Gregory quit accounting in France to work in a WA gold mine — and the industry needs more like him (2024)

A year ago, Gregory Brungard was working as an accountant in the south of France.

Now the 28-year-old is driving trucks in outback Western Australia, becoming another foot soldier in the state's high-vis army of fly-in-fly-out workers.

"I just wanted to change my way of life … and get out from behind my desk," he said.

"I was in front of the computer all day long and wanted to do something else."

They say a change is as good as a holiday.

But it's hard work —12-hour shifts, two weeks at a time on a remote site, thena week off back in Perth.

"I'm living in Scarborough and when I'm home I go to the beach every day … FIFO is good," he said.

"I like this … I don't know how to say … the rhythm, cadence, it's work hard, play hard."

MrBrungard has spent the past two months working at the Jeffrey's Find gold mine, near Norseman in WA's Goldfields.

ASX-listed company Auric Mining owns Jeffrey's Find and has just shipped its first five gold bars to the Perth Mint for refining.

Managing director Mark English said this year's record-high Australian dollar gold price had been a "game changer" for smaller gold miners like Auric Mining, whichhas just 10 employees.

He said access to labour was undoubtedly the biggest challenge facing WA miners.

"Everybody knows we're stretched to the maximum on labour," he said.

"I think Western Australia is going to be in the boom times for the next five to 10 years, so I expect the labour issue to be really difficult for that period of time."

Labour crisis for industry

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA estimates there are nearly $150 billion worth of projects either underway or in the pipeline.

The state's resources sector employed144,029 workers during the 2020-21 financial year, an increase of 9 per cent from the previous year's average of 132,144 workers, according to the most recent data from the the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety.

Perth-based consultancy firm Pit Crew, which provides labour market forecasts to the mining sector,estimatedWA's mining industry could currently support 150,000 jobs, but there was a shortfall of about 28,000 workers.

The company's managing director, Peter Dyball, said he expecteddemand for labour to peakin late 2025, with about 182,000 jobs on offer and a forecast shortfall of 36,500 workers.

"We just can't get the people so projects are running over budget, over schedule, or starting later, so the market's sort of choking itself," he said.

The shortages will be most acute across highly skilled trades, such as boilermakers, welders, riggers and scaffoldersand heavy diesel mechanics.

Mr Dyball said there was also ashortageof more than 5,000 earthmoving equipment operatorsforecast for2025, with constraints on all occupations likely to continue until at least 2028.

"The expectation is demand will flatten off as some of these projects reach completion," he said.

"You've got to realise in three years' time, there will be a whole bunch of new projects on the market … we can't see over the horizon yet."

Battery metals taking over

Ongoing labour shortages are set to be a major talking point at this week's Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, with about 2,700 delegates expected to attend.

While traditionally the focus has been on gold, for the first time in its 32-year history, this year Diggers and Dealers will have more presenters in the battery metals space.

Diggers and Dealers chairman Jim Walker said just 27 gold companies wouldpresent at the three-day forum, out of 66 presenters.

"It's the first time in the history of Diggers and Dealers that battery metals presenters have surpassed gold presenters," Mr Walker said.

"This is the future of where mining's going to … we need battery metals to make the world a better place."

It comes after Resources Minister Madeleine King recently pointed to researchestimating the worldwould need50 new lithium mines, 60 new nickel mines and 17 new cobalt minesto meet global demand for electricity storage by 2030.

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