Skills shortage looms for extraction industries
Posted in: In the News: Thursday, 24 September 2009
Skills shortage looms for extraction industries
National Business Review - 24 September 2009
A skills-shortage is likely to hit the extraction industry hard if it picks up to the extent talked about, with Australia poaching our most skilled workers, industry leaders say.
New Zealand Minerals Association chief executive Doug Gordon said it had always been an issue for the industry, particularly in the precious metals area.
“What’s happened to date is that the high-level people get brought in to the country and that’s one option for continuance of expertise.
“It’s arguable whether we can do much more than that with such a small sub-sector.”
While the aggregates and coal areas were well catered for, New Zealand was competing with Australia for more skilled workers, he said.
In Australia, industry leaders have criticised their government’s $A2.1 billion Productivity Places training programme as not going far enough to address chronic shortages in the resources sector.
In July, the Western Australia Chamber of Minerals and Energy warned 26,000 workers were needed by 2013, with projects worth $A72 billion committed or planned for the region alone.
“They make no bones about it, they’ll poach our people here at the drop of a hat,” Mr Gordon said. “Often, they can offer higher salaries.”
He said government spending on infrastructure projects would ensure the aggregates and cement sub-sectors would climb.
“If India and China crank back up, coal and steel should be the flavour of the month as well and if gold holds up, that will be a goer too.”
Extractive Industries Training Organisation (Exito) chief executive Kevin Walker said the mining industry was likely to pick up on the back of the
Australian recovery, as it supplied similar markets, including China.
The organisation covers oil and gas, resource recovery, hydro and non-hydro drilling, the gold and coal industry and quarrying. Mr Walker said the resource recovery area was fairly new and lacked regulation.
West Coast Goldminers Association executive director John Wood said an upswing began late last year and gained momentum in March, when the price of gold hit $2,000 an ounce.
Mr Wood, who applies to Crown Minerals for mining permits on behalf of clients said he had never been busier. Land that had been marginally economic to mine was now being worked.
He said the recession had forced contractors with hydraulic excavators who were "cutting each others throats" for work when farming conversions and development dried up to look towards mining.
"Basically if you can drive a digger competently there's no excuse for being out of work on the West Coast."
Straterra chief executive Richard Michael said the industry was doing what it could to attract people into the industry, but the number of school leavers entering skilled training was in decline and the industry had to compete with other sectors.
Mr Michael said people went across the Tasman “all the time” in search of higher wages.
“But for some people, it’s a lifestyle choice between an Australian desert hell-hole or living in a place like Waihi, where you can spend more time with family.”