Brooke McNee was born with a passion for performance vehicles in her veins.
“My grandma has always been into cars, she passed that passion onto my dad, and as soon as they took me to my first Summernats I was hooked,” Brooke said.
“Add to that growing up on a cane farm surrounded by a culture of big agricultural equipment, and there was no chance the McNee love of machinery and motorsport would skip a generation.”
Now the 22-year-old is about to jump behind the wheel of an 85-litre, 3,500 horsepower engine as one of 60 new trainee haul truck drivers at Bravus Mining and Resources’ Carmichael Mine.
The Burdekin local said getting to learn and qualify on Bravus’ fleet of Caterpillar 796 AC mining trucks was the “opportunity of a lifetime”. “I first began applying for mine operator roles in 2019 and when I wasn’t successful moved into a good job in real estate, which I really enjoyed,” she said.
“But when I saw this traineeship advertised I knew I had to apply.” “Not only is this my start in an amazing industry and working with massive, sophisticated machinery, it’s an opportunity that will open doors to other goals like building my first home.”
Bravus Mining and Resources CEO David Boshoff said Brooke and her peers would undertake a four-week program of desk-based and supervised on-the-job training, including both day and night shifts. The 60 trainees will be employed by Bravus’ mining services contractor MacKellar, and their start dates will be staggered from the end of February through to May 2022.
“We’re delighted to continue to invest in regional Queenslanders and give Brooke and the other trainees a paid, structured, environment to kick start their career in mining,” Mr Boshoff said.
“We had just shy of 4,000 applications for these 60 positions, which shows people want to work in our industry and that the resources sector has access to an enthusiastic talent pool well into the future.”
Mr Boshoff said the Carmichael Project had provided more than 2,600 direct jobs and paid more than $1 billion to regional Queensland contractors and businesses since construction began.