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Exodus Why are our best trainers heading overseas? Âť The Partners: John Taylor - LL.B Sharon Smith - BEc/LL.B Hons Craig Worsley - LL.B

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Union cries wolf over chicken

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Qld coal still top dog: analyst

11 Roma’s cheap flights

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Indigenous groups: we just want jobs

THE coal seam gas industry has been put under the spotlight recently as Indigenous groups from the Surat Basin to Gladstone protest the lack of jobs thrown up by the industry.

Earlier this month, about 20 members of the Gladstone Alliance, which consists of traditional owners from Gladstone and the surrounding areas, rallied at the Bechtel office.

Spokesman Michael O’Shane said the purpose was to speak to Bechtel about engaging the traditional owners.

“We want initiatives to be put in place to employ more traditional owners,” he told local media.

“We’re the traditional owners of the country,” he said. “At the moment there’s no difference between the mainstream and us.

“I know of less than 10 Indigenous community members employed on the island out of a 7000 strong workforce.”

At the recent Fitzroy Basin Elders Committee conference in Rockhampton, several participants aired similar views.

Quiet revolution

A QUIET revolution has been happening and an unlikely champion has been the resources industry.

Earlier this month, wellknown activist and lawyer Noel Pearson let the rest of Australia in on the secret. Thanks to mining and gas companies, he said, Indigenous groups have been able to negotiate deals that secure a good future for their youth.

This was evident at a two-day symposium in Rockhampton and

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hosted by the Fitzroy Basin Elders Committee. The symposium, entitled Our Land, Business & Resources, was attended by traditional owners from over the state, lawyers, academics and business groups. The committee is a voluntary coalition made up of elders and traditional owner groups from Central Queensland.

Almost all have been affected by the resources industry. One group held up as a shining example

“The Gladstone local people are not being employed, despite the Port Curtis Coral Trust signing an Indigenous Land Usage Agreement. I want what’s best for our people, but it is very hard,” one woman said.

“We need jobs.”

Bob Carlo, from the Mandandanji tribe in the Surat Basin, has been working alongside gas companies for several years as the pipelines go directly through his mob’s land.

He says that the problem is not the Tier 1 companies - the Santos GLNGs or the QGCs - but their subcontractors.

“We negotiate and then they give us a contract and it’s worth so much and it looks great,” he told Shift Miner.

It is when it then goes through their sub-contractors, the Bechtels and Thiesses, that it breaks down. The subcontractors have a budget and a job to do within a timeframe.

“The people we really need to be talking to are the project managers, yet we just can’t seem to get to them,” Mr Carlo said.

However, Mr Carlo is not sitting

back and whinging. The 57-yearold who is a qualified carpenter, fitter and turner and every other trade imaginable, facilitates training for Mandandanji and neighbouring youth.

It is about getting business support. Mr Carlo has trained people for the relevant tickets for the mining industry and done everything to ensure they have as many ticks as possible when going for a job.

“A couple got employed and the others are still looking for employment. When they do go out with these tickets, they are told they have to have two years experience.”

Mr Carlo found one business willing to give local Indigenous workers a go. With funding from Boys Town, he carried out a drilling class in Toowoomba for surrounding Indigenous groups.

Saxon Drilling came on board and then offered six of those on the course fly-in, fly-out work in South Australia.

Mr Carlo’s focus now is on setting up businesses for the Mandandanji - and he is spreading the love.

Through Mandandanji Enterprises, he has set up a wash-down facility called Muddy Waters (see page 15) and is talking with other traditional owners who want to set up businesses.

Meanwhile, Bechtel has said it is proactive in its Indigenous recruitment strategy.

“We have employed an indigenous affairs team to support engagement and sustainable employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Australians,” Bechtel general manager Kevin Berg said.

“Our customers have agreements in place with the traditional owners. And while Bechtel isn’t under any legal obligation to employ traditional owners, we work closely with our customers to provide opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians that are suitably qualified.”

“We believe we are the largest employer of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Australians in the region with more than 150 working on these projects.”

was the Mandandanji people.

In 2010 the family group established Mandandanji Ltd, which is run by a board representing the families within the Mandandanji Traditional Owners Group.

It has set up two subsidaries.

Mandandanji Enterprises, which works in securing opportunities for real work, education and training for Indigenous people through joint ventures with businesses in the mainstream employment market.

Mandandanji Cultural Heritage Services engages with mining, gas and other proponents of development in order to advocate and promote Mandandanji people’s rights and interests in the management, protection and conservation of Mandandanji cultural heritage, land and natural resources.

Mandandanji also looks for funding and works with other Indigenous groups.

“I have been transparent about what we do,” said Bob Carlo from Mandandanji Enterprises.

“We have a board and a trust, and Mandandanji Enterprises runs the business and training side and then we have our heritage side,” he told Shift Miner.

He has met with different traditional owner groups to explain how the organisation operates and is now in talks with the Wulli Wulli people near Theodore about setting up a labour hire business.

Shift Miner spoke to another traditional owner, whose land has been crossed by gas pipelines, and he says he has been happy with the company.

“It has been a learning experience,” he said. “While you talk to the company, the reality is you need to deal with the contractor and then the operator.”

He said his people have learned that someone has to be there everyday, walking the line, because once a sacred site is disturbed, there is no going back.

Having a future has also meant making some tough decisions: protecting heritage sites versus or sacrificing them for long-term benefit.

Keynote speaker Professor David Trigger, head of anthropology at the University of Queensland, said heritage changes over time and is not just frozen in a time before white people came.

“Traditional heritage has been co-existing with the development

of Century Mine in the Gulf Country,” he said.

A site, now called Dingo Dreaming - because it looks like the pad marks left by a giant dingo - was discovered during the mining and is now identified as a cultural heritage site.

“Heritage becomes negotiable and leverage for agreement,” Professor Trigger said. “Then there are hard decisions and groups have to trade some heritage.”

The pit of Century Mine became disputed by groups as spearheads had been found in that area. It was either protect the site and not have the mine go ahead, or allow the mine to go ahead and secure jobs and future for the youth.

The group’s elder, Blue Bob, explained to the elders that they would need to make a hard decision about the future and they then decided to sacrifice the site.

“Wherever mines can, they will avoid sacred areas. But where they can’t there will have to be a hard decision,” Professor Trigger said.

“The bigger mine companies have changed their view and approach over the past five to eight years and will try to avoid these sites. When they do, it is a great thing.”

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Union cries wolf over chicken

Giant modules like this having been arriving all month for the LNG plants on Curtis Island. No proof has even been produced of the ‘chicken lunch’ allegedly found within some tubing.

IT’S a case of the missing bones. Chicken bones.

Australian Manufacturing and Workers Union spokesman Phil Golby recently claimed chicken

bones, as well as freshwater snails, were found inside imported materials at the QCLNG site on Curtis Island.

Apparently the bones were wrapped in Indonesian

newspaper and stuffed inside some scaffolding tubing.

Quarantine didn’t pick up the breach, but workers did.

“Looked like it was someone’s lunch from over in Indonesia,” Mr Golby told local media.

“It was all done and checked within 10 minutes, then it was released to be worked on and that’s when they found the chicken bones.”

Despite the media storm over the allegations, the incident looks an awful lot like the boy who cried wolf.

Bechtel has completely denied the “alleged chicken bone event” ever took place.

“It was not reported to us by any employee, nor was it reported to any contractor on site, nor to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF),” said Bechtel Gladstone general manager Kevin Berg.

“We have investigated the allegations and no evidence of any kind has been found, nor any person who states they have knowledge of such a discovery. I’m also surprised at the claim an Indonesian newspaper was found in a module built in Thailand.”

The union has now gone quiet on the matter, and no chicken carcass has ever been produced.

The LNG plants being built on Curtis Island are using large modules that are being shipped in from overseas and assembled on site. For months,

modules have been arriving in a steady stream by ship.

Quarantine procedures are strict, as they are for all manner of goods that come into the country.

The materials are checked multiple times at the point of origin, prior to shipment, and then there is a final inspection

by DAFF in a dedicated quarantine area prior to it being released.

Last year, a biosecurity risk was detected by quarantine officers at Port Alma, a small port to the north of Gladstone that was being used to receive CSG pipes for the Curtis Island projects.

The ship, carrying pipes from India, was found to be contaminated with wheat and yellow pea. The residue was cleared from the pipes and vessel.

“Finding the grains during the inspection and treating the ship and pipes is an example of Australia’s biosecurity system working,” a DAFF spokesperson said at the time.

Mr Berg said if anything ever slipped through the multiple safety mechanisms in place, then it was up to workers to report any suspected quarantine breaches.

“If materials are found by our employees on the site, they are expected to report it to their supervisor so it can be managed correctly,” he said.

“To not report it would be a serious breach of our regulations.”

Galilee left grappling until mining green light THE Alpha to Clermont road badly needs upgrading, but a visit by the Premier to Western Queensland this week has left locals in no doubt it won’t happen any time soon.

While Barcaldine regional councillors made their case for more health workers, child care places and road upgrades, Premier Campbell Newman was upfront about the likelihood of funding.

All in all, there were no big promises from the man holding the state purse strings, aside from $30,000 for a feasibility study into a wild dog fence.

“He just kept making the point that they have less money than the council at the moment so not to be

expecting anything big,” Barcaldine councillor Garry Bettiens told the WINO. Over the past few years, the Galilee Basin and its vast reserves of thermal coal have been regarded by many in the region as the way forward for Central Western Queensland.

The coal projects earmarked for the region are massive and include building a rail network to Abbot Point coal terminal at Bowen.

As various announcements have been made, there have been huge spikes in real estate interest and property prices in the tiny town of Alpha, which would be front and centre to any development.

However, the slowdown in

the coal industry has meant a tapering off of enthusiasm and business confidence in general is down.

“The whole place is pretty dead at the moment across everything,” said Mr Bettiens.

“Cattle prices are down, there’s not much spending going on, we have to try and ride out this storm.”

Local council has plenty it would like to do in order to prepare for the mining boom, but is hamstrung by costs.

“We are in limbo at the moment. There are a lot of things that need to happen, the water supply in Alpha is no good and there is no sewerage.

But we don’t have the money to do anything about it.”

Neither it seems does the state government.

