Donning equipment that makes you feel like you’re in a space suit, complete with goggles and a face-mask, you leave the sun behind and disappear hundreds of metres under the surface.

Dark and ominous for anyone that doesn’t call the mines home, and with a massive multi-teethed monster waiting at the end of the caverns, the chambers of the dig pit evoke feelings of old serials and adventure movies with their ‘extraterrestrial’ set pieces.

It’s a labyrinth of tunnels and dead-ends in the mines themselves, although expertly and impressively navigated by the workers at Ulan West.

There is one key part to why the cold and dark tunnels of the mine are a welcome sight each day for the workers – the vein of mate-ship runs deeper than any coal in the pits.

Alex Warren, who celebrated his fifth year at the Mudgee-based mine just this week, has worked his way up to the position of Shift Under Manager.

Alex made the trip from Newcastle at the opening of the mine, with eyes to make a career out of the Ulan West opportunity, and has never looked back – in part due to the teamwork and family elements of the job.

“With a lot of other people in the same boat, it creates a lot of community in the workplace,” he said.

“I’ll tell everyone new person that comes here that the world is your oyster if you’re prepared to do the work. You can make a lot of new work mates here.”

Alex was quick to agree that the mateship in the mine is one of the most crucial parts of the entire operation.

“I believe that it is very important, being in an environment where you rely on others to look after you at the same time,” he said.

“You spend equal or even more amount time with the blokes at work than with your family at home, so you do start to build quite a comradery within the crew.

“People look forward to coming to work to see their work mates and you build a relationship on site that you don’t get in everyday work places. It’s a big driver for people coming into the industry to have that family oriented comradery.”