Perenti Pay Rates 2026: FIFO, Site & Award Floor Pay
What Perenti workers should be paid in 2026 — the Mining Industry Award floor by classification, casual loading, penalties, and where the Perenti enterprise agreements sit.
Payroll & Compliance Editor · Registered BAS Agent, Cert IV Accounting & Bookkeeping
Who covers Perenti (Barminco) workers — award or agreement?
Barminco is the underground hard-rock mining arm of ASX-listed contractor Perenti, providing development and production mining services to gold and other underground operations. Like other underground contractors, its workforce is almost entirely permanent, working FIFO rosters.
The Mining Industry Award 2020 sets the floor. Barminco has a registered enterprise agreement in our corpus (listed below); it has to leave staff better off overall than the award tables that follow.
The federal awards relevant to Perenti (Barminco) roles:
- Mining Industry Award 2020 (MA000011)
Workforce snapshot. In the 2024-25 Workplace Gender Equality Agency reports, Barminco Limited reported 1,793 employees (part of the Perenti Limited group, 4,298 employees in total, 1.6% casual and 12.3% women). Source: WGEA 2025 Public Data File, data.gov.au (CC-BY 3.0 AU).
Mining award floor (1 July 2026)
The Mining Industry Award 2020 (MA000011) publishes each grade two ways: the base weekly rate (÷38 = hourly) and an 'ordinary hourly' rate that folds in the award's all-purpose industry allowance. Both are shown:
| Classification | Base hourly | Ordinary hourly (incl. industry allowance) | Casual (base + 25%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry level (first 3 months) | $26.44/hr | $27.53/hr | $33.05/hr |
| Level 1 (basic — labourer, trainee operator) | $27.56/hr | $28.65/hr | $34.45/hr |
| Level 2 (intermediate — plant operator) | $28.58/hr | $29.67/hr | $35.72/hr |
| Level 3 (competent — experienced operator, trades assistant) | $29.45/hr | $30.54/hr | $36.81/hr |
| Level 4 (advanced — tradesperson) | $31.42/hr | $32.51/hr | $39.28/hr |
| Level 5 (advanced specialist) | $33.47/hr | $34.56/hr | $41.84/hr |
| Level 6 (dual trade) | $35.11/hr | $36.20/hr | $43.89/hr |
| Level 7 (dual trade instrumentation) | $36.53/hr | $37.62/hr | $45.66/hr |
Coal mines sit on the Black Coal Mining Industry Award instead, which uses a 35-hour week — our BHP pay rates page explains the difference. FIFO rosters add the award's overtime, shift and weekend loadings on top of these figures.
Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, current-operative rates (1 July 2026 annual wage review). Casual figures add the 25% casual loading.
The Perenti (Barminco) enterprise agreements
Enterprise agreements set rates above the award, with their own classification structures and allowances. Current Perenti (Barminco) agreements in our corpus (1 in total):
- Barminco Enterprise Agreement 2023 — approved March 2023, nominal expiry 9 March 2027.
We don't reproduce agreement dollar figures here — the agreement covering your site, state and stream is the document to read. Find your agreement, then your classification, then your pay point, and compare it with your payslip. The award tables on this page are the floor every one of these agreements must beat.
Common mining pay issues at Perenti (Barminco)
The patterns worth checking on a Perenti (Barminco) payslip:
- FIFO roster averaging that quietly loses overtime or public holiday loadings.
- Wrong level for the competency actually held.
- Labour-hire workers paid below the site's directly employed crew for the same work — the same-job-same-pay rules now apply.
- Travel and standby time unpaid.
What to do if your pay looks wrong
Match your payslip to your classification in the agreement (or the award tables above), and price any gap with our back-pay calculator. Raise it in writing with payroll or your manager first — most underpayments are fixed at that step. Unresolved, the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) recovers underpayments at no cost, up to six years back, and your union can run the claim for you. Not sure which instrument covers you? Ask our AI advisor with your role and location.
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Official resources
General information and estimates only — not legal, financial or tax advice. Always check your specific award, agreement or contract, or a qualified professional, before you rely on the result.
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Six years running payroll for a Western Sydney commercial builder before moving to compliance writing and contract payroll. Registered BAS Agent (TPB). Cert IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping. Writes about pay calculations, superannuation, and the 2026 Payday Super rollout. Based in Cabramatta, Sydney.