PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (Amec) has warned that the Queensland government’s move to ban 100% fly-in, fly-out (Fifo) operations will affect both large and small miners.

The state government this week introduced legislation to Parliament aimed at preventing a full Fifo workforce in new large resource projects where nearby regional communities had a capable workforce.

The new legislation would also require large resource projects to consider locals for employment and ensure competitive local businesses have the opportunity to win contracts and be part of the project’s supply chain.

“It is an ongoing problem for smaller miners that poorly thought out legislation, aimed at one part of the mining industry, often has unintended consequences for the rest,” Amec regional manager Les Cox said.

Amec argued that while industry should support local and regional communities the Bill in its current form was unworkable.

Cox said the arbitrary definition of a regional community was too small and did not take into account variabilities in location, geography or even seasonal changes in population. 

“In some cases there simply may not be any workers with the requisite skills living in a small remote town or community of only 200.

“It also seems absurd that the Bill defines someone living even 50 m outside a town or community boundary as a Fifo worker. They may shop there every day, and their children may attend the local school, but under this new legislation they are no longer locals.”   

Cox said that Amec encouraged the employment of local workers wherever possible but in some cases this is just not practical owing to safety or other concerns. Flexibility for companies is essential. Employees also deserve a choice as to whether they wish to reside in a town or Fifo.

“Road travel in remote areas can be a high risk activity but this Bill will require that tired workers drive home rather than stay overnight in a well provisioned camp. The intent of the legislation may be fine but the application will need some fine tuning,” Cox said.