“The Alpha to Clermont road badly needs work done to it, and the Premier virtually said that when the Galilee Basin projects do kick off it would be upgraded, but until then there will just be a bit of maintenance.”

Mr Bettiens said while times are challenging at the moment, he’s certain the Galilee Basin will be developed.

“It might not be in the next two years but I am confident it will happen in the medium term. The number of development applications council sees for Alpha, there is always someone wanting to do something,” he said.

FAST NEWS Heavy weight champ on Curtis Island ANYONE working in or around Gladstone knows the LNG industry is big business. Now, quite literally, a big piece of that business has been lifted into place.

In what is the heaviest lift on Curtis Island to date, Australia Pacific LNG has moved a carbon dioxide absorber onto its foundations.

The 650 tonne cylindrical beast was precisely placed with the help of two cranes over the weekend. Such a tricky manoeuvre requires a great deal of planning and coordination. In fact, it took 20 people two months to plan the lift.

At a height of 36 metres, the CO2 absorber will be used to remove CO2 and hydrogen sulfide from the natural gas prior to chilling the gas to –161 degrees celsius.

The freezing point of CO2 is higher than the gas, so without its removal, the CO2 would effectively ‘freeze’ and block the flow of the cooling gas through the liquefaction process.

QGC says breach was minor QUEENSLAND Gas Corporation (QGC) says the environmental breaches it was pinged with recently were minor and the company handed itself in each time.

These breaches happened between September 2012 and January 2013.

A spokesperson for QGC told Shift Miner that the breaches mostly involved the discharge of small volumes of stormwater into the Gladstone Harbour following heavy rainfall and did not result in environmental harm.

“Our systems are designed to ensure that our staff and contractors understand the tasks necessary for us to do our work according to these conditions; that we become aware of any breaches; and that we take timely steps to undertake remediation,” the spokesperson said.

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Qld coal still top dog: analyst

Minelife analyst Gavin Wendt

IF you work in the Queensland coal industry it wouldn’t be unreasonable to be worried about your job at the moment.

But despite the slowdown, one resource analyst believes that Queensland coal is of such high quality and is produced so reliably it will always be the world’s number one supplier.

“We are definitely still in that top spot,” Minelife analyst Gavin Wendt told Shift Miner.

“The Chinese and Indians know we are high cost but they also know they are always going to be able to get good quality coal and not have supply issues.”

Over the past six months many contractors have been let

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go as coal prices drop off, the Australian dollar continues to rise in value, and companies complain about the high cost of doing business in Australia.

“When times are good and prices are high it is simply about digging the stuff out of the ground; it doesn’t matter about operating costs,” said Mr Wendt.

“The attitude when prices are up is very much - who cares?

We’re making money. It’s only when the picture is in reverse that companies like BHP, Rio and Xstrata start looking at the bottom line and how many people do they really need on site and back in the office.”

Mr Wendt said the extreme boom and bust cycle of the coal industry makes it very hard for employees, particularly contractors.

“The bizarre thing is in a slowdown, mining companies start to analyse costs as if they have just emerged as an issue.

You’d think that even in good times you’d be looking to keep costs under control so you never have to cut huge layers of fat from a business. But big companies

don’t seem to operate like that.”

But in reassuring news for coal industry workers Mr Wendt thinks the worst pain is over, largely because Queensland’s biggest customers remain unchanged.

“China is still the big picture when it comes to Australian coal and I don’t see that changing.”

Earlier this month, the GDP growth rate for China was revealed to be 7.7 per cent for the first quarter of 2013, slightly down from what many economists were expecting. It sent the stock market into a slump.

But Mr Wendt said the market had overreacted and didn’t grasp the economic reality of the situation.

“Anywhere else in the world people would be doing cartwheels about growth of 7.5 per cent. The reality is the days of double digit growth is over in China. But growth rates will continue to be moderate between six to 7.5 per cent which is what the Chinese government wants to achieve stable growth.”

India too is increasing its demand for Australian coal.

While it has its own reserves, they are often locked up in

political and environmental battles and not easily accessible for companies to mine.

That’s why the new players in Australian coal are Indian miners like GVK, which has bought a huge stake in the Galilee Basin and plans to ship its thermal reserves back to its own steel mills in India.

“It’s actually easier for them to come halfway across the world, mine it, build the infrastructure to get it to port, and ship it back to India than it is for them to do it at home. That shows you how hard it is to get things done in India,” said Mr Wendt.

Africa is also a long way from catching up to Australia as a preferred supplier and while Indonesia is our closest competitor it still can’t match our reliability, according to Mr Wendt.

All this means that while it might be a tough cycle in Queensland coal, there will be plenty of jobs into the future.

“There could be a few more retrenchments, but I certainly think we’ve seen the worst.

We’re always going to be at the forefront of coal production.”

News Coal price bounces in the right direction WESFARMERS has secured a 4 per cent increase in the price its customers will pay for its metallurgical coal or steel making coal for the next three months.

The price adds to the 2 per cent rise Wesfarmers secured for the coal it sold in January February and March.

That equates to a 6 per cent increase in prices in the first part of this calendar year.

While Wesfarmers have not released the exact price it will get for its different types of coal Australian steel making coal has been selling somewhere north of around $168 a tonne in the last six months.

This is down significantly from the heady days of 2011 when coal prices were averaging around $290 a tonne.

Managing Director of Wesfarmers Resources Mr Stewart Butel said the coal pricing outcome for Curragh’s range of metallurgical coals was in line with recent market price settlements.

“Year to date sales of metallurgical coal were affected by a scheduled mine shutdown in December and wet weather associated with Cyclone Oswald, which significantly interrupted rail and port activities for four weeks and led to mine stockpiles reaching capacity,” Mr Butel said.

“Curragh’s metallurgical coal sales volume is forecast to remain in the range of 7.5 to 8.0 million tonnes for the 2013 financial year. This forecast is subject to no further significant wet weather and satisfactory rail and port operations.”

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Dysart gets water relief

AFTER months of smelly, cloudy and yucky-tasting water, Dysart and Clermont residents may soon get some relief.

The Isaac Regional Council has identified the causes and solution options and has called for a recommendation report for staged upgrades to deliver consistent, high standard water to residents.

“A lot of work has been done in this space and investigations are underway,” Mayor Anne Baker told Shift Miner.

“Touch wood things are a lot better. I haven’t heard any further complaints so we are certainly on to it.

“It’s a work in progress.”

Consulting engineers Harrison Grierson, after reviewing the dirty water, advised ways to ensure acceptable water standard delivery in compliance with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

Mayor Baker said the council is now considering its options and setting up long-term budgets for additional staged upgrades to meet and maintain high quality water.

In Dysart, algae was identified as the the cause of discoloured, bad tasting and smelly water, and residents had been complaining of this since December.

The water plant has been checked, dosed with the correct rates of chlorine and flocculant, flushed and is 100 per cent compliant.

Mayor Baker said additional online analysers, meters and alarms costing about $75,000 would be immediately installed for monitoring and automating operating system.

The council is investigating each of the potential causes for Dysart’s water issues before putting measures in place to solve any problems, including

the removal of algae or changing water sources.

“Currently without access to BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) dams, we are unable to verify the condition and algae presence at Calvert’s Dam and an earth dam,” Mayor Baker said.

“Council will consult with BMA to inspect the dams and further implement measures to alleviate algae bloom if needed.”

Mayor Baker said complaints received from Clermont residents, since late December, mostly related to water discolouration and surface staining.

“This was caused by the presence of iron, manganese and an increase in water hardness; and while the water failed on occasion in aesthetical requirements, it was not at any stage unsafe for drinking.

“After flushing the network, the Clermont plant is now functioning well and some minor plant upgrades are planned to further improve its performance.”

Bottled water supply will continue until after one month of fully compliant plant performance.

Sneaky smoke lands $11K fine

Unbelievable but true - a Kiwi contractor has been fined for lighting up underground.

A KIWI contractor has been fined $11,000 for smoking in an underground Queensland coal mine, but he’s lucky he wasn’t punched in the face by co-workers.

Travis Brown, 24, was found guilty on two counts relating to smoking underground and fined $11,000 in the Rockhampton Magistrates Court this month.

The incident happened at the North Goonyella mine in April last year, and according to CFMEU union representative Steve Smyth there were about 50 men underground at the time.

“Miners s---t themselves when they found him with

cigarettes and a lighter,” he told media.

“He’s lucky he got out of there because a lot of people wanted to take matters into their own hands.

“No one actually saw him smoking but they smelt smoke and he admitted to it when challenged. He had underground experience and should have known better. It’s amazing to think someone could be so stupid.”

A spokesman from the Department of Natural Resources and Mines said underground coal mines were difficult working environments at the best of times.

“The presence of combustible gases and coal dust means there is a potential for fire or explosion if strict safety procedures are not followed to the letter,” he said in a statement.

“This person, through his actions, was not only endangering himself but the lives of his fellow mine workers.”

A NEW LIFE. A NEW OUTLOOK.

29th April 2013

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Qld trainers go abroad in downturn

Tash Fee shows her trainees in Zambia how to safely operate a drilling rig.

IT’S not everyday you are training a worker who is halfway up a drilling mast with his harness on the wrong way.

But that’s exactly what Queensland trainer Tash Fee encountered on a recent training mission to Zambia in Southern Africa.

“This guy had his legs through the arm holes. It was just unbelievable. There are just not the same standards for risk

management or the same expectations regarding safety as here in Australia,” she told Shift Miner.

Ms Fee runs TNT Training Solutions and is one of Central Queensland’s best known training providers. It’s not just because she’s a blonde woman in a predominantly male industry. Her business has been showered with accolades over the

past few years including the QTA’s Trainer of the Year Award in 2012.

So what’s one of Queensland’s best trainers doing in Zambia? Looking for new ways to earn a quid during the downturn back home.

“Exploration is very quiet here at the moment and a lot of drillers have been stood down,” she said.

“At the same time we are receiving more and more inquiries from overseas and it is starting to be a fairly big chunk of our business.”

So much so that Ms Fee is in the process of investigating setting up a permanent shopfront in Zambia.

But why would mining companies and contractors working in countries with less regulation want to bother bringing their staff up to Australian standard? It costs a lot of money, and there’s no guarantee staff will be pass their competencies.

