Xstrata Copper has concerns over finding skilled workers in Queensland given the high volume of mining activity taking place in the state and in Western Australia.
The officials at Xstrata Copper feel that finding enough skilled workers in the region will present a big challenge in the future as new mining projects come online.
The spokesman for the company Steve de Kruijff said that a lot of new projects in the Western Australia region will challenge what'll happen on the east coast of Australia. Xstrata spokesman Steve de Kruijff also said that there are major liquefied natural gas or LNG projects in central and southern Queensland which are set to generate hundreds of jobs.
The company plans to ship magnetite to Asia beginning next year from its Ernest Henry mine in Cloncurry which lies east of Mount Isa. Since the companies are always competing for operations people Xstrata feels that it will find it tough to get skilled mining workers when it starts the project.
Headquartered in Brisbane, Xstrata Copper is one of the commodity business units within the major global diversified mining group Xstrata plc. Its mining and metallurgical operations and development projects span eight countries: Australia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Canada, the USA, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.