Locals trained for mining job opportunites in Wilcannia, NSW

Unemployed people in Wilcannia, New South Wales, Australia, will be given the opportunity to train for certification in resource and infrastructure work preparation, ABC News reports. The goal is that employment in the region's new mining projects will follow.

"There's jobs there, and there's going to be lots of jobs in the near future, and fortunately we've got a lot of people interested in that industry. That was one of the main reasons why we picked this type of course to run out there."

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New initiatives to invest in skills for Australian resources sector

The Australian federal government has announced a new skills investment fund and a skills migration plan for major projects in the resources sector, the Australian Journal of Mining reports.

[The National Resource Sector Taskforce] predicted the number of jobs in mining and gas operations may grow by 65,000 taking the sector’s direct employment to around 250,000 people by 2015. The WA Council of Minerals and Energy backs this up, predicting the State’s resource industry’s direct workforce will grow 58% by the end of 2012. The Taskforce’s solution to this bourgeoning demand for skill and labour is hardly surprising. It said, in essence: drop some serious cash into vocational training. The Taskforce made 31 recommendations, urging more initiatives and money to provide more skills training.

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Ivanhoe says Oyu Tolgoi construction 23% complete

Robert Friedland, Chief Executive Officer of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX:IVN)(NYSE:IVN)(NASDAQ:IVN), issued an operations update today that reports on progress being achieved on the development of principal projects in the portfolios of the parent company and its subsidiaries and associated interests. Key developments: Full-scale construction at Ivanhoe Mines' flagship Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold-silver mining complex is continuing toward a projected peak level of activity that is expected to be reached during the third quarter of this year. The total number of workers engaged at the Oyu Tolgoi construction site has more than doubled since March 1, 2011, as part of the build up to the peak of construction and currently stands at 12,497.

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Orvana announces commissioning of El Valle-Boinas/Carles gold/copper mine, northern Spain

Orvana Minerals announced the commissioning of its El Valle-Boinás/Carlés ("EVBC") gold-copper mine in northern Spain by Kinbauri España S.L.U. ("Kinbauri"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Orvana. EVBC initiated the start-up and commissioning of the mill May 31, 2011, with the first shipment expected in June. EVBC will initially produce at 70% capacity, increasing to its full annual target production levels of over 100,000 ounces gold, 3,900 tonnes copper and over 150,000 ounces of silver once the shaft is completed in early 2012.

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Philippine Commission on Higher Education offers scholarships to students taking mining courses

Commission on Higher Education chief Secretary Patricia Licuanan is offering students scholarships to take courses towards the 'most employable' careers in the Philippines, which include mining, aeronautics, geology and software engineering, reports the Philippine Information Agency.

"(These) are jobs but they are very hard to fill so if you go into these areas you are guaranteed to find employment," Licuanan said. She said these courses are among the agency's "priorities" in its list of scholarship beneficiaries, adding that CHED has also removed all the "oversubscribed" courses from the same list. "Overscubscribed" courses are business administration, nursing, teaching, IT, Hotel and Restaurant Management and maritime.

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Matachewan First Nation partners with mining companies for training purposes

The Underground Miner Training program, provided under the Matachewan Aboriginal Access to Mine Jobs Training Strategy (MAATS), has produced its second group of graduates, ready to start work in the mining sector.

The six new graduates will now move on to employment positions under Northgate Minerals Corp. and Dumas Contracting at the Young Davidson mine site in Matachewan. "On behalf of myself and my fellow graduates I would like to thank Matachewan First Nation, Northgate and Dumas for the valuable training and employment opportunities we have received," said graduate David Batisse.

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Bad day for platinum: Tsunami to trigger 8-fold jump in surplus, world no. 2 halts expansion

BusinessDay reports on Friday the global platinum surplus may jump eightfold to as much as five tons after Japan’s worst earthquake slashed car production, reducing the country’s demand for the metal used in cars’ emission systems to the lowest level in 28 years. Earlier Mining Weekly reported that world number two platinum producer Impala Platinum has shelved plans to increase production at its underperforming 73%-owned Marula mine leading to lay-offs at the company’s largest development project in South Africa.

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Oil sands poised to become largest source of US crude imports

According to testimony before the US Congress concerning the construction of the $7bn Keystone XL pipeline extension from Alberta to Texas, crude produced by Canada’s oil sands, which represent just over half the country’s total production, has already surpassed the total volume of imports from the US number two supplier Mexico. Since 2000 Canada’s oil sands output has more than doubled: from 600,000 barrels to about 1.5m barrels per day in 2010. Canada supplies 2m barrels per day or 22% of US crude oil imports, up from 15% a decade earlier. The sands’ 175bn barrels of recoverable oil places Canadian oil reserves third in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

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