100,000 mining jobs in 5 years

100,000 mining jobs in 5 years

mining-boom-not-over-haul-truck-ion-ore-mine-iMINCO

Mining and Resource Sector set for jobs bonanza

Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan has declared a further 100,000 mining and resource sector jobs will be created over the next five years as the industry matures.

After a week in which Resources Minister Martin Ferguson announced to the world the Australian mining boom was over, Wayne Swan said there wasn’t just one mining boom but three.

“The mining boom is perhaps better understood as a series of booms — a boom in prices, a boom in investment and a boom in exports,” the Treasurer said.

“While the price boom has passed its peak, the mining investment boom still has along way to go. As the investment phase winds down, the export phase would ramp up, he said.

Workplace Minister Bill Shorten (Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations & Minister for Financial Services & Superannuation) said that while commodity prices were easing off, his department had projected a mining jobs boom in the years to come as export volumes increased. He also goes on record as stating that the did not think the contribution that mining is going to make in terms jobs creation and economic output for Australia has peaked.

His department is projecting that there’ll be another 100,000 jobs created in mining over the next five years.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson yesterday said the mining boom was “not even half way through“.

“What we are seeing is prices come off a bit from very high levels, but we still have more than half the investment to go and we’ve got the production to come on stream so that is very good news for Australians,” Dr Emerson said.

Treasurer Swan said $90 billion of the $260bn in committed mining industry investment had occurred in the past 12 months and mining companies were continuing to confidently invest in the sector. He accused the opposition of undermining investor confidence by acting as though the mining and resource sector has suddenly run dry. This is not only false, it is also irresponsible behaviour.

NATIONAL Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne also says he sees no signs of the mining investment boom petering out as commodity prices cool.

There will be a lot of mining jobs being advertised in the near future as more and more of the $260 billion projects already started or are about to start kick in. Construction will be where the mining jobs will be plentiful, with the majority being FIFO owing to the remoteness of the mining operations.