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Australian Mining 20 August, 2012 Andrew Duffy

Labour specialist Cape Australia has plans to import 2062 foreign tradespeople to fill empty mining jobs in Western Australia.
The Sunday Times reports most of the international talent will fill roles on the North West Shelf, where Chevron is developing large natural gas projects.

The Sunday Times reports BHP Billiton, Fortescue Metals Group, and Rio Tinto are also expected to make use of the labour.

Cape's plan is the latest in a growing trend of companies looking overseas to fill empty resources jobs.

Officials from the Immigration Department told The Sunday Times Cape's plan for 2062 workers was "much greater than any previous labour agreement submission the Department has received".

While the application has not yet received Government approval the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union said it "ought to be rejected out of hand".

The CFMEU has previously led protests against the use of enterprise migration agreements in the mining industry, and has targeted Chevron and Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill project for using foreign workers.

Australian Mining has reached out to BHP and Rio about their plans to use Cape's international labour, and we'll update the story as responses come through.

14 August 2012

An Australian MP has called for an increase in the number of temporary migration permits issued to skilled migrants. Andrew Leigh, a member of the ruling Labor Party said there was a shortage of Australians with the expertise to fill job vacancies created by the country's natural resources boom.

Writing in The Brisbane Times, Mr Leigh said that the resources boom had created great stresses in the Australian economy. There were massive projects such as Anglo American's mining project at Moranbah, Queensland and the Gorgon natural gas project sited off the coast of Western Australia which would cost $43bn to develop. The size of these projects had led to a shortage of Australians with the necessary skills to fill the available positions. The problem facing the country was how to ensure that there were sufficient skilled workers to complete projects on time without displacing the local work force.

Mr Leigh's article, published on August 8th, said that the Australian government could solve this crisis by issuing more temporary work visas to applicants with the required skills. The visas, known as 457 visas, allow migrants to stay and work in the country for up to four years. Mr Leigh said that the granting of these visas could be linked to a commitment to train local people under the Enterprise Migration Agreements scheme. This, he said, would ensure that local people benefitted from the boom even though some jobs went to migrants. It would also ensure that major projects were completed on time. He said that it was not a question of 'foreigners versus locals'. 'If a resource project cannot get off the ground without 1700 temporary overseas workers, then the jobs of the 6,000 Australians who will work on that project depend on overseas migration' he said.

He added that there would also be significant benefits to developing nations if their nationals worked in Australia on resources projects using 457 visas. He cited the research of Harvard economist Dani Rodrick who claims that guest-worker programmes are as important for helping people in low income countries as trade and aid, to say nothing of the transfer of vital skills.

Mr Leigh insisted that the benefits of the resources boom must be spread to the next generation of Australians. There would be plenty of opportunities for Australians to train in the mining industry as Australia moved from a high cost to a high volume mining economy. He said that the impact of the resources boom on housing, employment, taxation and migration were inescapable. He said that the correct policy decisions now would ensure that the benefits of the boom were spread to every corner of Australia.
 
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September 12, 2012 By Mark
               
Australia is set to become one of the largest producers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the world, if it can find and maintain enough skilled workers to man the projects.

There are seven large-scale LNG projects currently being constructed in Australia and as the world moves away from coal as its largest source of electricity generation, the more efficient and abundant LNG is set to become one of the largest contributors to the world’s energy supply.
Qatar [many o/s Pinoys there] is currently the largest exporter of LNG in the world but with its improving infrastructure and expanding mining and construction industries, Australia is in prime position to dominate the industry in years to come.
The Australian ‘Mining Boom’
Australia has benefitted greatly in recent years from its mining and construction booms but has been consistently hindered by its lack of manpower. As a result, several mining conglomerates have turned to importing foreign skilled labour to make up numbers; just half of all engineers on mining projects in Australia are locally born.
A report released by the Economist Intelligence Unit predicted Australia’s rise to the forefront of the LNG industry but the report’s author, Peter Kiernan, warned that Australia would have to find ways to deal with unavoidable issues, particularly the location of the majority of Australia’s natural resources.
“Australia could even displace Qatar as the number one LNG exporter by 2020, at the very least, Australia will surpass major LNG exporters such as Indonesia and Malaysia in terms of total liquefaction [production] capacity,” read the report.
“Many of the LNG fields, especially those sited in Western Australia, are in locations so remote that accommodation and facilities for the employees have to actually be built from scratch,” said Mr Kiernan.
“For the offshore LNG projects, the companies have to spend massive amounts on transporting their employees onto and off the production platforms.”
Enterprise Migration Agreements
The prospect of understaffing leading to hindered progress is not new and the Australian government have already taken steps to allow Australian immigration to ease the worsening shortages; mining magnate Gina Rinehart was granted the first Enterprise Migration Agreement earlier this year which allowed her to bring in over 1,700 foreign workers to augment the workforce on her multi-billion dollar Roy Hills iron ore project.
And if predictions are true, similar agreements will be needed to ensure the progress of the burgeoning LNG industry.
A presentation made by Keith Spence of the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency last month said that the 200 process operators employed on current LNG projects will need to be boosted to over 1,500 by 2017.
Any further growth in the LNG industry is likely to trigger movement between mining industries in Australia but with another report from GE Australia claiming the entire country is short 1,700 engineers and over 3,000 geoscientists, Australia is going to have to look to foreign shores to obtain the manpower it needs.
Leonie Cotton, casework manager at the Australian Visa Bureau, says potential migrants stand to benefit from opportunities within the new LNG industry:
“There are excellent options for people with experience in LNG to migrate to Australia on a range of industries and it’s exciting to see that these types of new projects open up further opportunities for those within the civil engineering and construction industries to build the supporting infrastructure.”

Thanks to the Visa bureau http://www.visabureau.com/  who helped contribute towards this article.

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To read more, click http://www.gettingdownunder.com/australia-mining-jobs-fresh-opportunity-for-skilled-workers-in-lng-industry/