Mining jobs supposedly ‘in demand’ – even though the industry’s ‘winding down’

[connaust]

Mining employment from Backpacker Trade News Australia: A report on the Australian Mining website has suggested that mining jobs are experiencing a boom in in Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland, with plenty of roles available. According to the report, engineers, electricians and safety professionals are expected to be in demand until later on this year....

 

 

 

.... However, when we spoke to Australian Mining a few weeks ago, they suggested that the industry was ‘slowing down’.

[VERYSTORMY]

The Hays report is well known crap. They produce it every year and every year everyone laughs at it. It takes them almost a year to produce. And then they are looking at data for the privious 12 months. So, by the time it comes out, it is almost 2 years out of date.

 

To get a better snapnshot, look at infomine.com during the boom there was between 2000 to 3000 vacancies in Oz for geologists. There are currently 46.

[flybyknight]

the boy Hunt with the party line, and a little clarity about the prices.

 

if this mine is funded by the tax payer (well any more than usual see... http://paidtopollute.org.au/ptp-fossil-fuel-subsidies) it will likely be a moneypit. (hey see what i did there!)

 

When the new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected to power recently, he vowed to bring electricity to the 300 million plus people in India who don’t have power by 2020.

And he promised to do this not with coal, but with solar. Why? Because it’s the only way he thinks it is possible. India is looking beyond the high costs of coal-fired generation and the old centralized model, and the massive investment in grid infrastructure that that entails, to new technologies that offer cheaper and simpler alternatives, such as solar and distributed generation.

As Tim Buckley, from the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, explains, delivering coal power to the rural poor would require them to pay prices they simply couldn’t afford.

Adani, the developers of the Carmichael deposit, need a wholesale power price of around Rs5-6/kWh to break even in Australia before funding and then make money in the downstream Indian power generation. This is double the current wholesale power price in India of Rs3/kWh.

But Adani also needs to also make a return on his proposed $10 billion investment in Australia. To do that, it needs an energy adjusted thermal coal price of US$100/t fob (free on board). The current price is around $US70/tonne.

At a price of US$100/t Adani would need an electricity price of over Rs7/kWh back in India. But in India, a solar plant to deliver power in can be built for Rs5.50/kWh today – with zero inflation or currency risk for the next 25 years.

 

from :- http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/greg-hunt-the-extreme-left-is-against-electricity-44297

[Eera]

We do the testing on the rock core from exploration holes - the mine engineers basically need to know deformation parameters of the rock so they can design the longwall panels. We see what's happening in the QLD coal industry about a year before it filters through to the general market because if they're not doing exploration, they don't have any production further down the line.

 

About 3 years ago we saw rock testing dry up, a year later the slowdown hit. It's been slow until about four months ago when the amount of core coming through absolutely exploded tenfold and right now we can't keep up with demand.

 

There is certainly a ramp-up going to happen, I'd say in about a year to 18 months as they won't schedule anything big while the wet season is on. That report won't reflect this though.

[VERYSTORMY]

Not what I am seeing here with exploration (or mining). I know a heck of a lot of exploration guys in Oz. It tends to be a bit close knit. All bar one of the exploration geo's I know are out if work. The one in work is in coal for one of the large consultancies and he reported this week he is close to losing his job - his office has shed over two thirds of staff recently and are getting ready for more.

 

I was at a presentation this week for a change of career. The presenters mentioned they are being inundated with unemployed mining staff.

 

I know of several projects that let significant numbers of people go in the last week alone.

[Chortlepuss]

Know quite a few people who worked IT contracting for mining companies in Brisbane. V lucrative too, whilst it lasted. All now moved on to banking or government (well someone has to do the work now Newman's sacked so many). These people have great experience, contacts - but limited opportunities in the sector

[Eera]

Not what I am seeing here with exploration (or mining). I know a heck of a lot of exploration guys in Oz. It tends to be a bit close knit. All bar one of the exploration geo's I know are out if work. The one in work is in coal for one of the large consultancies and he reported this week he is close to losing his job - his office has shed over two thirds of staff recently and are getting ready for more.

 

I was at a presentation this week for a change of career. The presenters mentioned they are being inundated with unemployed mining staff.

 

I know of several projects that let significant numbers of people go in the last week alone.

 

There is a massive difference between exploration for resource and borehole drilling for design - that's what we do. I agree, there's not much happening in resource but the geotech we do shows that there are moves to start advancing longwall panels again which turns directly into production. When you get to that point exploration proper has been over and done with for many years.

 

We saw the exact same thing happen in the early 90'2, and in the early 80's. I'm also getting inquiries about rock testing from people running purely speculative drilling programs right now. It's not going to reach the boom times like it did anytime soon but we see the results of investors taking advantage of the current low meterage rates in the form of the core boxes piled up outside our door.

 

The geotechnical and mine design people are also close knit and they are positive about the near future; you don't start investing in new access roads, adding new reclaim/breaker stations or even start the final design phase on brand new mines (all things I've personally been involved in within the last four months) if it's looking all bad.

[flybyknight]

here's an indication of what coal is worth now....

the sale of the 2000MW Liddell coal power plant for the grand sum of..... $0.

assett in freefall anyone? i can see why the government is rushing to sell or burn every last lump of coal. wow!

 

 

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/the-2000mw-coal-generator-the-nsw-government-sold-for-0-59474

[Goochie]

We supply vehicle mounted equipment to all of the big mining companies.

 

What we've been seeing over the last 12 months is that they're focussing on maintaining what they already have rather than buying new. Truck dealers are struggling to sell anything but maintenance people are doing OK. Back in the boom times we'd have trucks roll into the yard for work and we wouldnt even know who it was for until a few days later because people were too busy to tell us it was coming. Now we have to negotiate on the price of everything.

 

The people spending the money at the big firms now have to be accountable for every dollar they spend and that has resulted in a lot of costs being squeezed to the bone. There has also been a shift to leasing vehicles rather than purchasing them - This keeps the costs associated with an individual lower so they look better to the boss!

 

I dont think it will be long until we see a "price correction" in the Perth housing market due to the mining downturn.