National Employment Standards (NES). The NES outlines the minimum entitlements for all employees across industries, whereas the Modern Awards add industry-specific entitlements. 

Who’s covered under the Mining Industry Award?

As mentioned, the Mining Industry Award covers businesses and employees who work in the extraction of metals, minerals, ores, phosphates, gemstones, mineral sands, or uranium from the earth. Covered employees include:

• Services employees, such as assisting work crews and tradespersons, maintenance workers, lab assistants, caterers, and labourers.
• Surface mining and haulage employees, like mining equipment operators, transportation operators, and drilling and blasting employees.
• Processing employees, including permit and clearance issuers and smelting and refining operators.
• Underground mine employees, such as underground labourers, drillers, ventilators, and underground equipment operators.
• Maintenance trades employees, including those who maintain essential drill and refinement equipment. 

For a detailed breakdown of coverage, check out the Award. 

Who isn’t covered under the Mining Industry Award?

The Mining Industry Award doesn’t cover all employees of mining companies. For instance, it doesn’t cover employees who work in these areas:

• Aluminium
• Oil, gas, and hydrocarbons
• Melting and smelting metals (covered by the Manufacturing Award)
• Brown coal mining
• Steel making
• Salt
• Security services

Nor does it cover these roles:

• Scientists
• Geologists
• Administrators
• Engineers
• IT professionals

Check the full list to see who’s not covered before you start classifying employees. 

Coverage self-check: Does the Mining Industry Award apply?

Use this checklist to determine whether the Mining Industry Award applies to the employee you’re evaluating:

• My business operates in the mining industry, and activities are integral to mining operations (i.e, exploration, extraction, or refinement of minerals).
• The employee performs a role that’s integral to a mine’s production and operations, rather than only supporting the site (i.e., purely administrative or HR work for a mining company).
• The employee is not clearly covered by a different modern award, such as the Building and Construction Award or the Manufacturing Award, which cover similar types of work (trades, machinery operation, and maintenance), but in different industries.
• The employee is not a senior manager genuinely exercising independent authority and responsibility (i.e., meaning they may be award-free).
• There’s no enterprise agreement covering the employee’s role.

If you “ticked” all of the above, the Mining Industry Award likely applies.

Determining Mining Industry Award [MA000011] Requirements

The Mining Industry Award organises employees by employment type (full-time, part-time, and casual) and by classification groups and levels (the category of work and the employee’s primary duties).

Employment types

There are 3 types of recognised employees within the mining industry:

1. Full-time: Those who work an average of 38 ordinary hours per week and receive the full wage, hours, leave, allowances, and penalty entitlements.
2. Part-time: Those who work less than 38 ordinary hours a week but receive equivalent pay and conditions as a full-time employee on a pro-rata basis. This means part-time employees make the same per hour as full-time counterparts but may make less overall.
3. Casual: Those without a firm commitment to ongoing work. They have no guaranteed hours and work only as required. Their ordinary hours are the lesser of an average of 38 hours per week or the hours the employer requires them to work. Casuals are paid a 25% casual loading on top of their hourly rate to compensate for the lack of entitlements. The Award also sets a minimum engagement of 2 hours per attendance.

Classifications and levels

The Mining Industry Award 2020 sorts workers into groups and levels. Classification groups are the categories of work, and levels reflect the employee’s actual duties and responsibilities.

First, let’s look at classification groups:

Each worker is then further filtered into levels based on their responsibilities:

Mining Industry Award Pay Rates and Entitlements Overview

Mining Industry Award pay rates not only outline the minimum base pay rate for ordinary hours but also penalty rates for overtime and breaks, as well as certain allowances for different employees. 

Minimum base rates

Here are the adult minimum base pay rates for ordinary hours worked for each level in the Mining Award:

For junior employees:

As an example, let’s say we’re comparing an adult Level 2 worker, full-time vs. casual:

• The full-time worker must be paid at least $27.29 per hour. For an average of 38 hours per week, the weekly minimum is $1036.90.
• The casual employee gets the same minimum hourly rate ($27.29), plus a 25% casual loading on top, so their minimum hourly rate is effectively $34.11.

Penalty rates

Penalty rates apply when employees are required to work on certain days or at certain times as part of their ordinary hours, for example, on a weekend or a public holiday.

