Deloitte Says Australia Will Have Mineworker Shortage by 2020

By Joel ScanlonJan 24 2011

The mining industry may face an acute shortage of manpower in the next few years as per a report from professional services organization Deloitte. The report said that the industry will need 58,000 more workers by 2020 to maintain the production levels that the industry has at present.

The growing shortage of workers will be made worse due to the floods as many mine workers will be needed to help in the clean up operation and will not be actively involved in production. Key skills will be in short supply before the present year is out in already existing mines.

Tim Richards the Australian mining leader for Deloitte said that it was really that middle core of good manager that were needed to keep these operations going and developing. There were a lot of people in mining that have been there for a long time and there were a lot at the young end that were attracted by the recent boom.

However there was a gap in the 30 to 50 old generation which was actually essential to the industry’s longevity. This is where the problem lies as measures such as training and fly in fly out workers would not be enough to meet the deficit. Gary Doran a Deloitte partner said that there would be issues with manpower and access to contractors.