FIFO mining compensation payout: Worker wins $30K; fired after accidentally dumping $200K gold
According to MS Jamie-Lee Corless-Crane V Aurenne Management Services Pty Ltd web pages, the Fair Working Commission (FWC) certificate[2025] FWC 986, the mixture occurred on January 7th one night shift.
Corless-Crane was allegedly working with a “old map and weak lighting. The GPS system of the excavator was not working. He relied on the information of the excavator operator who believed that the site contained ore.
FWC said that gold was already removed in the day before the arrival of Corless-Crane. The wrong position was given to him as part of the shift change.
Investigation and dismissal
A week later, the company reported Corless-Crane that he could “not show the necessary care ve and accused him of not fulfilling his duties properly.
He said he trusted the transfer documents from the day crew, including mistakes he did not know. He also stressed that there is no supervisor in the night shift and that he is the least experienced department member. He was officially dismissed on January 22nd.
Fwc: dismissal was ‘hard and unfair’
FWC decided in favor of Corless-Crane, not only responsible for the error. Vice President Melanie Binet said that more senior and experienced employees could not notice the problem in daylight conditions and could not pass in faulty documents.
“The unprotected-Crane was the last of the chain of consecutive failures.” The others are neither investigated nor disciplined.
Considering the limited mining experience of Corless-Crane, FWC concluded that the dismissal was “hard, unjust and unreasonable”. The Commission also noted that some of the ores have already disappeared before starting the shift.
Corless-Crane, who previously worked as a DJ and a hairdresser, received an annual income of $ 30,769 based on $ 100,000.
