‘Harsh’: FIFO worker wins $30k payout from mine

A massive error at a mining site led to $200,000 of gold going missing and a FIFO worker getting the sack. Now, she’s had the last laugh.

A FIFO worker has been awarded more than $30,000 after she was “dismissed unfairly” over a mix-up which saw $200,000 of gold lost.

Perth woman Jamie-Lee Corless-Crane took her case to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) after being employed as a pit technician at Aurenne Group Mining in Mt Ida in Western Australia.

She had worked at the company for 15 months before the incident on January 7, 2025.

The gold was lost when three members of the geology department, where Ms Corless-Crane was working, marked out the wrong mining location.

The incident happened earlier this year. Picture: Facebook

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The gold from the wrongly marked location was taken to waste instead of being processed.

Ms Corless-Crane was stood down and an investigation was launched into the incident.

The next week Ms Corless-Crane received an email stating that in her role she had failed to take “due diligence” to ensure the right location was being mined.

She wrote back that she was unaware of the “inaccuracies” of the location at the time.

“As the least experienced member of my department, I rely on the information provided to me from my department and trust that it is accurate,” she wrote.

The Perth woman is a DJ and hairdresser. Picture: Facebook

She was awarded 16 weeks pay in compensation. Picture: Facebook

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On January 22, she was told she had been dismissed, effective immediately.

FWC deputy president Melanie Binet found that Ms Corless-Crane was the final cog in a “series of systems and employee failures” which led to the lost gold.

“Ms Corless-Crane was the last and potentially least experienced employee to have failed to identify the error in mark-up,” Ms Binet said in her decision.

“None of these employees, other than Ms Corless Crane were ultimately dismissed because of their involvement.”

The Fair Work Commission found the dismissal was unjust. Picture: Facebook

Ms Binet said the former DJ and hairdresser had “limited” mining experience and could not be blamed, making the dismissal “harsh, unjust and unreasonable”.

She also stated that some of the ore was lost before Ms Corless-Crane had started her night shift.

“Even if Ms Corless-Crane had been able to identify the error in mark-up, the loss of ore had already commenced occurring before she was called to the mining location,” Ms Benet said in her decision.

“While there might possibly have been an opportunity for Ms Corless-Crane to identify the error in the mining location, I am not satisfied that her failure to do so was sufficiently seriousto constitute a valid reason for her termination in all the circumstances.”

Ms Corless-Crane was awarded 16 weeks in compensation on her salary of $100,000.

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Originally published as ‘Harsh’: FIFO worker wins $30k payout from mine