Not for the faint hearted

Workers on a Pilbara mine site were surprised to find a snake in the middle of a meal which took it five hours to consume. They managed to keep the serpent safe from traffic in the meantime.

You may be able to catch exciting sights like these if you’re at Pilbara for our 3rd Annual Mining the Pilbara conference happening on the 10-11 June 2009.  Click here to find out more about the conference!

These pics were taken by one of the the NRW crew at Cloudbreak this week.

Rail haulage regime aims to eliminate uncertainty

The Pilbara Rail Access Interdepartmental Committee (PRAIC) is now considering stakeholder submissions for the development of a state-based third party haulage regime for iron ore railways in the Pilbara.

Submissions were invited from stakeholders and other interested parties (aspiring iron ore producers, incumbents BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group, and industry representatives) as part of the consultation process, which was launched on 10 June.

With the closing date for submissions 25 July, the PRAIC is expected to make a report to the WA cabinet after September this year.

John Murphy, Assistant Director Structural Policy, with the WA Department of Treasury and Finance told the Mining the Pilbara Conference in Karratha in June that a Pilbara railways haulage regime was necessary to resolve current uncertainty over third party access.

He said the regime would be developed so it was capable of certification under Part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act 1974. This provides a benchmark that the regime will be effective, balancing the interests of infrastructure providers and access seekers.

“Pilbara railways are covered by a variety of State agreements, intended to facilitate access arrangements,” Mr Murphy said. “BHP Billiton’s and Rio Tinto’s current State agreements include provisions for haulage services, while Fortescue Metals Group’s current State agreement includes provisions for track access.”

Track access (below rail) means third parties provide their own rolling stock and operate to separate standards, and haulage (above rail) provides third parties with access to the existing operating haulage service provided by the infrastructure owner.

“The regime’s principles include the promotion of optimal and efficient use and investment in Pilbara rail infrastructure, the recovery of efficient costs by the provider, preservation of haulage provider safety and operational standards, maintenance of system flexibility, and simplicity and transparency,” Mr Murphy said.

Feedback was sought on a number of issues including whether a tonnage threshold should be implemented – how many million tonnes per annum should haulage services be limited to – capacity, haulage charges, the term of access arrangements and dispute resolution.

Implementation of the regime will require legislation, while the regime will also be submitted to the National Competition Council for certification.

The Pilbara region in 2006-07 produced 258 million tonnes of iron ore, generating sales of $15.75 billion and royalty receipts of $851 million.

Focus on expectations key to worker retention

Miners and other employers in the Pilbara are advised that in attracting talent they should make sure they position the role to appeal to people with different expectations.

Those who want to stay a few years for example and seek residential-community living have different expectations from the fly-in-fly out (FIFO) cohort, or from those intent on building a career.

“For residential, it’s important to promote the strong community and sporting benefits of regional towns in the northwest,” Ashley McKinnon, Director, Resources & Energy for Hudson told delegates at the Mining the Pilbara conference in June.

“These include the fishing, sailing, scuba diving and camping opportunities. At the same time companies need to manage the expectation gap around issues like house rental rates and day-care availability.

“The options for FIFO may include flights from a range of towns, shift rosters that cater for couples or are best practice in terms of providing time off.

“Building a picture of the scale of operations and projects in the northwest (particularly green fields projects) is attractive to candidates looking to build on their career.

“For them, look at career development options, rotation on projects, mentoring, work flexibility through roster design and flexible work cycles for day workers, and benefits on par with best practice in the mining industry.

“Many candidates also now have the ability to fly in from other environments such as south west Australia, and while this does not help build the residential community it does address the labour pool shortage.”

Mr McKinnon said that understanding what it is about companies and projects that attracts the right type of candidate would pay dividends in positioning the company to get the best talent.

However, he warned: “Make sure that what you promise will actually be fulfilled, otherwise you risk having them leave or being poached by other companies looking for similar talent.

“The most important issue is to develop and maintain a positive corporate culture that values teamwork, employee development, sustainable work practices and equality, particularly with younger workers.”

Mining was not a global market so talent pools for labour were global, particularly in engineering disciplines and some trades. Skilled professionals were increasingly being sought from countries like South Africa, South America, Canada and Central Europe.

