Skills shortage top priority for mining industry
Published Monday, 9 July 2012 at 5:08pm
The skills shortage has been identified as one of the biggest problems facing the mining industry.
A recent report has revealed that the skills shortage remains one of the biggest issues facing the mining and metal industries, both internationally and in Australia.
While metal and mining companies around the world identified resource nationalism as the number one risk, the skills shortage ranked in the number two spot for the second consecutive year.
The annual report from Ernst and Young released today (July 9) showed that the severe skills shortages evident in Canada and Australia were now experienced globally in Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mozambique and Mongolia.
With Australia experiencing a strong resurgence in mining project investment, the specialised workforce necessitated for the industry does not correlate with the current labour supply, the report revealed.
The shortage, especially evident in the resource-rich states of Western Australia and Queensland may present employment opportunities for those looking to train within the sector - including mining apprenticeships.
Figures from the Chamber of Minerals and Energy have revealed that Western Australia will require an additional 33,000 workers in the mining industry by the end of this year to keep up with current projects earmarked in the region and Queensland will need 62,000 by the end of 2015.
Other risks identified by the report included infrastructure access, maintaining a social licence to operate, fraud and corruption, cost management and price and currency volatility.
