In Tasmania's wind-swept north-west, mining and manufacturing are firing up quite literally, with iron ore being processed at 600 degrees Celsius at a plant at Port Latta.
The ore is pumped out of three giant 50-year-old furnaces the size of four stacked semi-trailers, and transported on a conveyer belt to ships on Bass Strait.
It is miner Tony Ralston's job to work on this line as it belches steam. And he is happy to be there.
"It's great to be working back in Tasmania. I grew up here, but had to leave when the work dried up," he said.
Mining is making a comeback in the wake of a commodity price crash which followed the global financial crisis, and for workers like Mr Ralston, job security in the industry is front of mind this election.
Mr Ralston supports a young family and is part of a growing number of workers in the industry who are returning to Tasmania after years working on mainland Australia.
"Fly-in fly-out work takes a toll on your family. We always wanted to return and raise a family here but only recently has that been possible," he said.
The industrial region is part of the marginal seat of Braddon, which snakes along parts of the north and western coasts of the island state.
Mr Ralston, and many like him, never really wanted to leave but felt they had no choice.
Significant job losses in the wake of the global financial crisis saw hundreds of local workers, like Mr Ralston, leave the area.
Braddon has a long affinity with mining, and the health of the sector may play a key part in the outcome of the election, which is expected to be closely fought.
The seat is held by Labor's Justine Keay with a margin of just 1.7 per cent.
Already Prime Minister Scott Morrison has visited the seat several times, hoping to turbo-charge the campaign of local candidate Gavin Pearce.
More than 600 new jobs have been created in the mining sector since 2009.
The re-start of Hellyer Gold Mine just south of Burnie has seen about 50 people employed, and William Adams CAT is taking on 10 new apprentices to help meet demand in repairing mining vehicles.
Ben Maynard, president of the Tasmanian Minerals and Energy Council and general manager of operations at Grange Resources, said he had hired an extra 80 staff over the last eighteen months.
"Our main concerns going into this election are in terms of energy prices and skilled workers," he said.
"We need more skilled people, and we would like to use locals where possible. We need to develop our people resources locally."
Another worker lured back from the mainland is Daniel Goscombe, who has returned to Tasmania's north-west to work as a service manager at William Adams, which repairs mining vehicles among other things.
Mr Goscombe said he got sick of the "28 days on, five days off" fly-in fly-out work on the mainland.
"You never get to see your family," he said.
"One of those days off was always taken up in flights. People talk about cost of living concerns but family is everything too. Tasmania is a great place to raise your family."
The lure of returning home is strong, Mr Goscombe said.
"We've got to get the work here for them to come home, there's plenty going on around the world but there's plenty of people that want to be here," he said.
"I've got family here, I've grown, born, grew up here. I'd like to stay, everyone I know would like to stay, they don't want to hop on a plane and go away from their families and it's great to be able to come home because the business is here."
The picture is not all rosy, with some key projects dead in the water, including a nickel mine on the west coast which promised 200 jobs.
The shortage of skilled workers has also been noted by Burnie's Chamber of Commerce as a key issue moving forward.
But those who work in the mining sector, and their families, will be making the most of it while the good times last.
