The big growth in WA’s iron ore industry means it accounts for more than half of all jobs in the state’s mining sector.
The big growth in WA’s iron ore industry means it accounts for more than half of all jobs in the state’s mining sector.
Employment in Western Australia’s mining sector jumped 6.5 per cent last year to a record 105,974 jobs, according to newly released data compiled by the Department of Mines and Petroleum.
The growth was almost entirely accounted for by the iron ore industry, which lifted employment by 29 per cent to 55,323 jobs.
The next largest sector was gold mining, which employed 20,541 people.
That’s a big shift from 10 years ago, when the gold mining industry (with 13,398 jobs at the time) employed more people than iron ore mining.
The decade since then has witnessed massive expansion programs by iron ore leaders Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton and the emergence of new players such as Fortescue Metals Group, CITIC Pacific, Karara Mining, Mount Gibson Iron and BC Iron.
Rio Tinto is the sector’s biggest player, with an average 17,985 people working on its mines, rail and port operations during 2013, according to the DMP data.
This includes Rio employees involved in core mining and ore handing activities, which total about 12,600, according to Business News 2013 Biggest Employers survey.
The balance includes contractors involved in construction, catering and other ancillary activities.
The number two player was BHP with an average 16,747 people on its projects – compared with its core staff of 12,088.
FMG, which largely completed its expansion projects late last year, was third with an average 12,454 people working on its operations.
The completion of expansion projects, combined with the big miners’ newfound focus on cost cutting and efficiency, means overall employment in the sector is likely to decline during 2014.
An offsetting factor will be the growing employment on the Roy Hill project, which will have a peak workforce of about 3,000 during construction.
Apart from iron ore, the only other sector to achieve increased employment last year was mineral sands, which had a small rise to 2,399 jobs.
Within that total, Doral and Tronox increased employment, offsetting a decline at Iluka Resources’ WA operations.
Other sectors experienced a fall in employment last year including nickel, alumina and gold, which was coming off an all-time high in 2012.
Alcoa remains one of the mining sector’s biggest employers, with 4,884 people working on its two bauxite mines and thee alumina refineries, according to the DMP data.
The DMP data contrasts with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ labour force survey, which includes workers in oil & gas extraction in its mining data but excludes people in alumina refining and LNG production, as they are treated as manufacturing workers.
The ABS estimated total employment in WA mining during 2013 to be 109,500.