“Mining regulation is increasing, and companies are switching onto that,” explains Ms Fee. “They realise they need to get people trained up. They are losing contracts because of injuries or because things are going wrong because they don’t have people properly trained.

“A lot of times these workers are straight out of the local village and have never driven a car before and are now operating drilling rigs. Companies are starting to train to their top people, and they want Australian qualifications because it is so widely recognised.”

Ms Fee says it’s not possible for all workers to meet the benchmarks required, and of the 20 odd workers that were put through training in Zambia only eight passed.

“We’re not afraid to be honest with feedback and competencies and we really put them through their paces. Some of the things I have seen are unbelievable and a number of times I have had to shout ‘stop the rig, shut it down, you will kill yourself!’”.

Ms Fee has just returned from another training mission to Egypt, where she was faced with many cultural challenges.

“One guy actually did not speak English so we had to have a translator.

“But when I first arrived they were really offhand with me because I am a woman.

They did not seem to believe I would be running the course. I had to get my partner Todd to go and explain it to them.

“It wasn’t until I started taking the sessions that they relaxed and then it was like I was Cleopatra or Nefertiti and they were calling me queen! But it made me reflect on my own skills as a trainer and realise the cookie cutter approach would not work here.”

Ms Fee says inquiries continue to roll in from overseas, and she is currently weighing up a job in Afghanistan.

“We now have five trainers who are approved to work internationally so you can see it’s becoming a big part of our business.”

Regulation needed for mining rehabilitation WHILE the mining industry may tout its rehabilitation programs as being great environmental works, this doesn’t wash with everyone in the industry.

Gil Fletcher has worked in mining for almost three decades as an environmental consultant and presented a paper on the past 40 years of rehabilitation at the Central Queensland Mine Rehabilitation Group (CQMRG) in Rockhampton recently.

“The analogy is the emperor’s new clothes,” he told Shift Miner. “You have a lot of middle execs in Brisbane who think we’re doing a great job - and this is what they keep telling each other.”

But it is a case of ‘too little too late’ when it comes to rehabilitating native ecosystems, Mr Fletcher said.

“Today not too many rural people would give a tick to the rehabilitation standards of the coal miners in Central Queensland and I know many rural people having lived in Emerald for 28 years.

“My general observation is that we have

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examples of good and bad rehabilitation in the Bowen Basin but not enough of the good stuff.”

And because of this, the industry needs more regulation, Mr Fletcher said.

“When rehabilitation was managed by the Mines Department specialised environmental inspectors, who actually had a background in mine rehabilitation, were employed.

“These environmental inspectors targeted inadequate rehabilitation and tried to bring about change.

“Today there are no enforceable standards for rehabilitation but the vague threat by EPA/DERM/EHP that the EPA/DERM/EHP will not sign off on the rehab when the mining leases are to be relinquished. And, as I keep telling mines, they won’t.”

Mr Fletcher said that mining companies get out of this by selling the mine off to someone else.

“A classic example is the Gregory mine, which is up for sale, and miners avoid the

issue of sign off and will pass off the mine to someone else.”

Also, the cost can change. When the mine first negotiates the terms, it may be that the cost is only so much per hectare.

“But because of natural wastage, costs go up and community expectations go up.

Where it may have cost $40,000 per hectare then, now it costs up to $50,000 per hectare.”

Mr Fletcher said mines are slammed on water controls, but rehabilitation comes last.

“Mining is all about making money, and the environment doesn’t make money.”

Of particular concern is cropping land and this needs protection through regulation.

“Government got in with industry and they have said that if land hasn’t been cropped before, it can’t be classified as cropping land.

“But that could be because of a variety of reasons, including not being near enough to transport. In 200 years it might be good for cropping.”

The CQMRG has said the present system

of government self-regulation and the lack of defined rehabilitation standards meant signing off on rehabilitation projects was labour intensive.

It was slow and represented a workload for both the mine site and government department personnel, and added cost and time to all projects.

Added to this the goal posts of standards can shift with time and community expectations, the networking group has said previously.

The CQMRG, which was formed in 1991, provides a regular forum for sharing experience and information about environmental management on mine sites.

Members include representatives from the resources industry, including environmental officers, science advisors, academics and consultants from the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.

Mr Fletcher is one of the founding members of the group and said he hopes to get his paper published this year.

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Costs not skills top worry

The Queensland Resource Council’s chief executive Michael Roche.

RISING costs are now the number one concern of resource bosses in Queensland.

Following hot on its heels are worries about the global economy, particularly the

uncertainty surrounding Europe, and the slowing of growth in China depressing demand and prices, especially for coal.

These insights are from the Queensland Resources Council’s chief executive Sentiment Index contained in its latest State of the Sector report.

It’s a complete turnaround from two years ago when the number one concern for mining bosses was the skills shortage.

That is now fifth on the list for bosses in 2013.

According to the QRC, spiralling costs have now pushed more than half of current resources operations in Queensland into the upper third and fourth quartiles of their respective global cost curves.

This compares to just 20 per cent in 2008.

“Against this outlook, we now have increasing speculation that the federal government will axe the sector’s fuel tax credit scheme for a short-term revenue boost,” said the QRC’s Michael Roche.

“Of course the long-term downside to such short-sighted

revenue grabs is another blow to the global competitiveness of industries that operate in remote locations and for whom there are no alternatives to diesel-powered energy.”

Mr Roche says Queensland’s ability to stay competitive globally, including during the downturn on coal, will depend on governments and industry staying on the same policy page.

“The evidence is very clear that Queensland’s resources operations and projects are no longer as cost competitive as they once were,” said Mr Roche.

A survey on competitiveness has found that in 2008 28 per cent of Queensland operations were in the lowest quartile of their respective global cost curve, 52 per cent were in the second quartile, 12 per cent were in the third, and 8 per cent were in the fourth or highest cost quartile.

In effect 80 per cent of operations were sitting ‘safe’ in quartiles one and two, with only 20 per cent sitting in the higher risk third and fourth quartiles.

In 2013, these operations have

News moved significantly up their respective cost curves. Today, 16 per cent of these operations are sitting in quartile one, 32 per cent are sitting in quartile two, 32 per cent sitting in quartile three and a very worrying 20 per cent are sitting in quartile four.

In effect, 52 per cent of operations are under serious competitive threat if they cannot control costs and move down their respective cost curves.

In terms of production, Queensland’s coal industry had picked up slightly in the December quarter, with coal exports rising from 40.3 million tonnes (Mt) in the previous quarter to 48.6Mt. However, the latest State of the Sector report suggests this surge is unlikely to be sustained in the full March quarter with bad weather causing closures at Hay Point, Dalrymple and Abbot Point coal terminals and major rail disruptions on the Moura and Blackwater lines to Gladstone.

The QRC estimates coal exports in the March quarter will be about 6Mt lower to 42Mt.

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CFMEU still not convinced by ANCAP

From January last year until this February there had been 29 rollovers on Queensland mine sites, and 17 of those were on coal mines.

MINING union the CFMEU says it remains unconvinced that a new vehicle safety regime at BMA mine sites offers enough protection during rollover accidents.

Over the next three years, BMA is converting all of its fleet and contractor light vehicles to five-star ANCAP rated vehicles. The changes are being phased in, with all vehicles - including contractors - to

meet the new safety benchmark by January 1, 2016.

Back in February, CFMEU safety representative Greg Dalliston issued a directive to stop the use of the new vehicles

Resin injection to boost production

Higher flowing gas: WestSide tries resin over sand

AFTER months of delays, coal seam gas (CSG) producer WestSide will this week begin a trial that could revolutionise how gas is extracted from its wells across Queensland.

In essence the trial is exploring ways of reducing the build-up of mineral deposits in the below ground sections of well piping. Left untreated these mineral deposits cause decreasing flow rates and over time even stoppages.

The problem is particularly prominent in wells that are more than 10 years old.

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“Significant progress was made during the quarter on optimising a work-over treatment to enhance production from older wells by freeing them of blockages caused by mineral deposits in down-hole casing perforations,” WestSide chief executive Julie Beeby said in February.

“Investigations determined that some earlier fracture-stimulated wells have become impeded by the production of the original sand that was used as a proppant.”

A proppant’s key job in a CSG well is to keep rock fractures that have been created open so that the gas can flow freely for capture.

Conventionally the proppant is a solid material, typically treated sand, but the problem is that sand is a major contributor to the mineral deposits that can close off the well.

Rather than forcing a treated sand into the rock fractures, contractors Halliburton - under the instruction of WestSide - will inject a resin equivalent into the rock across 10 different well sites.

WestSide hopes than in six months it will be able to measure whether the use of the resin has increased flow rates, reduced maintenance and therefore increased profitability.

until their safety standards could be proven.

“BMA are not fitting internal or external roll bars to these new vehicles and so I have asked them to show that they meet the same standard of protection as prior to the change,” he told Shift Miner.

“So far none of the material they have sent me shows they meet the same standards. I am not interested in air bags; I want to know about the standard of the roof.”

The chief inspector overturned the union’s directive in late March, so the vehicles are once again in use on site. However, the union is planning an appeal.

“ANCAP might be good enough on the road, but these are off-road vehicles, and I am not convinced they have everything we need.

“BMA is saying roll bars can’t be fitted on the inside because it affects the airbags and they can’t be fitted on the outside because it affects the centre of gravity of the vehicle.

“Well I am yet to see a car that has airbags on the roof, and

given the roll bar used to stop the roof crushing in I want to know how strong these roofs are.”

Mr Dalliston said from January last year until this February there had been 29 rollovers on Queensland mine sites, and 17 of those were on coal mines. Of those 17, only one person had slight injuries.

A statement released by BMA said the the health and safety of all employees and contractors was an absolute priority. It read: “BHP Billiton continually reviews the company policies and procedures to ensure best practice is maintained. We recognise that industry members and representative may have concerns when we implement changes to our safety policies and procedures. However no changes are implemented without extensive research and consultation to ensure the most relevant safety technologies are adopted globally.

We remain confident this is the right decision for our workforce and the community as safer vehicles appear on the road.”

