Booming mining's no longer the pits
"From the pits of Australia to the coalfields of Wyoming, mining companies like Rio Tinto are hunting for people to address a dire shortage of workers. A decade ago, with prices slumping, the sense of mining as a sunset industry left it with a workforce with grey hair. But these days, the industry is struggling to meet burgeoning global demand for iron, copper, and other key commodities....
The Minerals Council of Australia, in a recent report, estimated that by 2015 Australia alone would need 70,000 employees on top of the 120,000 it has now to keep up the demand.... Mining recruiters say that industry salaries have climbed 20 per cent in the last two years. Yet mines are so short of workers that projects are being delayed as production costs rise."
SMH, Wayne Arnold and Heather Timmons, 03/02/07, p6

Women's pay lags as men mine the boom
"The total earnings of a typical male working full-time in the mining industry have risen to just under $100,000 a year, about $12,500 more than those of men in the next best-paid sector, finance and insurance...
A miner now earns nearly $20,000 more than the average finance and insurance worker and more than $30,000 above the national average if only ordinary-time earnings are counted."
SMH, Matt Wade, 23/2/07, p6

Special Report: engineering & mining
"The 2007 Australian mining sector story reads like the happy ending in a fairytale. After years of slogging it out underground in remote areas of the country, they are the kings of the world and leaders in safety standards and technological developments...
The resources boom is being driven by China and India, says Professor Bruce Hebblewhite, head of the school of mining engineering at the University of NSW. It's a demand unlike we've seen before. Undergraduates in their final year are, by April, already tossing up between three or more job offers. Salaries are sky high because there just aren't enough engineers to fill the jobs...
Sandy Tickell went into mining engineering because she thought it might provide some great opportunities ...I hadn't really thought about how diverse a profession it was, Tickell says. When I was studying you really focus on the one aspect of mining engineering. Now I see how many areas you are responsible for: from looking at safety and processes to working with teams of people...."
SMH, Margie Sheedy, 10/02/07, p8-13

Another record year ahead for mines
"The executive director of Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resources Economics, Phillip Glyde, said the outlook for commodity prices remained strong for the next financial year, reflecting robust world demand and modest supply increases.
...new capital spending in the mining industry jumped 76 per cent this year to $18.1 billion. This was double the average value for the past 25 years.
...exploration expenditure rose by 21 per cent to $2.5 billion, its highest since 1998.
There were a record 24 major mineral and energy projects - with a combined value of $5.8 billion - completed in the six months to the end of October...another 60 projects were scheduled for completion in the 14 months to the end of 2007.
'The record number and value of minerals and energy projects committed to, or under construction, bode well for the sector's growth over the next few years', it said.
'Over the medium term, there is evidence to suggest that there is potential for continued high levels of resource sector capital investment.'"
AFR, Angus Grigg, 19/12/06, p4

Resources boom a tax goldmine
"When asked whether the commodities boom had peaked, Mr Hooke (CEO of Minerals Council of Australia) quoted Mark Twain's line the 'reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.' He said that he had spoken to the Treasurer, Peter Costello, about his comments to the Herald that commodity prices had peaked.
'He said that he thought that prices had peaked, which is quite different from saying that the boom is over,' Mr Hooke said.
While prices may plateau, Mr Hooke remained optimistic about the underlying drivers of the boom. Rapid growth in the industrialising nations of China and India would continue to power demand for commodities, while capacity constraints would moderate supply."
SMH, Jessica Irvine, 14/12/06, p2

Four of our unis rank in top 50
Australian universities have a world-class approach to the high-demand disciplines of science, medicine and engineering, according to a new ranking that places four of the nation's institutions in the international top 50.
As debate continues about Australia's lack of elite universities, the latest Melbourne Institute ranking reveals some institutions have cracked the upper echelons of tertiary education, beating overseas competitors.
Engineering is the stand-out in the rankings that focus on disciplines and are research- focused, with the University of NSW the best performer in Australia.
The Australian, Dorothy Illing, 29/11/06, Higher Education Supplement,p1

