Specialist broking for mining contractors and mine-services businesses whose site access, contract limits or occupation need more than an online quote form.
$20M
Limits placed repeatedly
Multiple
Specialist markets tested per placement
Australia-wide
Market access
Recognition
Mining contractor insurance is usually a package of covers led by public and products liability, sized to the limit your site contract demands - often $20 million. The right structure depends on what you do, which sites you access, the plant you run and the contracts you sign.
Public liability is not a substitute for site inductions, statutory mine-safety duties or workers compensation. It responds to insured third-party claims, subject to the wording. Your legal duties are a separate question.
"Mining" covers a poly-pipe welder who never touches plant, a drilling crew in remote WA, and a haulage fleet running inside the gate. Underwriters cannot price the label - they price the specific work, and when the label is all they get, an underwriter has little choice but to price the worst version of it, or not price it at all.
Insurer appetite narrows with operating-site access, hot works, underground work, high plant values and required limits. That makes mining contractors hard-to-place rather than uninsurable: the placement usually turns on how precisely the submission separates what you do from what you don't.
HSUA, SURA, QBE and ShieldCover are among the markets we use for mining contractors and mine-services risks. We also work with other insurers and underwriting agencies. The right market depends on the risk and what cover is required.
Plus more. Market selection depends on the risk and what cover is required.
The anchor cover and the contract requirement. Responds when the business is legally liable for third-party injury or property damage, subject to the wording. See our public liability broking and the verified placements below.
Liability cover doesn't insure your own gear. Rigs, machines, attachments and tools need their own sections - and hire arrangements decide who insures plant on hire. See the plant hire guide.
Fleet on public roads, floats between sites and operation inside the gate raise separate motor, carriers and dangerous goods questions. See the haulage guide.
Workers compensation runs under state schemes; working directors may need personal accident. Design, certification or consulting work points to professional indemnity.
A $20 million liability limit does not make the policy an all-risks package. In real $20 million schedules we have reviewed for mine-services contractors, professional indemnity, tools of trade, statutory liability and contractors pollution liability were not insured, and activity-specific exclusions and sub-limits applied. Every schedule reflects one insurer's appetite at one point in time - read yours.
Tell us what you do, which sites you access and the limit your contract requires. We take it to insurers with genuine appetite for mining contractors.
Disclosure matters: an inaccurate activity, site or plant description can affect both the quote and a later claim. An underwriter can only price the risk you describe - describe it completely.
Tank has placed $20 million public liability for mine-site contractors and mine-services trades on multiple occasions, including sole operators and new ventures after recorded declines. In recent mine-services placements we recorded outcomes across 15 markets before selecting terms. Each result is a historical outcome for that specific risk, not a promise of future terms.
A WA sole-trader plastic-fusion specialist needed $20 million public liability to keep working on WA mine sites. Eight mainstream insurers declined. We separated what the client actually did - off-site poly-pipe welding, no hot works, no plant operation - from what underwriters assume when they hear 'mine site', and placed the risk with a specialist underwriting agency at around $3,200 per year, with indicative terms back within about a day.
A newly commenced WA coded-welding and fabrication business serving above-ground mining and marine clients needed $20 million public liability with a director-only start-up structure and modest forecast turnover. Eight markets recorded declines. The submission distinguished the new entity's start-up structure from the operator's decades of industry experience, putting both in front of the underwriter, and documented the mobile work profile - coded welding, pipework, fabrication and mechanical refurbishment, with occasional heights and confined spaces disclosed. The underwriter's quotation came back the day after submission, and cover was placed at around $4,600 per year through a specialist underwriting agency.
A sole-director boilermaker building a mine-maintenance business needed a $20 million public liability and tools package at around $100,000 revenue. Seven insurers declined the occupation across two quoting platforms before terms were secured at around $1,700 per year, with commercial motor for the work vehicle arranged alongside.
Premiums and outcomes described are specific to each client, rounded up and indicative only. Your own terms will depend on your circumstances and the insurer.
Three verified Tank placements of $20 million limits for small mine-services contractors. Historical evidence of what specific risks have paid - not quotes.
~$1,700 per year
$20M public liability + tools
~$3,200 per year
$20M public liability
~$4,600 per year
$20M public liability
Historical premiums from verified Tank placements, rounded up and anonymised. They are evidence, not quotes - a different profile, or the same profile a year later, can price differently.
Mine safety is regulated state by state. Safe Work Australia publishes national model WHS guidance for mining, while bodies such as the NSW Resources Regulator and Western Australia's mines safety regulator administer the rules that actually apply on site - including contractor management, inductions, permits and statutory positions. Requirements vary between jurisdictions and between sites, so check where each site sits.
Underwriters read the same documents that get you through the gate - inductions, permit systems, hot-work procedures, maintenance records - as evidence the risk is managed. Satisfying an insurer doesn't establish legal compliance, and holding insurance satisfies none of these duties.
The operations and maintenance guide covers the contractor-management layer in more detail.
Five steps that separate a defensible placement from a premium-only decision.
Activities, environments, commodities, surface or underground, and the split between mine and non-mine revenue.
Required limits, principal's indemnity, waivers and endorsements come from the contract, not from an industry standard.
Include plant schedules, claims history and site controls rather than sending inconsistent answers to different markets.
Check site and activity restrictions, care-custody-control treatment, hot-works conditions, excesses and aggregates.
Tell the broker before taking on a materially different site, activity, commodity or contract.
Mine safety and licensing duties are state-based and sit outside your insurance policy. These regulator sources are the starting point.
External government sources. Tank Insurance is not responsible for their content; confirm current requirements with the regulator in the relevant state or territory.
Usually a package led by public and products liability at the limit site contracts require, often $20 million, with plant and equipment, commercial motor, tools, and workers compensation or personal accident built around it. The structure depends on what you do, which sites you access and the contracts you sign.
It is individually underwritten, so no flat rate is reliable. As historical reference points, verified Tank placements of $20 million public liability for small mine-services contractors have ranged from approximately $1,700 (a package including tools cover) to $4,600 per year. Your own price depends on your activities, sites, turnover, claims and the markets approached.
Where a site contract requires a liability limit, it is often $20 million - but the requirement comes from each contract rather than legislation. Read the insurance clause, confirm whether the limit is per occurrence, and check any endorsement requirements such as principal's indemnity.
Sometimes. A decline reflects that market's appetite and does not prove all markets will decline. Tank has placed $20 million limits for mine-site contractors after seven and eight recorded declines, but placement always depends on the complete risk information and the terms available at the time.
No. Public liability responds to third-party claims. Rigs, excavators, trucks, tools and attachments need their own plant, equipment or motor covers, each with its own conditions and exclusions.
Insurers can issue indicative terms, but in a recent placement we handled, the quotation was expressly subject to an active ABN before cover could be bound. If you are setting up a new entity for mine work, activate the ABN early - we can approach the market in the meantime and move to bind once it is active, subject to the quotation's terms and validity period.
General information only. This page does not take account of your objectives, financial situation or needs and is not legal or WHS advice. Cover depends on the insurer, policy wording, limits, excesses, exclusions and information disclosed. Read the relevant policy documents and obtain professional advice before deciding.
Tell us what you do, which sites you work on and the limit your contract requires. We will explain the available terms and exclusions before you decide.
Last updated: 10/08/2026
