Kelly Slattery (left) and Robert Boona at Citic Pacific Mining’s Sino Iron project in the Pilbara.

An emerging iron ore producer is taking a results-based approach to its indigenous recruitment efforts. By Noel Dyson.

Everything about Citic Pacific Mining’s Sino Iron project is big, be it the biggest in the world trucks and shovels working the ore or the 450MW power station under construction. Unfortunately, so too are the problems facing many of the Aboriginal people living near the mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara. Poor education and health standards, social problems, substance abuse issues, unemployment, the list goes on.

Not surprisingly, a number of the mining companies operating in the region have wrestled with the problems facing Aboriginals. Many have employment programs aimed at getting as many indigenous workers as possible. This is not just a social solution either. It can be in the miners’ interests because having a local workforce can be a lot cheaper than relying on fly-in, fly-out staff.

Surprisingly, there does not seem to be any coordinated approach by the mining companies to deal with indigenous issues near their sites. Perhaps that is due to the specific demands of the communities near each minesite. Perhaps it is driven by commercial constraints. Perhaps it is due to differing corporate philosophies. Whatever the reason, it seems, at least to an outsider, to be an oversight.

That aside, CPM has taken what it calls a results-based approach to its indigenous employment efforts. A key to its program is the employment of three mentors to help guide indigenous employees. It is a two-way street, as acting chief operating officer Andrew Thompson explains.

“The mentors help indigenous people adapt but they also help European people to understand what their [indigenous people’s] needs are,” he said. “We also get a better understanding of the land.”

CPM does have an indigenous employment quota. That is part of the Indigenous Land Use Agreements it signed with the three local claimant groups. Thompson said what CPM had already done had surpassed those. Of the 200 permanent employees onsite, 40 are Aboriginal.

However, the company also realised there were community benefits in taking a proactive approach to the issue.

“We must involve the traditional owners,” Thompson said. “Traditional owners, as employees, are involved in how we interact with the land.”

One of the first companies appointed to develop the project was Central Mining and Contracting, an indigenous business run by Charlie Smith. Not only is the business run and staffed by indigenous people, it is also based in the region.

Thompson said CPM was focused on making sure it would provide a lasting benefit to the communities.

He also realises the issues being faced by a number of indigenous employees need to be met. Drivers’ licences, or the lack thereof, are a big issue. A lack of formal qualifications is another problem.

“We’re starting a job readiness program,” Thompson said. “In the Pilbara people who are job ready have a lot more opportunities.

“We’re taking people who may have a range of social problems to give them skills to get them away from drugs and alcohol. We’re working with Roebourne TAFE.”

Thompson said CPM was also discussing an early release program with Roebourne Prison, a jail largely inhabited by Aboriginal prisoners.

One thing CPM believes sets its indigenous employment program apart from others is the diversity it offers. Not everyone entering the company will be pressed into mining.

Robert Boona, for example, is one of the heritage rangers the mining company has employed. He is a member of the Wangatu Group, one of the traditional owners of the land that CPM is mining.

“I’ve been working here for 14 months now,” Boona said.

This is not his first foray into the heritage area. He spent the past eight years working as a heritage consultant all around his group’s claimant area.

Kelly Slattery has been employed as an Aboriginal liaison officer.

“Once you’re employed out here you have opportunities to get skilled up and move to other areas,” she said.
Slattery has seen first-hand the problems that beset some Aboriginal people in the region. She has had to drive some employees to medical appointments because they do not have drivers’ licences of their own.

“CP has cut out a lot of the issues that stop Aboriginal people from getting employment, be it a lack of a licence or a substance abuse,” Slattery said.

She said the benefit of the CPM approach was the variety of opportunities for employees.

Heritage and administrative roles aside, CPM also owns the lease over Mardi Station, so employees can opt to take a turn at cattle wrangling if that suits. Just because they are employed by a mining company does not mean they will be constrained to a life of driving trucks.