direction

old article but Im sure some may not have seen it.

(Borrowed and reposted from rookie101 thanks over at bnd.asx thread)


/.1000 new coal jobs
Tuesday 05 August 2014 | (0)


SOMETIME in the next six to 12 months, the first of around 1000 new coal mining jobs will be advertised in Central Queensland.
Expanding coal miner Cockatoo Coal says it’ll be looking for a construction workforce of around 400 by mid next year and Bandanna Energy expects to advertise for 550 people not long after that.
The forecasts might seem premature given the current state of the coal market, but they speak to the realistic lead times required to expand or build a mine.
Since both these companies are looking to sell coal at higher prices around 2016, the start time for their respective projects is closer than many think.
“From a capital and from an approvals point of view, we are on track with where we want to be to increase our tonnage to three and half million tonnes,” Cockatoo’s chief development officer Todd Harrington said.
“On the human resources side of things, we have 130 odd people at the mine now, and we expect to increase that to around 400 by the start of 2016.
“We have a very defined strategy about local employment and - dare I say it - about workforce diversity.
“We have only got a handful of people now who are FIFO, nearly all our employees are local or drive in drive out, which is something we are very proud of and would like to maintain in the future.”
Further west, and Bandanna Energy is in discussions with primary construction contractors for the development of the Springsure Creek project - one of the few new mines proposed for Central Queensland.
Managing director Michael Gray said the project had reached key milestones.
“There are 12 directly affected landholders in our transport corridor, we have nine of those landholder compensation agreements executed, and there are a further two that we have reached terms with, so there is really only one landholder yet to be finalised,” he said.
“There are really substantial regional benefits associated with this project, we will spend about $160 million, and are looking at workforces of more than 500 people in construction, and about 400 longer term full time jobs.
“We are progressing through the approvals process, and now we are finalising our procurement and engineering activities, it’s our target to have front end finalised by the middle of next year and first coal in early 2016.”