Canadians are known and respected around the world for their contributions to peacekeeping and their prowess on the ice, but that's not all we're famous for, as Tyrone Dasti of Moncton, New Brunswick, discovered.

A 30-year-old contract miner employed by The Redpath Group in North Bay,

Tyrone is on his second, four-month overseas assignment, bringing Canadian Funderground mining expertise to far-off Indonesia.

Mine operators in Asia, Africa and Latin America know that Canadian miners are the best in the world and regularly turn to contractors like The Redpath Group to get the job done.

It's a great opportunity for miners to see a bit of the world and experience a new culture.

"I went into mining originally to help pay for my education," says Tyrone, explaining that his father was a mining contractor and put in a good word for him. "I did one year of a forestry technology program at a college in Gaspé, Quebec, started the second year, and then decided that what I really wanted was to be a miner."

There was never any pressure from his father to follow in his footsteps. On the contrary, "he wanted me to see what else was out there," he says.

A day in the life of a contract miner in Indonesia begins between 3:30 and 4 am.

"We have our breakfast and head up the mountain to the mine, work from 5 am to 5 pm and get back to the house by 6," says Tyrone. Housekeeping and cooking are all taken care of.

He works with and trains an Indonesian crew and picked up basic Indonesian in four months.

Sightseeing
Every other weekend, he gets to do some sightseeing.

The hard part is being away from his wife and two and a half-year-old son, but he made up for it by taking a six-week break back home between two, four-month overseas rotations.

In 10 years of mining, Tyrone has seen and done it all. He was a lead hand in his early 20s and shift boss by the time he was 29. Having worked in so many mines, he has been exposed to a wide variety of mining methods and operates huge jumbo drills and load-haul-dump vehicles.

At the end of a day, there's the satisfaction of having drilled and blasted through another eight or 10 feet in search of the Earth's treasures.

"If you work hard and enjoy what you do - and I really enjoy what I do - there are a lot of opportunities in the mining industry. It's not a stagnant job where you feel you're doing the same thing over and over. There's a lot of variety and you're learning all the time."

The days of the pick and shovel are long gone, says Tyrone.

Technology
"Mining is so technical and scientific today. It's a different world down there. Everything is mechanized and computerized."

An "average" student who was "into sports," Tyrone advises anyone interested in a career in contract mining to get a good grounding in Math and Computers. If he could wind back the clock, he'd also take Physics and Geography.

But learning never stops. He participates in training programs offered by Redpath two or three times a year and plans to go back to school at some point to brush up on his computer skills.

Loving his job and getting to travel to the ends of he Earth are important to Tyrone, but the money is also an incentive.

A contract miner just starting out can expect to make $60,000 to $65,000 a year and $100,000 after a few years of experience, he says.

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