Australia’s mining industry is on track to open thousands of new skilled jobs within the next few years, from mining engineers to diesel fitters, as new projects get underway around the country.
Skilled migrants make up 1.24 per cent of the mineral workforce, filling roles the industry relies on most. Minerals Council of Australia chief executive officer (CEO) Tania Constable told ABC Pilbara Breakfast Show where that demand is heading.
“They are the engineers, they’re the trade professionals that we have, diesel mechanics, people that are experienced in data-driven occupations that we’re now seeing being rolled out across the Pilbara,” she said.
The Pilbara, in Western Australia’s north, is expanding iron ore output while gold and critical minerals projects move ahead further out. Demand for engineers, analysts and technicians is climbing as more sites bring in automation.
“We expect to see about 2,000 mining engineers and metallurgists, we need 3,000 production managers, almost 4,000 automation control and processing engineers, and more than 4,000 mechanical and diesel fitters that are going to be needed just in the next few years,” she said.
Australia’s universities and trade sector already train people for these jobs, though not in the numbers the industry needs.
“You can’t close off those skilled migration pathways and just focus on home growing them in Australia, you need to do a combination of both,” she said.
The changes she is calling for include faster visa processing, quicker recognition of overseas qualifications and workforce planning across mining, construction, defence and manufacturing, so those sectors are not chasing the same people. Keeping skilled workers in regional areas like the Pilbara matters as much, with projects there needing people on the ground.
Australia’s skilled migration system could take cues from how other countries run theirs.
“A country like Canada has increasingly used targeted draws for their in-demand occupations, which relate to data-driven occupations,” she said.