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Student Resources

A Typical Home

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The construction materials used to build a typical Australian house (brick veneer with a tiled roof) contain a surprising amount of aggregates. A typical house contains about 80 tonnes of aggregates.

PART OF HOUSE	MATERIAL	AGGREGATE TYPE	OTHER MATERIALS
Outside Walls:	bricks mortar	clay/ shale sand + limestone	cement
Roof:	concrete tiles or clay tiles	sand + crushed rock clay/ shale	cement
Foundation:	concrete slab	sand + crushed rock/ gravel	cement
Windows:	glass	sand
And around the house we also use aggregates:
Driveway:	clay pavers or concrete or road base	clay/shale sand + crushed rock crushed rock + clay	cement + steel
Retaining Wall:	concrete block	sand + crushed rock	cement
Landscaping:	decorative gravels
We also use aggregates in our footpaths and streets:
Footpath:	concrete	sand + crushed rock	cement
Road:	asphalt	Rcrushed rock + sand	bitumen (petroleum)

Can you identify which materials are used to make the house that you live in?

Careers in the Quarrying Industry

There are many different types of careers available in the quarrying industry. The types of career opportunities are similar to those in the mining industry but it should be understood that employment levels in the Australian quarrying industry are smaller than the Australian mining industry.

It is estimated that about 7,000 people work directly in quarries throughout Australia. Indirectly, the industry supports many thousands more jobs through support services and support industries.

The quarrying industry supports and employs the following types of workers:

Accountants
Boilermakers and welders
Carpenters
Computer aided designers
Computer operators
Data processing specialists
Drill rig operators
Earthmoving equipment operators
Electricians
Engineers - mining, civil, structural, environmental
Geologists
Mechanics

Office administrators
Process control technicians
Processing plant operators
Quarry managers and supervisors
Safety managers
Sales people
Secretaries
Shotfirers
Surveyors
Trainers
Truck drivers
Weighbridge operators

Many of the jobs in quarries are discussed in further detail on the Institute of Quarrying, Australia web site under the title Extractive Industries Training Package. The Extractive Industries Training Package has been produced for people who are actually working in the quarrying industry. It sets out detailed descriptions of many of the jobs and the skills and qualifications (frequently referred to as ‘competencies’) that people need to do these jobs safely and properly.

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