Irrigation future in mining THE future of the Central Highlands irrigation industry is currently unknown, with a shroud of secrecy hanging over just how much irrigation water has been secured by Galilee miners.

Last year, mining magnate Gina Rinehart began entering into ‘option’ deals with irrigators, which gave her the ability to buy their water at some future date if required for her Galilee mines.

In the interim, irrigators can continue to use the water while enjoying a deposit plus interest payments on the total remaining value of that water.

However, just how many people have entered into deals with Ms Rinehart remains unclear with most people involved in the process sworn to secrecy.

“I can’t make any comment,” Emerald water consultant Geoff Cavanagh said.

“I have a business to look after and I can’t make any comment whatsoever about which irrigators have entered into agreements.”

One of the first people to enter into an agreement was Dave McCullough, of Codenwarra West, near Emerald, who last year signed a three-year call-back deal to sell his water allocations to the mining billionaire for $11million.

“I’m 73 years old. I’ve been farming for 55 years and every time I’ve put a seed in the ground I’ve taken a risk,” Mr McCullough told media at the time.

“A lot of them have paid off, and this is the last throw of the dice by an old man.

“People came around looking for water for Gina, she offered me some money and I made a business decision.”

Despite the extensive coverage given to the considerable rail and port infrastructure needs of the Galilee basin, water remains possibly the biggest stumbling block.

In 2011 when Gina Rinehart sold most of Hancock Coal’s assets to GVK Group for $1.6 billion (retaining a 21 per cent share in the Alpha and Alpha West projects), the water supply seemed assured through the Connors River dam pipeline project.

That project would have piped water in an arc from the the Connors River dam to Moranbah and onto the Galilee Basin at a cost of around $1.5 billion.

However, in July last year the state government shelved the project saying the end user miners were not supporting the project.

“A number of changes to our customers’ project timeframes and investment horizons have resulted in an incompatibility of timing for customer financial commitments to the project priorities,” SunWater’s chief executive Peter Boettcher said last year.

“This means that SunWater is unable to continue with the Connors River Dam project at this time.”

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Anglo powers ahead with new mine

A rare short-beaked echidna was found by spotters and catchers and removed to another habitat.

ANGLO American is powering ahead with construction of its Grosvenor mine in the Bowen Basin and the greenfield coking coal project is 20 per cent complete.

First development coal is scheduled to be reached by late this year and longwall mining is due to begin at the end of 2016, a company spokesperson told Shift Miner.

The state government granted Anglo American a mining lease in June last year, and site construction has been underway for the past nine months on bulk earthworks, access roads and the beginning of cut and cover tunnels for the drifts from the surface.

The company said more than 250 hectares of land was surveyed before works began to identify habitats, and 85 per cent of animals have been relocated to areas outside the construction site.

Trained spotters and catchers worked alongside and identified some 3000 habitat trees that had the potential to house small animals, and they also took note of tree hollows, nests and roosts.

Of significance was the removal of a short-beaked echidna, and Anglo American said this has been reported to the Queensland Echidna Watch Program.

Two threatened species were also observed: the grey goshawk and eight squatter pigeons.

In the next couple of months, an earth pressure balance machine will begin constructing a tunnel for the conveyer drift. In an Australian first, a tunnel-boring machine will be used in underground mining.

It is expected to produce five million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) from its underground longwall operation over 26 years.

Anglo American said it expects capital expenditure for the project of US$1.7 billion on a nominal basis.

It will target the same Goonyella middle coal seam as Moranbah North and will process its coal through the existing Moranbah North coal handling and preparation plant and train loading facilities.

A pre-feasibility study to expand Grosvenor by adding a second longwall is under way.

This will make it the company’s fifth coal mine in the basin: Moranbah North (met coal); Capcoal (met and thermal coal); Foxleigh (met coal) Dawson (met and thermal coal), and Callide (thermal coal).

Two possibilities for cheaper flights to Roma

Maranoa Mayor Robert Loughnan

THE Roma community is split over what is the best path to cheaper flights in and out of the booming coal seam gas (CSG) township.

Currently, the Roma airport

works under a regulated system, meaning one carrier has a monopoly but the state government caps flight costs and sets a minimum number of flights that must be offered in a week.

Qantaslink runs the Roma route, and offers 48 flights a week into the airport.

Last week the Maranoa Regional Council recommended the state government keep the Brisbane to Roma flight route regulated. However, that recommendation came only because Mayor Robert Loughnan continued a long-standing tradition of not using a casting

vote to change council policy.

Councillors were split straight down the line with a vote of 4-4, and despite Mayor Loughnan personally supporting deregulation he stuck with tradition despite his “better judgement”.

The number of passengers have exploded in and out of Roma airport from around 16,000 a decade ago to more than 200,000 this year - 100,000 more than council anticipated 12 months ago.

The growth in numbers is almost entirely to do with the CSG boom that is underway in the Surat Basin.

Mayor Robert Loughnan says it was a difficult decision for council.

“What we were after was the cheapest flights in and out of our Roma for our residents,” he said.

“We had a good look at the experience of Emerald airport in the Bowen Basin, which is deregulated. The argument for deregulation was that obviously more competition means cheaper prices, and I guess that is how I looked at the issue.”

However, not all councillors were convinced that more competition would bring down prices. There was also concern for the route after the gas boom.

“There were also rumours that there would need to be a

major upgrade to accommodate other carriers, but I think that was a red herring.”

A number of carriers had expressed interest in supplying a service to Roma, including Virgin Australia who in a statement said they were “disappointed by the council’s decision”.

There is still a chance the airport will be deregulated, as the decision actually sits with the Newman Government. However, it is unlikely it will go ahead against the wishes of the local council.

The new regime is expected to be decided upon this year and will take effect in 2014.

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Has the digger gamble paid off?

IN THE cotton industry, machines that pick the cotton are often called ‘lie detectors’ for their ability to reveal over-optimistic yield forecasts before the crop has been picked.

Likewise, the arrival of 12 20-tonne hybrid Komatsu excavators on a Murphy Pipe and Civil (MPC) coal seam gas (CSG) work site in the Surat Basin will be a good test of the manufacturer’s claims.

MPC is currently working on a 160 kilometre pipeline, and in February general superintendent John Carolan said the new machines would lower costs.

“The 20-tonne hybrid Komatsu HB215LC-1 machines use 41 per cent less diesel fuel than conventional excavators and are also able to generate their own internal kinetic power to further reduce their greenhouse emissions,” he said at the time.

“When we heard about these new environmentally friendly excavators we were originally sceptical about their ability to carry out the heavy work load required on large scale pipeline projects.

“However, we tested them rigorously in the field and we were able to achieve the same

MPC general superintendent John Carolan is pleased with the switch to hybrid excavators.

Daunia starts ahead of schedule IN A month where jobs have been shed and contracts lost at several Bowen Basin mines, in what seems a topsy turvy move a new mine is getting started.

Daunia mine, just 18 kilometres west of Coppabella, has just started it first production ahead of schedule.

The mine is owned by coal giant BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) and is expected to produce up to 4.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of semi-hard coking coal and pulverised coal injection coal

for the export market.

“The ramp up of this mine and future commissioning of Caval Ridge will underpin an increase in the capacity of our Queensland coal business to 66 million tonnes per annum by the end of the 2014 calendar year,” the company said in its quarterly statement.

BMA released the statement on the same day it was made public that up to 70 contractors at its Gregory Crinum mine would be laid off. That mine is also for sale.

Despite the bad news that has clouded the past few months, BMA says there has been an increase in coal production across its eight mines in the Bowen Basin compared with the same time last year. In fact, the miner saw up to a 22 per cent increase in metallurgical coal production.

The company said Queensland coal production was adversely affected by the bad weather earlier this year.

“However, recently installed flood mitigation infrastructure enabled a rapid recovery in performance and the business was operating at full supply chain capacity at the end of the period.

“South Walker Creek achieved record quarterly production following the completion of a wash plant upgrade in the prior period.”

Daunia and Caval Ridge have raised the ire of locals because of BMA’s decision to recruit a 100 per cent fly-in,

outcomes with less impact on the environment – it was a very clear win-win situation for us.”

Two months on and there are some encouraging results, although they are yet to confirm the manufacturer’s 41 per cent fuel saving claims.

Operations manager for Brook’s Hire Michael Stone, who supplied MPC with the machines, says the fuel savings are measurable.

“We don’t operate the machines ourselves, but we can I can look at some early fuel consumption statistics to see how they are performing,” he said.

Mr Stone has compared several machines of the same age on the site, and the figures are favourable.

“Looking at the MPC site, the hybrid machine is using 18.64 litres per hour which is based on 176 hours of use and another conventional PC 200 excavator is using an average of 22.69 litres per hour based on 72 hours of use.”

That is an 18 per cent saving on fuel consumption.

“That is four litres less of fuel an hour, and since most machines do about 150 to 200 hours a month, the savings are substantial over the year.”

fly-out (FIFO) workforce from Cairns and Brisbane.

Isaac Regional Council Mayor Anne Baker said it was her understanding that Daunia would recruit a third of its workforce locally.

“It’s disappointing that it’s 100 per cent FIFO and it is just not sustainable, and it’s not healthy for anyone,” she told Shift Miner.

“We’re about trying to grow a sustainable and liveable community.”

Tune into the Michael J. Breakfast show from 7:35 am every Monday for 4RO's CQ Mining Update, with special guest Angus from Shift Miner.

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Tunnel vision sees work beneath the Narrows

The tunnel boring machine which will be used to carve out a pipeline pocket under the Narrows

THE Narrows Crossing is a popular fishing spot among Gladstone locals but, as they’re reeling in the big ones, underneath a team of workers are

boring a tunnel to transport coal seam gas (CSG) to Curtis Island.

SANTOS GLNG has begun work on the tunnel that will encase a gas transmission

pipeline that will link the mainland to its liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on the island.

Twelve workers will spend the next six weeks assembling a

100-metre long and 277-tonne tunnel boring machine on-site.

This will then be used by Thiess to excavate through rock and soil and install the concrete tunnel lining.

“This is a complex process that will take around 12 months to complete and will involve the creation of an approximately 4.3 kilometre tunnel with a 3.4 metre internal diameter, and then placement of the pipe,” said Santos GLNG pipeline manager Greg Jones.