In Australia there was a lot of movement between Queensland, South Australia, the Hunter Valley, the eastern goldfields and the Pilbara. More effort was being made to develop indigenous talent pools in cooperation with aboriginal corporations and the families of existing workers.

The workforce composition had changed in the Pilbara. A large number of older skilled workers were retiring and being replaced by younger workers with high expectations and able to access information easily, and skilled workers from different cultural backgrounds.

He predicted at least five years of labour shortages only partially addressed through 457 visa skilled workforce migration.

How to experience the mining boom

The Pilbara in WA has been described as the engine room of Australia’s resources boom, but mining is booming in all Australian states.

And in the regions where it’s happening, mining is bringing wealth as well as challenges such as accommodation and skills shortages.

That’s why the IIR Regional Mining Series of conferences are being held in the towns close to where the action is, to enable delegates to understand the issues at close hand as well as to hear speakers’ views.

The series continues with Mining the Pilbara on 18-10 June in Karratha, followed up by conferences in Orange, NSW; Darwin, NT; Mount Isa, Queensland; and Whyalla, South Australia.

Mining the Pilbara, which follows the successful inaugural event last year, will look at the big mining developments, new projects, and give an insight into exploration moves.

It will also review the economic outlook, the state of accommodation and strategies for sourcing and retaining labour.

NSW is Australia’s second largest gold producer after Western Australia, but explorers are also interested in base metals, mineral sands and even iron ore.

These issues will be discussed at Mining NSW to be held on 1-3 September at the Ex-Services Club in Orange in the heart of the central west.

Mining NSW will bring together mine operators, contractors, explorers and suppliers to look at the market outlook for gold and base metals, updates on new mine expansions, explorers active in the New England and Lachlan Ford belts, water and infrastructure, and how to overcome housing and personnel shortages.

Speakers include Tony McPaul, General Manager of Cadia Valley Operations, Newcrest; Craig Stegman, General Manager of Northparkes Mines; and Lindsay Gilligan, Director of the Geological Survey of NSW.

This year’s Mining the Territory conference at the Darwin Convention Centre on 13-15 October follows the outstanding inaugural conference held at Sky City.

It will review not only mining and exploration, but development opportunities and challenges in Northern Australia, which is experiencing phenomenal employment, population and economic growth.

The conference will be held in partnership with the Northern Territory Resources Council, formerly the Minerals Council of the Northern Territory.

The 3^rd Annual Mining the Isa conference, to be held on 17-19 November at the Mount Isa Civic Centre, will examine exploration and growth across the north western Queensland region.

The region is known to contain about 28% of the world’s known lead and zinc reserves, 5% of the world’s silver resources, 1.5% of the world’s copper reserves and major phosphate and uranium deposits.

The best known mining operations are at Mount Isa, where Xstrata operates two separate mining and processing streams, copper and zinc-lead-silver; and at Lawn Hill in the Gulf of Carpentaria, where Zinifex, soon to merge with Oxiana, operates the Century Mine, the largest zinc and lead mine in Australia.

Mining the Isa will feature presentations from all the key established mining companies in the Mount Isa region, as well as sessions on issues such as accommodation and skills shortages.

The final conference in the Regional Mining Series, Mining South Australia, is to be held at the Middleback Theatre in Whyalla, on 2-4 December. It follows last year’s sold-out event.

The conference will cover infrastructure, energy and water requirements, skills shortages, accommodation and fly-in and fly-out issues.

As with the other Regional Mining Series conferences, Mining South Australia provides the ideal environment for networking and business development. Represented will be the State’s major mining and energy companies, explorers, equipment and service providers, engineering and professional firms, contractors, government representatives, analysts and financial institutions.

Regional Mining Series conferences held so far this year are Mining the South West in Busselton, WA; Resource Development in the North West & Kimberley in Broome; Mining Tasmania in Strahan Village and Mining North Queensland in Townsville.

Further information: James Stackhouse jstackhouse@iir.com.au; 02 9080 4043 or visit www.regionalminingevents.com.au

Nigel Dique
02 9080 4108
nigel.dique@informa.com.au