Australians. The Western Australian resources sector is the single
largest employer of Indigenous employees.
Over the past decade, apprentices and trainees have grown
560%
in the Western Australian resources sector. The sector now
accounts for 9% of Western Australia’s apprentices and trainees,
which closely reflects the resource sector’s proportion of the
state’s employment.
Education and training initiatives, along with improving labour
mobility and increasing workforce diversity with more women and
more Indigenous Australians will all play their part in securing
the skilled workforce needed.
Nothing showcases the need
for a specialised, technical and
highly innovative workforce
more than the move to increased
automation on resources projects.
The
Resource
Industry
Training
Council
recently
examined what changes in
workforce structure and skill
requirements will be needed to
facilitate the effective adoption of
remote controlled and automated
systems in resources industry
operations. The advice provided
to industry was that increasing
automation will generally raise
skill levels across the sector.
Importantly, a premium will
be placed on soft skills such
as teamwork, communication
and negotiation in a central
operations context.
While it is anticipated that automation will see some reduction
in semi-skilled operator positions, wholesale job losses are
unlikely to occur. It is clear that other opportunities will exist
including automation technicians, mechatronic engineers and
optimisation managers. CME is also expecting to see the creation
of more multi-skilled roles where fault diagnosis, repair, testing
and commissioning will be undertaken by the same person.
The prospects for long-termand sustainable jobs in the resources
sector continue to be positive. With a focus on innovation, a career
in the resources sector has never been more exciting.
sands
The changing face of WA mining’s skill requirements
Sarah Hooper
Director
Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA
Tempting as it might be to paint the prospects of automated mine sites with the dark cloud of fear about job insecurity, the future
could well be a shock of pleasing proportions, with increased automation leading to higher demands for innovative, specialised skills.
To discuss the changing nature of the abilities WA’s evolving mining sector will likely demand of its workforce, and what implications
this has on training and development requirements, is the Chamber of Minerals and Energy’s Sarah Hooper.
Photo courtesy of Cameco
As the Western Australian resources sector moves from a
construction phase into production, securing a skilled workforce
remains a key challenge for many in the resources sector.
During the production phase the full economic benefits of
the resources sector are delivered to governments and the wider
community, through the delivery of royalties and taxes. Just as
importantly, this production or operations phase is when long-
term full-time skilled jobs are available in the industry.
In 2013, resources projects have become increasingly
specialised, technical and highly innovative. As a consequence,
the workforce has also become increasingly specialised,
technical and highly skilled. While we have seen some softening
of the labour market in recent months, the skills needed to
undertake work in the resources sector in the longer term will
move towards professional and operator roles in both production
and maintenance.
The resources sector is investing heavily in education
and training initiatives in order to ensure a future workforce
is equipped with the skills needed to operate on modern
resource projects.
Recent research undertaken by the industry showed that on
a national basis, the mining industry spends about 5.5% of its
payroll on training and employs about 11,000 apprentices and
trainees with 20% of these being women and 13% Indigenous
Minesite 2013
•
103