While Thiess has not encountered a project exactly like this before, it does have experience in road and rail tunnelling projects.

“The tunnel boring machine is a precision tool and our highly skilled team will guide it to pinpoint accuracy to its destination across the Narrows,” said Thiess tunnelling general manager Steve Wille.

“The machine cuts and removes the soil and rock, then lines with pre-cast concrete segments in a remarkably seamless operation.”

Once the tunnel is built, then the main contractor constructing

the pipeline Saipem will pull the pipe through the tunnel.

“The tunnel will be flooded with water once it has been completed, and then the pipeline strings will be joined together and pushed through the length of the tunnel,” said Saipem project director Giuseppe Tassinari.

Mr Jones said the development of the transmission pipeline on the land was progressing well.

“We have now buried 60 km of pipe in the Arcadia Valley and along the pipeline route almost 170 km has been cleared and graded, and 120 km of pipe has been welded.

“Rehabilitation work has started in the Arcadia Valley, which involved reinstating topsoil, sowing grass seeds and establishing pasture back on disturbed areas.

“We are working along the pipeline route, and undertaking clearing, grading and stringing work in the Banana Shift area in anticipation of pipe burial in coming months. Clearing and grading work in the Central Highlands area has also commenced.”

Bechtel’s beds head south Curtis Island peak coming soon to Bundaberg flood victims

Bechtel accommodation manager Jody McMullen (left) and Ash Roderick (right) from Roderick’s Removals deliver furniture to flood victim Chris Hardy (centre)

WHEN the flooded Burnett River ripped through Bundaberg earlier this year, Chris Hardy escaped from her Mariners Way home with almost nothing.

Airlifted from the roof of her North Bundaberg home on January 28 after more than one metre of water swept through her home, Ms Hardy lost everything but an outdoor setting, TV and mattress.

Now, with a helping hand from Bechtel, Ms Hardy - and many others like her - has begun the process of rebuilding her life.

Through the Uniting Care Flood Appeal, Bechtel was able to donate three truckloads of excess furniture, valued at $25,000, to the flood stricken Bundaberg region.

“There are so many people down here who

have lost everything. Not being able to go home at night is the worst feeling in the world. Up until now, we have been sleeping on the floor of a rental property with no furniture. Thanks to the kindness of Bechtel we now have a bed, mattress and TV cabinet,” Ms Hardy said.

“Bechtel’s generosity means that we can sleep a little easier at night while we try to rebuild our lives.”

Bechtel Gladstone general manager Kevin Berg said the construction company was pleased they could support the recovery effort.

“This community needs all the help it can get right now and so the decision was made to donate our excess furniture to those who needed it most,” Mr Berg said.

“Being able to lend a helping hand to the Bundaberg community in their time of need is something we are very proud of. The Gladstone community is very giving and we called on the assistance of Ash Roderick and his team at Roderick’s Removals, who donated their time to deliver the furniture to Bundaberg free of charge,” Mr Berg said.

The Bechtel Group Foundation and employees donated more than $70,000 to the Queensland Flood Appeal and also joined the many mud armies in the Gladstone and Bundaberg regions to assist with the clean-up efforts.

WHEN Curtis Island finally opened its accommodation doors in the middle of last year to house workers for three LNG projects, there were only 500 people.

Today, it is the size of a small town and the peak is expected over the coming months.

“At peak we expect to have close to 9000 people working across the projects,” Bechtel Gladstone general manager Kevin Berg told Shift Miner.

“This peak is expected to continue for more than 12 months.”

There are currently 8600 employed by the construction giant in the Gladstone region, and while 51 per cent of the workforce is local

the vast bulk of the other 4000-odd workers live on the island while they’re at work.

So how is the town run?

“The planning of these facilities has been important to ensure the residents are in an environment where they can relax, take part in physical activity and socialise with their new community of workmates as well as integrate into the Gladstone community,” Mr Berg said.

The management of the facilities is key to providing this experience, from the dining hall, to the swimming pools, to the gymnasiums, transport between Curtis Island and the mainland and the many other facilities and services that are provided.

“There are very strict management systems and processes in place to ensure the lifestyle in these facilities is as pleasurable as possible,” he said.

“This includes strict policies around behaviour, noise and respect for fellow residents.”

Meanwhile, Bechtel is continuing its recruitment drive and says it is targeting locals first, then Queenslanders, and then other Australians.

During the next 12 months as the workforce hits its peak, there will be changes in construction skill-sets as the needs of the project changes.

“We are currently recruiting specifically for riggers, crane operators, pipe fitters, boiler maker/welders and special class welders.”

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TRAINING TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS

Training in the mining and gas industries How is this relevant to me as either an employer or an employee?

Legislation surrounding these industries is specific in terms of what is required on both sides of the fence (employer and employee).

Employers must have people correctly trained in the competencies applicable to their industry and employees have a safety and health obligation or a duty of care depending on the legislation applicable to their industry to ensure that they do not perform a task unless they are competent to do.

Well, why is the training so in depth?

The training needs to cover the skills and knowledge requirements for the successful completion of the unit of competency set out in the training standard set down by regulatory bodies.

If this is not effectively covered, then the attendees of the sub-standard training will not be competent to the standard.

A lot of the information which is required for units of competencies must be covered to ensure a holistic, well-rounded, competent individual is delivered on completion of the unit.

Have you ever thought why training for the mining and gas industries is so in depth?

If we have a quick look at the applicable legislation we will understand why.

In mining for example, legislation requires that the Site Senior Executive (SSE) for the mine must ensure that mine workers are competently trained, and a person must not undertake a task unless they are competent.

What does competent mean?

Simply put, it means you have to be able to demonstrate that you have the skill and knowledge required to consistently complete the task to the standard required.

In this instance it is to the standard set out for the current Resource Infrastructure Industry competency for the particular task.

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How does industry knowledge and experience fit in then?

If you are talking about your own industry experience and knowledge and skills, then this will become evident in the way in which you participate in assessments and work related activities.

If you’re talking about the industry knowledge of your assessor or trainer, then you should always choose a reputable Registered Training Organisation (RTO), who have staff with extensive experience in the particular industry.

This very distinct advantage allows participants to be the best they can be and demonstrate their competence.

Found this helpful?

If you would like to learn more about training and how it can help your career or business, call Joncris Sentinel Services on 074921 4407

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Mandandanji muddy the waters

Mandandanji Ltd has set up Muddy Waters, a washdown facility in the Surat Basin.

WHEN Bob Carlo saw the number of vehicles coming into the Surat Basin for the coal seam gas (CSG) industry, he had an idea.

The 57-year-old Mandandanji grandfather, who had been training and upskilling his mob’s youth, saw an opportunity for a washdown facility.

“Gas companies are bringing in their machines from all over Australia, and bringing in weeds with them and the state government was really slow to

act on this,” he told Shift Miner.

So Mr Carlo struck up a conversation with the main companies - Origin, QGC and Santos GLNG - saw there was a gap, drew up a business plan and that was that.

“So I started Muddy Waters in Chinchilla and Dalby.”

This was last year, and Muddy Waters has seven permanent employees, currently all Mandandanji members.

But after more talks with the gas companies, the business

is set to expand throughout the Surat Basin and with this comes opportunities for Indigenous neighbours.

“I realised that if we have a funeral or family matter, then we’ll have no workers for a couple of days and that’s no way to operate a business,” Mr Carlo said.

Muddy Waters is looking to expand into Roma and Wandoan.

The business provides a mobile wash-down and weed hygiene service as well as a static wash-down and weed

hygiene control system in Chinchilla and operates 24/7 for all types of vehicles.

Mr Carlo, who is a ticketed jack-of-all-trades, was employed by the Mandandanji traditional owner group last year to deliver training and look for opportunities for their people in the gas industry.

This is after over a decade of upskilling his people on a voluntary basis.

“I am trying to build a legacy for Mandandanji in the future,” he explained.

Funding slashed to school-based apprentices FROM July, not all school-based apprentices will be fully subsidised by the state government.

Under the current regime, registered training providers were eligible to receive 100 per cent funding of training schoolbased apprentices regardless of the priority of the qualification. However, from July 1 that will change and funding will be aligned with priority.

Priority One is 100 per cent subsidised for occupations deemed to be ‘critical priorities’ in the Queensland skills shortage list.

Priority Two is 75 per cent subsidised for jobs that not on the list, but considered as ‘high priorities’.

Priority Three is 50 per cent subsidised for jobs not on the list but considered as ‘medium priorities’.

Existing students will not have their funding cut, and their existing subsidy will be honoured by the Department of Education, Training and Employment.

If the student is Indigenous, has a disability or long-term condition, or is from a non-English speaking background then they will also be fully subsidised regardless of the priority listing.

For information regarding specific priority ratings, go to the state government website qtis.training.qld.gov.au and enter the name of the qualification to view funding details.

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Around Town

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TEA, PLEASE! The Mining Women’s Support Group recently enjoyed high tea at Yeppoon.

(L-R) Rosie Marfleet, Jessica Samuels, Rebecca Smith

(L-R) Bonita Lousich, Tennelle Jones, Anny Tait, Colleen Dwyer

(L-R) Tania Edelman, Louise Bamford, Elise Sarapuu

(L-R) Victoria Murray, Vanessa Raulini, Joy Wyatte

Shanna, and Kelly Francis Bartlem

(L-R) Kate Mottram, Jaimi-Lee Case, Cindy Tree

MOUNTAIN MEN CRUSHED!

The Blackwater Crushers played the Springsure Mountain Men at Blackwater recently. It was a tough game, but the home side eventually became the victors.

(L-R) Toni, Joe and Markus Browne

Angela and Renee Davison

Toni, Joe and Markus Browne

Peter and Gail Brown

Skye Barry and Tyran Chiles

(L-R) Courtney, Kym and Tiffany

(L-R) Junior, Blue and Linaea Edwards

Josh Snell and Mikayla Hobbs

Marnie White and Damian O’Shea

Holding a social event you want photographed? Call the Shift Miner office on 4921 4333 to let us know. You can also give our office a bell if you’d like a copy of any of the photos in this edition.

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Around Town

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CRUSHERS & PIRATES

They’re only little, but they’re tough! The Peak Downs Pirates took on the Blackwater Crushers in the junior league recently.