The current penalty rates in the Mining Industry Award are:

As an example:

A full-time Level 3 worker earns $28.12 per hour. They’re doing a Saturday shift that starts at 9 am and finishes at 5 pm.

• 9 am–12 pm is paid at 150% of the minimum hourly rate, which would be $42.18 per hour.
• 12 pm–5 pm is paid at 200% of the minimum hourly rate, which would be $56.24 per hour.
• This doesn’t account for rest breaks, which will be 20 minutes (paid) or 30 minutes (unpaid), depending on whether they’re a shiftworker.

Overtime rules and rates

Overtime rates differ depending on the day the work is performed: Monday to Saturday/Sunday, and public holidays. They also vary depending on whether the employee is a continuous shiftworker (working rotating shifts to maintain 24-hour operations) or a non-continuous shiftworker (doesn’t follow a 24/7 coverage cycle).

For continuous shiftworkers, overtime rates are:

For non-continuous shiftworkers:

Breaks

Break rules differ for shiftworkers and non-shiftworkers, as well as for overtime and ordinary hours. 

Let’s see how they work for ordinary hour meal breaks:

For overtime rest breaks:

Allowances

Many employees are entitled to allowances under the Mining Industry Award 2020. These are additional payments the employer must make to compensate for harsh conditions or work-related expenses. 

You’ll notice that some are “all-purpose” allowances; this means they must be added onto the minimum pay rate before any other adjustments are made, like penalty rates, overtime, or leave loading. 

Let’s look at some examples:

All-purpose allowance example:

• A full-time Level 4 worker makes the minimum rate of $1139.80 per week.
• As they work in harsh conditions, they’re entitled to the industry allowance of $39.53 per week. This is added onto their weekly pay, making a total of $1179.33.
• An employer may need to divide the weekly allowance by 38 (38 hours worked) to get an accurate hourly allowance rate. In this case, that would be $1.04 extra per hour, so the hourly rate would effectively be $31.03.
• Overtime pay is then calculated as a percentage of the new rate (minimum hourly rate plus allowance).

Leave entitlements

Leave isn’t governed by the individual Modern Award but by the NES (National Employment Standards). This means leave is fundamentally the same for all employees in Australia:

There are a few deviations for the Mining Award (although these don’t affect leave entitlements, only how it’s taken). For example:

• Leave loading: While all workers receive 17.5% leave loading, some mining employees may be entitled to the penalty rates/shift loadings they would have earned if they had worked instead (whichever is higher).

For further details on leave, check out part 6 of the Award.

How To Determine Mining Industry Award Coverage

One of the biggest challenges employers face after confirming the Mining Industry Award applies is classifying employees. Always remember: classifications and minimum rates are based on experience and actual, on-the-ground duties, not job titles.

Here’s a real-world example to illustrate how an employer might use the Award to determine entitlements:

Mining Award [MA000011]: A practical, real-world example

A business operates an open-cut iron ore mine in WA. The business directly employs its operational workforce (not through a contractor). They’re hiring David as a Dump Truck Operator. 

David:

• Operates a mobile plant used directly in extraction and haulage.
• Is a continuous shiftworker and is not employed in a clerical, professional, construction, transport-only, or camp services role.
• Is not covered by an enterprise agreement.
• Has some experience and performs his own work under minimal supervision.

David’s actual duties classify him as Level 3 under the Mining Industry Award.

How the Award applies:

• Coverage: David is covered by the Mining Industry Award because he’s employed in the operational workforce of an open-cut mine and performs work directly connected with mining operations. His role is not excluded as clerical, professional, construction, transport-only, or camp services work, and no enterprise agreement applies.
• Classification and base rate: David is classified as Level 3. This reflects that he carries out his own work under minimal supervision and plans some minor tasks himself, although he doesn’t work completely unsupervised. The minimum hourly rate for Level 3 is $28.12.
• Ordinary hours and shiftwork: As a continuous shiftworker, David’s ordinary hours are worked in accordance with the Award’s shiftwork provisions applying to continuous operations. His ordinary hours are paid at his minimum hourly rate unless penalty rates, overtime, or allowances apply.
• Overtime: David is a continuous shiftworker, so his overtime rate is always 200% whenever overtime applies.
• Allowances: David may also be entitled to additional Award payments depending on the circumstances. These can include allowances such as the licence allowance and tool allowance, where applicable. The licence allowance is an all-purpose allowance, which means it’s added to his ordinary rate and is taken into account when calculating payments such as overtime.

