Drilling and mine recommissioning are accelerating across Queensland's North West Minerals Province, one of the world's most mineral-rich regions, holding an estimated $680 billion in resources. About 85 critical minerals projects are underway, alongside fresh exploration and the reopening of sites such as the Capricorn Copper Mine near Mount Isa and a major copper-silver mine that once employed around 400 people.
But the renewed activity is colliding with a chronic shortage of skilled workers. Aaron Colleran, chairman of AIC Mines, which recently secured a binding agreement to acquire the Mt Cuthbert copper project from Malaysian company Materra Metals, described employment as a major challenge. "It's not straightforward. We are having difficulty everywhere," Mr Colleran said. He said the company is very keen to have as large a percentage of local workers as possible but is struggling to find applicants even within the region, let alone for fly-in fly-out roles from Townsville and Brisbane.
At the Capricorn Copper Mine, 29Metals CEO James Palmer said the workforce has drawn heavily on north Queensland residents. "The workforce predominantly came from north Queensland, both north-west and Mount Isa, but we've got a lot of our current workforce from Cairns, Townsville and Brisbane," Mr Palmer said. "A lot of the local community benefit directly, through those jobs as well as the spending."
The skills shortage is not confined to individual companies. Karina Lee Jones, director of workforce strategy and capability at the Queensland Resources Council, said the problem is national and has built up over about five years. A key factor, she said, is competition from major public infrastructure projects in southeast Queensland, including preparations for the Olympic Games. "It's been impacting the industry … particularly for the last five years or so and we saw a drop-off of young people, particularly going into the trades and into certain mining-related careers," Ms Lee Jones said.
She identified the largest shortages as mining engineers, geologists, electricians and mechanical engineers, and called for a stronger apprenticeship pipeline in trades such as electrical, diesel fitting, mechanical, auto electrical and boiler making. "We need to be telling a really good story about what the opportunities are to relocate to these regional locations or to the FIFO camps, if that's the option that is available to them," she said.
The Australian Resources and Energy Employer Association has projected that the mining industry will need 24,000 new workers by 2027 to sustain projects across the country. Without action to boost recruitment and training, industry figures warn that the development of critically needed minerals could slow.