U8s Peak Downs Pirates player Rhett Wedel being chased

by Crushers players.

Matt Wood and Matt Elms

(L-R) Julius, Lewis, Lenita and Monica Malone

Bailey Arnold and Todd Stallman

(L-R) Kim, Taylah and Bailey Morgan

(L-R) Tracey, Caitlyn and Beau Earea

Sam Evans and Corey Malcomson

Jason and Jorja Finch

Michael Stallman and Josie Barrss

Maycee Introna and Bobbie-Leigh Goff

Jaco and Madeleine Van Zyl

Evelyn Cunningham and Toni Mathewson

Ellison nursing Arnold and Carl Shmylo nursing Pretzel

Buy this and many other images at

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FROm THE EDITOR I JUST wonder how much of a selffulfilling prophecy it becomes when we continue to dwell on the doom and gloom in the mining industry. Being negative is something that is becoming a little too easy and some unkind people have even branded us a nation of whingers. We have become too used to being the lucky country that as soon as we are faced with a little adversity say, a downturn in coal prices - we are ready to throw in the towel.

If you believe everything you read then you would think our economy was on the brink of a collapse and that our mines were about to shut down for good.

There is no doubt that the coal industry hit its peak with extraordinary prices last year and has come down with a thump. Businesses that support the industry are struggling and even miners who have had secure jobs for the past few years are feeling insecure.

Despite this, there are some exciting developments but we seem to ignore them. This month, Queensland

saw a new gold mine open, BMA’s Daunia began producing its first coal and Anglo American’s Grosvenor has powered ahead.

In the meantime, some businesses are looking outside the square and taking up opportunities overseas.

Perhaps this downturn will see a spike in innovation.

One coal analyst has also lifted our spirits. Even though jobs may be shaky for the short-term, they will not dry up. This is because we happen to produce coal of such high quality that it will always be in demand.

Although we do have a heavy reliance on China and everyone is watching to see what is going to happen there, our eggs are not in one basket. We do have India sitting in the wings with the likes of GVK. Having returned to Queensland after many years of living across the ditch, I can tell you that it’s not so bad here!

Comment or SMS 0409 471 014

Stuff

SHIFT MIN ER The Queens

land mining

The comedy that is the safety culture of the mines is the primary reason people coming from a background in the mining industry are somewhat of a joke to proper tradesmen that are removed from the “wrapped in cotton wool” work life that miners have grown so very accustomed to. The majority are all but unemployable outside of mining thanks to the mines use of systematic brainwashing of their staff with regards to unrealistic safety measures!

Safety is beyond mad. The construction industry will never be the same. Thiess don’t let us above one metre and are about to ban ladders and we are sparkies. Bubble wrapped high vis is what we are wearing next. I have had HSSE tell me many times in the last few years ‘common sense’ are not words used any more.

100 per cent agree again this week with your article in Shift Miner. I wonder how many millions would be saved on these big projects if we didn’t have an office of 20+ useless safety idiots on

munity’s bes

t source of

local news

Monday April

15, 2013 159t h Editi

on

Locally Owned &

to the Editor Our follow-up story on safety in the resources sector had people as stirred up as our first front page exposè on the issue. We received another flurry of text messages from workers within the industry that are infuriated by the level of safety bureaucracy in mining and gas:

and gas com

Operated

www.shiftm

iner.com

M A G A Z I N E

Chip off th old block e

»

High-vis kid s page 10

Mind-bog gling!

NEW SAFETY MA DNESS.

PERSONAL IN EXPERTS JURY

»

Full report page 4

All accid and personal ents injury claim

s: • Motor Vehicle • Public LiabilityAccidents • Workers Injury Claims Claims • • Total and Mining Accide Permanent nt Claims Disability • Boating and Holiday Accide Insurance Claims nt Claims Darren Sekac Whitsunday is available for consult ations at the and Proserp ine offices on appointment only.

Thursday, by Darren Seka c*

*Personal Injuries Law Accredite d Specialist

Call

(MAckAy

www.m4944 2000 acamiet.com. au

)

MACKAY

every site! I operate heavy plants and have done for 16 years, yet whenever I go on a new site I can’t operate anything unless deemed competent by some safety wanker that has never even sat in a machine but has the authority because he has done a four day Cert IV course to say if I’m competent or not!

It’s out of control!

Praise the Lord someone has started the ball rolling on this one. Nothing can match the bizarreness of this modern disease.

Even the most militant unionist would never have been game to attempt to introduce the restrictive work practices that currently exist under the guise of today’s safety standards.

I have just been at a presentation where our work performance is partly assessed by how many SLAMS we do a month... everyone is tracked and counselled if not enough are produced.... grrrr

Photos to THE EDITOR

Join the conversation at www.facebook.com/shiftminer

SEEN SOMETHING WE HAVEN’T? Prizes for the best mining photos.

Take it on your phone or camera and send it in - Text to 0409 471 014 alex.graham@shiftminer.com

18

29th April 2013

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Frank the Tank’s Dear Frank,

My wife thinks I drink too much. I tell her it’s not a problem but she says it’s undermining our marriage.

I work really hard and I think I should be able to enjoy a couple of beers whenever I want, but at the same time I don’t want to put my marriage in jeopardy.

What should I do?

Derek, Middlemount

I’ll tell you right off the bat, Derek.

I think your wife is completely insane.

As far as I’m concerned it’s virtually impossible to drink too much, and I’ve soiled myself five Saint Patrick’s Days in a row due to excess Guinness consumption.

If the good Lord didn’t want us to drink alcohol he wouldn’t have made it so fantastic.

You only need to spend 15 minutes at your local pub to have the wonders of alcohol reaffirmed in your mind.

Thanks to the miracle powers of ‘the good stuff’, that middle-aged bloke who scored one century in grade cricket back in 1989 is able to recall in excruciatingly vivid detail every boundary he hit.

Suddenly, that woman who just two hours ago had a backside like a half empty bean bag and a face like a smashed crab looks like a supermodel.

Even that poor tone-deaf gentleman has suddenly gained the belief that his karaoke

Fair Dinkum!

A crazed fan threw a razor full of pubic hair at the X-men star. Hugh was a little startled.

“Streakin” good love advice

version of Khe Sanh could rival Barnsey’s.

There’s no other substance on earth that can boast this many fantastic properties.

Now that I’ve stressed giving up alcohol isn’t a valid option, we can deal with the real issue at hand. Obviously you don’t want your wife to leave you; have you ever tried to prepare a roast meal yourself?

I had a friend whose wife left him and he decided he’d cook himself a roast. He lost three fingers and paralysed the left side of his body trying to turn on the oven.

I think the simplest solution to this problem is to get your wife horribly addicted to alcohol.

When she’s not looking, Irish up her morning coffee, lace the cold water jug with a bit of vodka, and dip the end of her lipstick in tequila.

Before you know it she’ll be waking up with the shakes and insisting you take her down to the local for a few pints.

Frank

SENSIBLE SUSAN

Derek, I would think this one would be a bit of a no brainer.

I’m sure a lot of men would tell you they’d trade their wife for an ice cold six-pack, but it’s just not the case.

From what I can gather, it’s not as though your wife is asking you to completely swear off the sauce - just cut back a little.

Why not meet her in the middle?

If you drink every night of the week, why not cut back to just the weekends?

If this is a major problem for your wife I really think you ought to reach a compromise with her. It’s not worth risking your marriage for a beer.

Susan

IN NEW YORK - Talk about

IN THE US - A man with a frog

IN EUROPE

IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY - A man has risked

a rabid wolverine. A deranged fan attacked Aussie actor Hugh Jackman by hurling an electric razor full of her pubic hair at him.

Jackman was reportedly working out in a New York gym when the woman entered and screamed, “I love you,” before hurling the razor at the X-men star.

Witnesses say Jackman was at first concerned that the crazed fan may have been going to produce a gun or knife.

The woman was arrested by police a short time later.

- You might not look at the next road sign you pass the same way. Metal body parts from the dead are being recycled and turned into road signs, car parts and aircraft engines.

High-value metals like cobalt and titanium that can withstand the extremely high temperatures of cremation are being sold to the automotive and aeronautical industries, while more general metals are used to create a variety of things, such as road signs.

All money made from recycling the metal parts is donated to charity, with over a $1.5 million being raised so far.

phobia has been awarded $1.5 million in compensation after construction work turned his backyard into a wetland.

The man claimed he was a prisoner in his own home after water run-off from a nearby construction site caused his 40 acre property to become inundated with frogs.

After a seven-year legal odyssey the American Court of Appeal ruled that the man was entitled to the whopping compensation payout but should not receive a further $250,000 in punitive damages.

life and limb by floating down a flooded, croc-infested river in the nude.

Why? To win booze of course.

While camping near the Daly River, the man’s friends offered him two cases of bourbon if he’d climb onto a log in the flooded river and ride it downstream in the nude.

Thankfully this quest to obtain alcohol ended far more happily than it did for a 20-year-old man in 2009, who drowned attempting to cross the same river to get

29th April 2013

19

CAR FOR SALE

BOAT FOR SALE

78 XC FALCON GS UTE

Offshore Marine Master 2012 Mac5 Cuddy.

250 Alloy head Crossflow on straight LPG, Supercharged with Raptor V-L blower, T5 gearbox, 9\” Diff, 3.7:1 Ratio, Disc Brakes, Regretful sale

$29,990 ono Phone: 0428 344 437 CAR FOR SALE 2008 TOYOTA AVENSIS VERSO 68000 Ks, 4 doors 7 seats, 4 cyl. A1 condition. New tyres. Complied 2009 Rear nudge-bar. Full logs. All Toyota serviced. Always kept undercover. With 7 seats there’s plenty of space for the whole family. $21,900 NEG Phone: 0413 913 042

CAR FOR SALE 2010 TOYOTA HILUX Mine Spec, BMA Thiess Mac Coal Certified, New 265 Maxxis Iron Mud Tires, ADB Bull Bar, Lightfrce Driving Light, Twin Battery, Snorkle, Iron-Man Lift Kit, Mine Radio x 2 UHF, 135 Litre Fuel Tank, Oconners Tray. Toolboxes, Fire Ext 1st Aid MSDS

$40,000 Phone: 0421 000 789 BOAT FOR SALE 2008 BAJA26 OUTLAW LUXURY PERFORMANCE POWERBOAT AS NEW 496ci Magnum HO Mercruiser 70mph 4 Blade Prop Aluminium Tandem Trailer Toilet, Cabin, Bunks, Seating Custom Upholstery, Graphics $95,000 ono Phone: 0414 330 803 DINGHY FOR SALE

2012 Horizon 3.1M Aluminium Dinghy, 6HP Yamaha Motor and Redco trailer – All New, Registered 11/13 with safety gear.

Brand new! 90HP Suzuki 4 stroke, Hydraulic steering, Live well, Bimini, Bait station, self draining fully welded floor, Kill tank.