Common scenarios and compliance tips

Use these key checks to overcome Award-specific scenarios.

1. Mine site labels all operational workers as “operators” and pays a flat site rate

Key checks:

• Confirm the Award actually covers each role (based on duties, not job title).
• Classify each employee into the correct Mining Level based on experience and responsibilities.
• Make sure the flat rate meets or exceeds all Award minimums, including overtime and allowances.
• Conduct the BOOT (better off overall test) reconciliations to prevent underpayment.

2. Contractor’s electrician works full-time on a mine and is paid under the Mining Award

Key checks:

• Find out if the employee’s work is electrical contracting, not mining operations.
• Assess coverage under the Electrical Award [MA000025] instead.
• Check trade-specific conditions (tool allowances, travel, overtime rules).
• Don’t assume mine-site work automatically triggers Mining Award coverage.

3. Mine employs admin and payroll staff under the Mining Award “for simplicity”

Key checks:

• Accurately assess if the duties are clerical or administrative, not mining operational.
• Test coverage under the Clerks—Private Sector Award or determine award-free status.
• Apply correct clerical classifications.
• Never use the Mining Award as a “catch-all” for non-operational roles.

Common employer mistakes to avoid

Given the Award’s complexity, mistakes can occur. These are the most frequent:

• Not adding all-purpose allowances correctly: Any additional all-purpose allowance must be added to the ordinary hourly rate before overtime and penalties are calculated. Employers often pay the allowance separately, but then calculate overtime only on the base rate.
• Incorrect leave loading: Many employers incorrectly pay only the base rate on leave, or only pay the 17.5% rate when penalties would be higher (you’re required to pay the higher amount).
• Absorption errors: Saying pay is “above award” without clearly absorbing allowances/loading in the contract, and therefore, underpaying workers.
• Paying the wrong weekend penalty on Saturdays: The Mining Award splits Saturday ordinary hours into the first 3 hours before 12 noon at 150% and after 3 hours/beyond noon at 200%. Employers often simplify Saturday to a single flat rate.
• Confusing shiftworkers: Not understanding the difference between a continuous shiftworker and a non-continuous shiftworker. This affects important rules, such as overtime pay (which is 200% for continuous shiftworkers). Employers risk underpaying certain workers without this distinction.

Glossary

All-purpose allowance

A type of allowance given to an employee for holding a qualification that’s integral to their work, like an Electrical Technician’s licence (as opposed to an expense-related allowance like the meal allowance).

Casual loading

An extra payment made to casual employees on top of their minimum hourly rate to compensate for a lack of leave entitlement.

Continuous shiftworker

An employee who works rotating shifts (including night shifts) in a business, like mining, that operates 24 hours a day.

Non-continuous shiftworker

An employee who doesn’t work rotating shifts but sticks to a standard roster (for example, 9–5, Monday–Friday).

Ordinary hours

Standard number of hours within a pre-arranged roster; i.e., 38 hours a week for full-time staff, or up to 38 hours a week for part-time staff.

Overtime

Higher minimum rates for working outside or beyond ordinary hours.

Penalty rates

Higher minimum rates for hours worked at inconvenient times, like late at night, over the weekend, or during a public holiday. 

Resources and Links

• Mining Industry Award [MA000011]
• Mining Industry Award 2020—MA000011
• Mining Award PDF
• Downloadable Mining Industry Award Pay Guide
• Fair Work Ombudsman Award Finder

FAQs

What is the industry allowance?

An all-purpose allowance paid to compensate for the general conditions of mining work. It applies broadly and is included in overtime, penalties, leave, and super calculations.

Does the Award apply if there is an enterprise agreement?

An approved enterprise agreement replaces the Award as the main instrument, but the Award remains the safety net for comparison and interpretation.

What is the minimum wage in the mining industry in Australia?

It depends on the employee’s exact classification, but as of the Fair Work Commission’s 2025 wage review, it ranges from $25.13 to $34.87.