Bid for talent favours employees
"The growth of the economy over the past decade caught the nation out, putting it simply. Even more, the resources sector is undergoing a structural change to meet the global demand for minerals, not just a cyclical swing. We expect an aggregate level of growth of 50% for the resources sector over the next decade, so you can see how strong the demand for skilled people is, and how strong it will continue to be." say Chris Fraser of the Minerals Council of Australia.
John Downing of of Downing Teal said "In the 1980's and 1990's, the mining industry had poor appeal among young people, and that lead to a reduction in the number of people going into university places."
"Fraser pointed out that the industry foresaw the shortage of skilled professional people several years ago, and has built links with academic institutions [including UNSW Mining Engineering] to improve the quality and quantity of graduates, mainly through the Minerals Tertiary Education Council...We still don't have enough tertiary-educated people, but at least we are on the way to addressing the problem."
The shortage of skilled people at every level has led to sky-high remuneration packages.
Weekend Australian, Derek Parker, 29/7/06, p38

Mining jobs no longer the pits
Faced with critical shortages of professionals and trades people, the Australian mining industry wants to shrug off the image of blokes getting dirty in dangerous, far-flung places..."What we're trying to do is counter the perception that it's a blokey industry with old technology, and dirty" says Reg Howard of the WA Chamber of Minerals & Energy. "It's quite the reverse."
The Australian mining industry has communicated that it needs about 150 mining engineers to fill vacancies. Last year there was a total of just 32 graduates across the country. The situation is bringing universities and the private sector closer together in the hope of finding practical solutions.
Naturally, the money being offered is going up in line with commodity prices. But the difference between the industry today and even five years ago is that companies now realise they need to offer more than money if they are to attract good people...this involves careers and skills development.
"Mining is very much a global industry these days...There's a lot more opportunities to travel today than there used to be" says NSW Minerals Council David Hodgkinson.
AFR, David Binning, 30/6/06 p81

Unearthed treasures
"With the rewards come dangers, as the recent tragedy in Beaconsfield showed. But mining remains an attractive proposition for those seeking fortune and adventure.
...students in the mining engineering program at the University of NSW now receive multiple job offers, months before graduation. Last year, the average starting salary for these graduates was $82,000 a year.
...fly-in/fly-out rosters for professionals who choose to live in Perth. "
SMH, 20/5/06, Careers Section p7

Mining engineer graduates strike it rich
"Mining engineers fresh out of university are earning as much as 60% more than graduates hired by investment banks...
Newly qualified mining engineers are earning as much as $130,000 a year, the Minerals Council of Australia says.
Last year, 110 mining engineers graduated from six colleges in Australia, compared with 205 four years earlier... demand is to 160-plus...
A salary package of about $100,000 for holders of a four-year bachelor of mining engineering degree entering the workforce 'is not unexpected'.... Remote locations bring more.
The compensation for mining engineers is twice that of new doctors and more than three times the $29,000 that pharmacy graduates get in their first year...
Ten or 12 years ago, engineering wasn't seen as an overly attractive degree. It's a tough degree. It requires high-end mathematics and physics."
The Australian, 5/10/05, p38

Crying out long and loud for new mining engineers
"'Australia needs more mining engineers, mining needs more mining engineers. What the Mining Education Australia course will do is pool the country's resources to deliver a really high-quality product'
Conservative estimates suggest Australia needs about 160 mining engineers a year to satisfy vacancy rates. There has been a significant shortfall in the number of mining engineer graduates in recent years and there is no better guide as to how many are needed than from a quick perusal of the positions vacant notices in national newspapers.
A mining engineer graduate could expect to earn anything between $75,000 and $90,000 on completion of the course. The cream can start dreaming of six-figure pay packets"
The Weekend Australian, 20/8/05, supplement on Resources Boom p3

Lack of qualified workers strains mining companies
"The world's mining sector faces a critical labor shortage...
...expansion is being slowed by a lack of qualified workers..
...mines are short of everything from truck operators to explosives experts to highly trained mining engineers.
Shortages are particularly acute here in minerals-rich Australia, a major mining center...
Many mining jobs today require far more skill and training than they did a decade or more ago in part because mines are more technologically advanced. Instead of relying on low-skilled workers to extract the minerals, most mines now require employees who can operate highly technical machinery, some of which is guided by remote control from computerized command centers above ground.
Those who specialize in mining are being aggressively pursued, and are having higher salaries and signing bonuses dangled before them."
The Wall Street Journal, 18/8/05, p1 & 7

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