4mm bottom, 3mm sides.

Comes on Dunbier Glider trailer. Fishermans dream $39,950 Phone: 0404 891 776

CARAVAN AND CAR FOR SALE 2010 SOUTHERN CROSS 5th WHEELER 8mtrs, vcomplete with all upgrades. Ford F250 V8 deisel w/ gas injection. tow vehicle. Full details on request. Will pass any inspection.

Phone: 07 4162 5730

Compass slide-on camper on Ford F250 ute.Camper sleeps 2 plus makeup 3rd. 3way Electrolux fridge, 2 burner stove, wired 12 & 240 volts, 100Lwater, PortaPotti, space for 2x4.5kg LPG and 2 batteries, steps and legs carried below floor. F250XL 2001, 4.2L diesel, 190,000km, strengthened springs, UHF, compressor.

Whole unit $45,000 ono.

Camper only $11,000 ono.

LOST SOLID YELLOW GOLD BANGLE At Mackay Airport on Thursday 7th March around 3pm. Lost at security Screening Area. $200 reward offered.

If you have any information please contact MACKAY POLICE on

Phone: 0419 788 599

0409 265 027

HOUSE/LAND FOR SALE

HOUSE FOR SALE

BUSINESS/HOME FOR SALE

EMU PARK

CAR FOR SALE 1991 TOYOTA TROOPY

Currently leased @ $385 inc gst/week Includes shares in Rockhampton Cab Company Perfect sideline income

$320,000 neg

Phone: 0407 373 664 CAR FOR SALE VS CLUBSPORT

Exhaust System 2.5 Inch $500 4x Standard GXL

steering pump,new water pump,new front

$50 5 Dunlop Tyres 265/70R16 111RLT $250 Full

great condition

Suspension Front Coil, Rear Leaf & Shockies $1000

$8,500 ono

LIGHTNING 7mtr Alloy Walk-around, Twin 90hp E-Techs with

CAMPER FOR SALE TOP-FORM insulated alloy camper,

very low hrs, Vessel

fits into 1.8mt. tray, fully equipped, only need food

and safe, with all possible extras.

and personal gear to use,

$62,000

$20,000

Phone: 49 739 698

Phone: 07 4973 9698

BOAT FOR SALE

TRAILER FOR SALE

2013 HORIZON 435 Easy Fisher PRO on Dunbier, with 40 HP Mercury Tiller, saftey gear, Bimini top, front casting deck, rear storage with bait tank, Hummingbird 160X sounder, battery/ box, Side pockets, Rolled side decks $14,490 Phone: 0749 467 286 LAND FOR SALE YEPPOON

3 beds, 2 bath big

block, 5 minutes from CBD, schools, transport.

yard, fenced

Plenty of space for shed, pool, kids to play.

$350,000

$300,000

Phone: 0419 020 566

Phone: 0409 391 254

$48,000 Phone: 0413 501 222

Phone: 0429 831 021

is quick, economical

City Conveniences!

$75,000 ono Phone: 0417 704 369

Rims $750 each Air Intake Snorkel (Top Only)

brake pads, 142000km,

4000 sqm North facing, corner premium

Bitumen Road and Phone to front Gate. School, PO, Garage, Hospital, Hotel kindergarden and stores 15 min Drive.

New gold mines in area.

CAR PARTS FOR SALE

Front Bumper Land Cruiser 2012 $150 Standard

brick at Emu Park.

2.5 ACRES FARMLET

$15,000 Phone: 0429 112 396

mags, new power

Excellent low set 3YO

SELF-SUSTAINABLE living on a sapphire mine claim 5 km west of Rubyvale. Small house, off grid, solar/ rainwater/composting toilet, great view.

1hz motor, turbo diesel and gas which gives more power and econ.

New suspension , injectors, timing belt, new paint ,windscreen, clutch, 12 months rego, 90% tyres.

series 2, 19 inch chrome

Acreage Living,

LAND FOR SALE

$310,000

BUSINESS FOR SALE

BOAT FOR SALE

$79,000 ono Phone: 0432 429 264

TAXI LICENCE IN BOOMING GLADSTONE

OPEN TAXI LICENCE FOR SALE IN ROCKHAMPTON

CAR FOR SALE

or MARIA on

$595,000 ono Phone: 07 4937 3564

Ph. 0419 672 181

Phone: 0439 872 215

49 683 444

40ha. Open country, House, Dam, bore (1100gl/ ph) Submersible pump, Yards & ramp. Excellent garden & views. 50ks nth of Yeppoon Turnoff. 1.3ks off highway, bitumen road, School buses from Highway

Phone: 0409 630 311

Phone: 0407 913 914 2006 DODGE RAM 3500 SLT Lonestar Edition Heavy Duty 5.9L Cummins Turbo Diesel Allison auto transmission Wood grain inserts 5th wheel hitch, tow bar 4 door dual cab Dual wheels, new tires and chrome Call for more detail.....

Genuine sale!!!!

104000klms

BUSINESS FOR SALE

Sale price includes shares in “Gladstone Taxis”.

CAMPER AND CAR FOR SALE

$4,500

NORTH OF YEPPOON

BOAT FOR SALE 2004 PowerCat 2600 Sports Cabriolet. Twin 115hp Yamaha 4 stroke engines.

Sleeps 4, Toilet, Shower.

Road registered tandem trailer. Always maintained and kept in a shed. All safety gear. Excellent condition. Registered until September 2013.

Reduced to $108,000.00 Must be sold. OFFERS, OFFERS, OFFERS Very Negotiable

LAND FOR SALE WONDAI 160 ACRES 160 undulating acres at Wondai. 16 Metre Weekender, power, phone, 2 watertanks, permanent gully, 2 dams, cattle yards with vet crush, fully fenced.

Splendid home site, with captivating sunsets.

1 Hour to Gympie $345,000 Phone: 0417 704 369

Home built camping trailer, built to carry 3 full sizes bikes or a quad and bike, camp slides forwards or backwards to balance picture taken back for bikes to sit on 5 months rego. Tows very well $4,500 Phone: 0429 112 396 CARAVAN FOR SALE BOROMA 700ST Insulated Custom designed, Shower/Toilet, fitted with 2x Electrolux Air conditioners, TV/DVD, W/ Machine, Gas cooktop,Grill & Oven,2x80ltr Water tanks, Hot water system, Solar panel, Twin batteries, Battery charger, Wired for 240/12volt, 1x80ltr GWT, Excellent condition. $42,000 neg.

Phone: 0419 001 369 LAND FOR SALE PROSERPINE Rural land 15 min cbd proserpine 2x200 acre lots good grazing land and house sites will sell separately POA $ 520,000 the pair Phone: 0447 031 588

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MOVIE Review BY JUSTIN CARLOS

Horrifically good cinema

Sony Pictures Australia has decided to show the film in only four cities - Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth - across Australia, sparking an internet outrage.

Usually when horror fans are terrified they’re sitting inside the theatre, but Aussie fans of the genre are howling over the forthcoming remake of horror classic The Evil Dead.

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Angry fans have plastered their disgust on the Sony Pictures Facebook page, and a petition has begun circulating to attempt to gain a wider release for the film.

It is bizarre that the The Evil Dead has been given such a narrow release in Australia, considering it went straight to number one at the box office in the United States and Canada.

Although Australian audiences might not be graced with the cinematic release of the new Evil Dead, we’re not deprived of the original.

However, this is where it gets confusing.

The most critically acclaimed version of The Evil Dead is, in fact, The Evil Dead 2, which both retells the story from the first film, and then diverges into a narrative in its own right.

Ranked inside the top 50 on Empire’s list of the 500 greatest movies of all time, Evil Dead 2 is about a guy named Ash who goes to the woods with his girlfriend, only to accidentally awaken an ancient evil which proceeds to wreak havoc.

It’s then up to Ash to defeat the evil, save himself and possibly the world!

The film is incredibly over the top and delightfully ridiculous; blood gushes from the walls, Ash replaces his hand with a chainsaw, and there’s a creepy stuffed deer head that comes to life and laughs hysterically.

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ACROSS 1. Of city outskirts 5. Prickly desert plant 9. The Doors singer, Jim ...

10. Selection 12. Far-reaching 13. Give off 14. Horse’s neck hair 16. Ape or monkey 19. Trapeze artist 21. Dress ribbon 24. Carreras or Domingo 25. Helper 27. Artist’s workplace 28. Prescribed drug 29. Gold & ...

30. Stammers

Star Wars fans take note IF you have been one of the fans waiting for a new Stars Wars film since the release of Revenge of the Sith eight years ago, wait no more.

And if the 16-year wait between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace was an agony you’d never like to repeat, then read on.

You are to be treated to with a Stars Wars-fest, with a new film to be released in two years time and then a film each year after that.

Walt Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm announced last week that Star Wars: Episode VII will hit theaters in the northern summer of 2015 and every summer after that will offer a “Star Wars” film, alternating with one of the standalone films.

J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode VII from a script by Michael Arndt.

