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Cindy Koopman, 32, loves her job as a “fly in, fly out” (FIFO) dump truck driver and shatters the industry’s blokey stereotype.
She loves riding around in her 45ft truck on 12-hour shifts with a full set of nails.
Cindy earns £54.7k-a-year ($110K AUD) but works one to two weeks at a time – in return for a whole week off.
This means she gets a whopping four months of holiday each year.
She loves being in the “male dominated field” and ignores the trolls when they ask: “What’s a girl like you doing in the mines?”.
Cindy, currently living in Perth, Australia, says: “I feel very empowered.
“I feel I can do anything.
“People have said ‘what’s a girl like you doing in the mines?’.
“And: ‘How do you work in those nails?’, but I’m just sitting in a truck.
“I have nails and I’m in the mines – you can too.”
Cindy is originally from South Africa and grew up in New Zealand before travelling to Maryland, US, to work as a nanny.
But after completing her business degree she moved to Sydney, Australia, in November 2020 to look for new opportunities.
A friend told her about the mining jobs – but Cindy wasn’t sure at first.
She says: “Money was quite tight.
“My friend said you need to move to Perth for the mining – you can make so much good money.
“I was concerned I’d be super tired.”
Cindy moved to Perth and started as a geologist assistant – on a £60k ($120k AUD) annual salary.
She says: “I was working alongside drillers learning so much.
“I had a paint pack on my back spraying out a map the geologists had created for the diggers to know where to dig for gold.
“It was just so different, and I love a bit of physical work.
“There were only two women working in my department.
“There are not a lot of women in mining.
“It’s a very male dominated field but a lot of women are trickling in.”
Cindy worked in Perth for two years before starting as a FIFO.
What are FIFO jobs?
By Henry Holloway
FIFO means “fly-in fly-out” – and refers to jobs were employees are deployed to remote areas where they both live and work.
It is common in sectors such as oil and gas drilling and mining where crews have to stay on site 24/7.
Companies will often build cabins where workers can stay – and sometimes even pop-up facilities like canteens and gyms.
FIFO jobs are often well paid as they take over a person’s entire life – but often work a roster system of weeks on and weeks off.
Shifts are sometimes long and days off are few and far between due to the nature of the often gruelling work.
But many people praise the lifestyle and the wages.
Australia is common for FIFO jobs – with many sites in the barren landscape requiring this form of labour.
She is still based in Perth but gets flown out to the iron ore mine to work for a week or two at a time.
She then gets a full week off in between and has her accommodation and food paid for on top of her $110k salary.
She says: “I operate a 793F truck.
“It’s one of the biggest – I drive that bad boy around for the day.
“Some days I can’t believe the machine I operate – it was initially very scary.
“I’m driving a huge thing and anything can happen.”
Cindy says it took some time to get to grips with the mining industry as a woman.
She says: “It can be challenging.
“There is a stigma around that it’s a man’s world, so you learn to grow hair on your chest.
“I had to get a hard shell but in a good way.”
Cindy has been able to use her time off to travel and help poorer communities.
She has no plans to leave the mining industry in the near future and hopes to encourage more women to give it a go.
“I love what I’m doing.
“I love my crew,” she says.
