PathLensSOUTH AFRICA · CLEARER PATHS. BRIGHTER OPTIONS.
Rock Drill Operator
OFO Code: 711302
Last checked 7 October 2026
1. Occupation identity
- OFO code
- 711302
- Occupation
- Rock Drill Operator
- Classification
- OFO 2021
- Major group
- PLANT AND MACHINE OPERATORS AND ASSEMBLERS
- Unit group
- 7113 · Well Drillers and Borers and Related Workers
Official description
Well drillers and borers and related workers position, assemble and operate drilling machinery and related equipment to sink wells, extract ore, liquids and gases or for a variety of other purposes.
More official OFO detail
- Maintaining records of drilling and servicing operations
- Preparing drilling fluid and checking the operation of pumps to ensure adequate circulation of fluid in drill pipe and well
- Closing and sealing wells no longer in use; may supervise and train crew members
- Monitoring gauges and other indicators and listening to equipment to detect malfunctions and unusual well conditions, and determining the need to change drilling or equipment
- Operating machines and tools to extract dust, cuttings and lost and broken drilling equipment from holes and wells
- Maintaining, adjusting, repairing and cleaning drilling rigs, hoisting and other machinery
- Dismantling, moving and assembling drilling rigs and auxiliary equipment
- Assembling and dismantling pipes, casings and drill heads, and replacing dysfunctional equipment
- Operating controls to lower and raise drill pipes and casings in and out of wells, regulate pressure in the well and control the speed of tools
2. Demand status
Demand evidence unavailable
No approved governed OIHD graph relationship is available on this deployment for this OFO code.
PathLens does not fall back to legacy specimen demand flags when governed evidence is unavailable.
A national demand signal is not a promise of a vacancy in your town.
3. Salary evidence
No approved governed salary observation or sourced snapshot salary record is available for this OFO code yet.
Open remuneration history & calculator →4. Quick EE check
How much might Employment Equity matter in this job context?
Answer three quick questions for a rough read. This is workforce context, not a hiring decision.
Select the employer size and your profile to get a quick read.
5. Qualification
Qualification evidence pending.
Understand NQF levels, institutions & recognition → Build my qualification pathway →6. Study funding
Check all funding options, eligibility & obligations →A funding match will only be shown once a recognised qualification or study route has been identified.
7. Industry, sector and provincial context
National occupation classification. Industry and provincial context are shown only where a separate official source supports the link.
No source-backed modern OFO↔SIC 7 industry link has been ingested for this occupation yet. PathLens does not infer one from the job title.
Browse the official South African industry classification →8. Next steps — official links
9. Decision tools
10. Sources for this page
- DHET Organising Framework for Occupations (OFO 2021) · Ingested · identity spine active
Canonical OFO identity data has been ingested and validated. 1511 occupation records are recorded in the ingest artifact. - DHET Occupations in High Demand · Validated pipeline · graph publication not confirmed
The governed OIHD pipeline is active, but a successful populated graph run is not currently confirmed on this deployment. - Critical Skills List · Monitored · occupation linkage pending
Official migration sources are monitored, but PathLens does not infer visa eligibility or occupation-level eligibility from monitoring alone. - QCTO qualifications and occupational certificates · Candidate staging ready · not published
Qualification staging and human review are implemented; no qualification↔OFO relationship is published without an explicit source identifier or governed human review. - Stats SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey · Acquisition active · no approved evidence on this deployment
Official QLFS artifact discovery is active. Dataset-specific schema, weighting, reliability and review gates remain separate; a discovered artifact or executable estimator does not itself create a public claim. - SETA Sector Skills Plans / hard-to-fill vacancy tables · Partial · explicit source links only
PathLens preserves explicit source-backed SETA/activity links where present and does not infer modern SIC relationships from occupation titles.