Occupation information for

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. Includes shale planers.

Currently Employed: Not Available

Yearly Projected Openings: Not Available

Typical Hourly Wage: Not Available

Typical Annual Salary: Not Available

• Position jacks, timbers, or roof supports, and install casings, in order to prevent cave-ins.
• Move planer levers to control and adjust the movement of equipment, the speed, height, and depth of cuts, and to rotate swivel cutting booms.
• Reposition machines and move controls in order to make additional holes or cuts.
• Cut entries between rooms and haulage-ways.
• 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.
• Observe indicator lights and gauges, and listen to machine operation in order to detect binding or stoppage of tools or other equipment problems.
• Move controls to start and position drill cutters or torches, and to advance tools into mines or quarry faces in order to complete horizontal or vertical cuts.
• Advance plow blades through coal strata by remote control, according to electronic or radio signals from the tailer.