This weekend at the Queensland Training Awards in Townsville, two Xstrata apprentices were recognized for their dedication and hard work, reports The North West Star.

First year Metalliferous Mining Operations apprentice Kieran Punch was awarded the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student of the year award for his dedication in the Xstrata Skills Centre. Colin Phillips was a finalist in the Apprentice of the Year award after completing his apprenticeship in 2010 in Electrotechnology Systems. He was a finalist because of his passion for his trade working as an underground electrician in Copper Mine Maintenance at Xstrata.

This one-day Snowden workshop on December 5, 2011, covers where and how geostatistics fits into mining, assumptions and data integrity, tools for analysis, variography, method of estimation and simulation.

Each aspect is examined using presentations, practical exercises and activities. This is an excellent course for managers, miners, engineers and geologists needing a refresher course in geostatistics.

Industries suffering from skills shortages in Australia (mining and minerals processing, utilities, communications, construction, manufacturing, tourism and hospitality) are being supported by employment agencies, moving to offer the training required to close the gap, reports The Gympie Times.

The current skill shortages are due to a persistent decline in the apprenticeship training rate and a sustained high level of output for most of the last decade across the industries that employ a high proportion of tradespeople, says Dr Phil Toner, senior researcher for the Australian Expert Group in Industry Studies. Dr Towner said the reduced training rate was caused by changes in the economy over the past two decades, including changes in demographics, school retention rates, privatisation and corporatisation of public utilities, and outsourcing. With state and federal funding, agencies like Employment Services Queensland are upskilling the unemployed to reverse this trend.

Health and safety is a central issue in the South African mining industry. Hi-Tech Security Solutions Journal reports that on September 7th, as a part of the OSH Expo Africa, Lexis Nexis Compliance will be presenting Mine and Occupational Health & Safety Seminar in response to recent government scrutiny in relation to safety issues.

“The seminar will inform industry professionals of exactly where they stand in terms of the law. It is a must-attend event for all key players in mining and related industries,” says Ross Cullingworth, director, sales and marketing at Montgomery Africa. “Furthermore Lexis Nexis Compliance is a well-known leader in occupational health and safety, offering a range of professional services and products, and we are delighted that they are partnering with us at this event.”

Palladium Investing News has announced that on July 21st, North American Palladium (NAP) will be hosting an investor seminar in Toronto. The seminar will also be webcast live on NAP's website.

The seminar will aim to provide investors with a better understanding of the significant exploration upside at LDI, addressing the uniqueness of the deposit, an overview of the Company’s past and current exploration targets, a discussion about the potential of the recent discoveries and other targets on the property, and how the recent exploration success ties into the mine expansion. In addition, Revelation Geoscience, a leading independent consultancy that has reviewed NAP’s exploration records, will provide insight on the highly prospective LDI property within a global context by comparing it to other PGM deposits.

On Wednesday, August 3rd, BNA will be holding an EHS webinar on using mentoring and mobile technologies to improve safety training and compliance.

The philosophy and methods of eliminating non-valued activities and improving performance, referred to in the business world as “lean,” is used extensively in manufacturing, software development, and other applications with great success. The lean principles also can be applied to training and knowledge sharing in a variety of settings, including safety training professionals. In this 90-minute Webinar, Todd Hudson, president of Maverick Institute, will discuss unique approaches and experiences applying lean principles to improve safety training, compliance, and performance in manufacturing and mining environments.

Recruiters in Western Australia are seeing a steady flow of people heading into the state in search of lucrative jobs in the mining industry, but they need to be realistic about the salaries they can receive and the training they need, Perth Now reports.

Recruitment agencies told The Sunday Times that highly skilled positions, such as heavy diesel fitters, drillers and boilermakers, were in shortest supply and workers with experience in most areas of the resources industry were highly sought after. Hays regional director Simon Winfield said people often thought they could get jobs on mines without any qualifications and were "misguided" about salaries.

In a graduation ceremony on June 23, eight First Nations people graduated from a new program sponsored by Dumas Mining, Wabun Tribal Council, the Matachewan Aboriginal Access to mining jobs Training Strategy (MAATS) and Goldcorp Inc. All are guaranteed employment, reports Wawatay News Online.

“On behalf of the graduates, we want to thank Wabun and our respective communities for the support and encouragement you have provided over the course of this training. We were also privileged to have the opportunity to work at Goldcorp for our training and we are thankful for the valuable instruction we received from Dumas Mining,” said graduate Paul Minarik, of Mattagami. The graduates completed training in their respective fields to prepare them for a career in the mining industry. Six of the graduates completed training in basic underground mine training.

Over the past five years, simulation training for coal miners at the Kentucky Coal Academy has been using simulators from Fifth Dimension Technologies based out of Pretoria - COO Mario Schehle credits rapid technological development, reports Engineering News.

What the 100% locally owned company does is to create simulators that train operators to handle some really big machines, such as dump trucks, graders, continuous miners, drilling rigs and drag lines, and this in an environment that very much simulates the real thing, including dust, fog, rain and slippery roads, with red flags popping up quickly when the operator slips up not only in handling the machine but also in site-specific procedures. ...Schehle says the key in growing the company has been the rapid development of computer technology, which now allows for standard equipment to be used to create a simulator, and no longer the expensive workstations required before.

Due to government-announced carbon taxes, the University of Queensland (UQ) is offering free workshops on managing carbon costs, led by academics who understand the issues facing the mining industry in relation to commercial and environmental sustainability, Australian Mining reports.

The workshops include ‘calculating a carbon footprint, calculating carbon costs and savings, and identifying new business opportunities as a result of carbon management strategies’. UniQuest managing director David Henderson explained that the workshops are a response to a growing need for evidence based support.

In an initiative spearheaded by the Indian School of Mines, India is providing advanced training in mining technology and sustainable development of natural resources to engineers from Afghanistan, Mining Weekly reports.

“The overall objective of the collaboration in the mineral and mining sector is empowering and training Afghan human resource in developing capacities, taking social aspects of mining into consideration, ensuring sustainable development, adopting best practices and benign extraction of minerals,” said Gurdeep Singh, head of the Centre for Environmental Sciences at the ISM. “ISM’s involvement in Afghan mining sector received a fillip from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Kabul, last May. In wake of this, we have customised programmes for Afghan engineers who will be coming to our institute in batches round the year,” Singh said.

As part of its Silver Series, VISTA Training has launched two online training modules for trainees in the fields of mining and construction: Heavy Equipment – Intro & Safety and Heavy Equipment – Pre-Use Inspection.

The Silver Series gives equipment owners convenient access to task-focused training on many types of heavy machinery, on demand. These affordable modules are designed to help trainees to become proficient and safe equipment operators, and make it easy for equipment owners to schedule training when and where it's most convenient for them. They're also ideal for smaller companies that may only need to train a handful of new operators per year.