An Operating Engineer or Heavy Equipment Operator drives and operates heavy equipment used in quarries, construction sites, landfills, refuse and recycling centers, or ports. Heavy Equipment may include, but is not limited to, bulldozers, excavators, paving equipment and pile drivers.
Position Summary American Anthracite is seeking an efficient and safety-minded Front-End Loader Operator to join our logistics and processing team. In this role, you will operate heavy, straight or articulated rubber-tired or track-type front-end loaders. Your primary responsibility will be the high-volume handling, moving, and distribution of bulk materials—including run-of-mine coal, processed anthracite, dirt, rock, and overburden. This position is central to our daily logistics, ensuring that processing plant hoppers, feed conveyors, and chutes remain continuously loaded, and that customer trucks and railcars are loaded accurately and efficiently.
Move levers, depress pedals, and turn steering wheels to force heavy buckets into stockpiles or pits to lift, haul, and dump bulk materials.
Plant & Logistics Feeding:
Efficiently feed plant conveyors, blending hoppers, and chutes to maintain an uninterrupted processing flow; safely navigate stockpile areas to manage material separation.
Commercial Loading & Scale Operations:
Oversee the loading of highway trucks, aggregate haulers, and railcars. Position equipment precisely, distribute weights evenly, and operate on-board bucket scales to ensure legal transport limits are achieved.
Perform routine operator maintenance, including fueling, greasing pivot pins, and shoveling out packed mud, coal dust, or rock build-up from sideframes and steps.
Maintenance & Repair Support:
Assist field mechanics during general servicing, preventative maintenance blocks, or emergency troubleshooting on an "as-needed" basis.
Safety Coordination:
Maintain constant radio or telephone contact with the scale house, plant operators, and pit foremen to receive immediate loading and routing instructions.
Hazard Identification:
Monitor stockpile stability, ramp conditions, and high-traffic plant loading areas, immediately reporting any safety or mechanical issues to the supervisor.
Position Qualifications Experience:
Minimum of 2 years of experience operating large industrial front-end loaders (CAT 980/988 size or equivalent) within a mining, aggregate quarry, rail yard, or heavy industrial materials handling environment.
Core Skills:
Exceptional spatial awareness, experience with bucket scale systems, and the ability to interpret hand signals, survey markers, or spotter instructions cleanly.
Operational Adaptability:
Skill in connecting hydraulic lines, wedge pin hitches, or mechanical linkages to safely transition or adjust attachments.
Schedule Alignment:
Must be fully prepared to work assigned operational production shifts, which may include days, nights, and weekends based on company needs.
Licensing:
A valid Pennsylvania Driver's License is required.
Physical Demands & Work Environment Physical Capabilities:
The position requires sitting for extended periods inside a heavy equipment cab, subject to continuous whole-body vibration and bouncing over uneven surfaces. Operators must have excellent depth perception, peripheral vision, and the physical mobility to climb vertical equipment ladders to access the cab safely. Occasional lifting or moving of up to 50 pounds during routine machine servicing is required.
Environment:
Work is performed outdoors and is subject to all seasonal weather extremes (heat, freezing rain, snow, mud). The operating environment is routinely loud and involves exposure to airborne dust, particulates, and high-traffic active zones. Strict adherence to personal protective equipment (PPE) and MSHA safety compliance is mandatory. Why Join American Anthracite? We offer steady, year-round field operations with premium wages and an excellent corporate benefits package. We prize an operational culture built on technical mastery, field autonomy, and structural safety across our entire mining and plant footprint. American Anthracite is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Pre-employment testing, including a laboratory-backed drug screening and background verification, is required prior to hire.
Pay:
$25.96 - $30.00 per hour
Benefits:
401(k) 401(k) matching Dental insurance Health insurance Paid time off Retirement plan Vision insurance