Down 1. Warmest season 2. French caps 3. Monarch’s rule 4. Turn to spray 6. Track & field events 7. Appeals board 8. Speared 11. Large brown seaweed 15. Black-skinned vegetable 17. Christens 18. Calm # 45 20. Frog relative 21. Doubt innocence of 22. Severe food shortage 23. Pressure of work

LAST EDITION’S SOLUTIONS S EME S T E A O K N L ODG I NG M I M L O F F S P R I N Y S P A T H D E N R A D I C A L A I H A MO T T O C A I R E T HOMA S I N G CO S I E R

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SHIFT MINER Handy Crossword 123ME - (15A grid) Handy Crossword 065s. pdf

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© Lovatts Crosswords - 3/06/2009 - Artist -mb

What can you learn from a

WINO

MORE- mining news MORE- industrial news MORE- investment news Shift Miner Wednesday’s Industry neWs onlIne (WIno) by Shift Miner Handy Cross blank grid.pdf ©Lovatts PublicationsPremium 5/03/09 Queensland business and industrial news www.shiftminer.com/news

artist – mb neWs you Won’t Get anyWhere else

SHIFT MINER

WEDNESDAY’S INDUSTRIAL NEWS ONLINE

Delivered direct to your inbox every Wednesday To register go to www.shiftminer.com and follow the link 29th April 2013

21

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Redmond’s Rants

NIGHT SHIFT

The unholy and unhealthy worship of digging dirt in the dark

To the untutored, this was just an accident. But everyone else know’s it was a result of the devil’s work - nightshift.

IF we follow the timeline, some seams of coal have been 400 million years in the forming. Four hundred million years between the growth of a forest and it being dug up and used as fuel today. Four hundred

million years: not a bad gestation period.

I can’t believe that something that has been in the ground for that long MUST come out of the ground TONIGHT. Can’t it wait until sunrise for us to dig it up?

Another 12 meagre little hours on top of 400 million years?

The old forest grew in brilliant sunshine all those years ago, so why must we dig it up during the night? Nightshift is the devil’s work.

At 10pm on a normal night you are clean, fed and relaxed; your thoughts of seeking out your bed are strong. You lie stretched out and switched off, the mattress is the counterpoint to your worn old body. Arches in your body are supported by the mattress bolsters. The pillows hold your cranium in optimum position. The pressure is released from your endoskeleton, allowing repair.

Protein builds, oxygen enriches. Your mind relaxes and you begin sleep.

About this same time on night shift finds our hero knee-deep in hot, escaped hydraulic oil, bolting a reborn pump back to its spiritual homeland or partaking in the never-ending, soul-destroying and mind-crushing round eternal of black oil and filter replacement. Our normally quite sane and logical hero, now sleep-deprived, has thoughts of whacking the heads off baby ducks with a golf club in front of a bus load of kindergarten children.

It’s true that there are a couple of professions that are best pursued at night.

The burglar and the prostitute. Having been robbed by both during my life, I feel they deserve a life of endless night shift.

And what of the merry soul, whom when I’m having fire and brimstone, flood and foul apocalyptic thoughts at 2.42am - chirps out such filthy phases such as: “I love night shift” or “I’d do full time night shift if I could”? It’s times and comments like these that make sense of why I’m forbidden to wear a large calibre side-arm in the company of such unholy, chipper worshipers of the night.

Trade tools on night shift aggravate me.

As I plug in the air line to the rattle gun, I know that I should be clipping a belt to a machine gun to properly carry out the repair I’m thinking about. The oxy torch frustrates me on night shift; why does it lack the pressure to burn down everything?

And the stupid forklift with its bright orange roll cage and neat tynes; it needs to be black tonight with claws and teeth.

Well, I can’t sit at this typewriter ranting any longer; my ravens require their feeding bowls refilled (the intestines and eyeballs of chirpy night shift workshippers).

Who is Redmond? Redmond was born in a cross-fire hurricane and now resides in Queensland. Former Golden Glove champ turned champion shearer, his shearing career was cut short when he entered the adult film industry and made 3467 films in three months. He now enjoys semi-retirement and lives happily on his 100,000 acre property with his seven wives. He has received the annual Golden Pen award from the Writer’s Guild four years in a row in the Truth Telling category...

Suggested heading: Help? Family Law services When animals attack! for separated parents

This golden eagle clearly didn’t want its picture taken.

We all know that there are more deadly creatures in Australia than anywhere else in the world. There are snakes with enough venom to bring down a rhino, killer spiders, sharks and even a poisonous octopus.

Everybody knows about the reputation a taipan has for being dangerous, and lions, tigers and sharks have all been feared as man-eaters. But what about when an unlikely animal attacks?

Last week in Belarus a man was attacked and killed by a beaver whilst on a fishing trip.

The man was apparently trying to photograph the animal when it became agitated and bit him twice on the thigh, severing an artery.

A bit of internet sleuthing revealed that this is not the only attack by an unlikely animal. Last year an Oregon pig farmer suffered a full scale swine mutiny, when his

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29th April 2013

pigs apparently turned on him. When called to investigate police found only a few remains and a set of false teeth, and deduced that the pigs had eaten the unfortunate farmer.

Observations of a chimp in a US zoo revealed that he had hatched a plot to deal with visitors he found particularly objectionable. The chimp would store rocks behind a bale of hay, and when visitors he didn’t care for approached his enclosure he hurled rocks at them, without prior warning.

A particularly camera shy golden eagle decided to deal with the paparazzi as though it were a rogue salmon. I guess he just wanted his privacy?

With bizarre and unlikely animal attacks occurring with such frequency, I think the question needs to be asked, are all these attacks connected?

Perhaps the Mayan doomsday prophecy was correct after all and the animals are rising up to reclaim the earth and enslave mankind?

Or maybe North Korea’s foray into missile construction is merely a cunning ruse to distract the world from its real objective…total world domination through animal mind control!

Now that I think about it, I got swooped by a very suspicious-looking magpie recently…

If you’ve experienced a funny, bizarre or just plain scary animal attack, tell us about it on the Shift Miner Facebook page.

When parents separate, change is constant.

How parents and children adjust and react to separation and those changes varies enormously. Lawyers and courts have a role to play, but ideally a separated parent should be in contact with lots of other services who can help. The idea is usually to stay out of courts where possible.

Getting some initial legal advice about your own personal circumstances as soon as you can is always recommended but you often do not need to see a lawyer on an ongoing basis.

There are lots of services available to help separated parents in the Mackay and Bowen Basin. Some of these services available to both fathers and mothers include:

a. Mackay Family Relationships Centre provides mediation for separated parents on what parenting arrangements to put in place for their children;

b. Uniting Care run a post separation cooperative parenting program, which is all about focusing on your kids and learning new skills on how to communicate with the other parent when separated. There are also specialist counselors who provide support and

strategies on being a separated parent, how to manage difficulties that arise with your kids and personal counseling;

c. Relationships Australia run the parenting orders program about parenting after separation and run a program for children about being in a separated family, both young children and teenagers. They also have mediation services for separated parents. They also provide counseling for separated parents and counseling for children of separated parents

d. Mackay Children’s Contact Centre, which is a facility that allows for changeovers in a neutral space without parents needing to see each other and they also provide a facility for supported or supervised contact with children.

Most people when they separate have not been separated before. In life when most of us have not done something before we usually try and find out how to do it well.

Being a separated parent should be no different.

Supplied by: James Bailey Partner SR WALLACE & WALLACE LAWYERS

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Bait Shop Banter

going off with metre-plus salmon regularly, as well as barra,” said Chris.

If you’re chasing these big salmon, live bait or soft plastics are the go, with hard body lures not having much effect.

YEPPOON - It’s a

fisherman’s paradise at the moment with fish practically jumping into the boat both in close and out wide.

Adrian from the Secret Spot in Yeppoon reckons it’s been “going off like a frog in a sock”.

“There’s been heaps of red jew and red emperor - douglas shoal is fishing particularly well - and there’s a lot of spotties and doggies [mackerel] in closer to the islands.”

If you don’t fancy heading out wide, the creeks and estuaries are fishing equally well.

“People have been catching heaps of grunter and salmon at the mouth of Coorooman Creek on Lance Butler lures, some of the grunter have been particularly big,” said Adrian.

Visibility in the water has improved greatly too, so conditions are perfect for spear fishermen.

GLADSTONE - Just like

Yeppoon and Mackay, the fishing in Gladstone has been fantastic, with reports of most anglers filling their bag limits.

According to Greg from Pat’s Tackle World, there’s plenty happening around the Harbour City.

“We’ve heard of a lot of anglers getting some really nice sweet lip and coral trout. We’ve had a really nice patch of weather recently.”

The drop in the water temperature has slightly reduced the amount of barra being caught, but the creeks and rivers are still fishing well.

“People have been getting some nice bream and grunter around Auckland Creek, and with the cooler weather you’d expect the salmon numbers to increase too,” said Greg.

Just a reminder to all anglers to get your gear in order for the Boyne Tannum Hookup, which kicks off in two weeks.

The Hookup supports some fantastic charities, including the Men of League, which will be represented at the hookup by a number of former players.

MACKAY - Mackay anglers have

finally had a chance to get out wide and do some fishing after weeks of windy weather.

Chris from Tackle World Mackay says there’s been plenty of success in the past week.

“The weather the past few days has been glorious and people are getting plenty out wide: good coral trout and really good 25kg plus Spanish mackerel.

Trolling lures, using strip bait or pilchards seems to be working really well.”

The creeks in Mackay have been fishing just as well.

“They were a bit quiet this week because everyone was out wide, but they’ve been

Sladey’ caught this nice mackerel on a floating pilchard.

your weather forecast T

MACKAY Gladstone

MACKAY Gladstone

Mon 29

Cold fog then thunderstorms WEEK 1 - the first real dry air from the south caused the coldest minimums for the southern Coalfields so far this year. Last Sunday (20 April) Miles recorded a chilly 3.4C, Biloela 6.6C and Rolleston 8.6C - not felt since last October.

The cool air combined with moisture from the late clearing monsoon to form early thick fog then afternoon thunderstorms in the Coalfields.

One or two severe thunderstorms cells

produced 45 knot (83kph) gusts and dumped 32mm at Bedford Weir inside 45 minutes. Last Friday (18 April) evening another line of storms dumped 50 mm Rockhampton, 42mm Kelambete, 31mm Middlemount and 27mm Clermont.

The loud thunder and repetitive lightning made for an eerie night, and some would say a fitting introduction to ANZAC Day, as showers cleared from the Central Coast and north eastern Coalfields.

The weekend winds should ease causing cool mornings and warm (27-28C) sunny days to start the week. Early fog mid week should herald a warm to very warm (31-32C) May

i

d

If you have a good photo or fishing yarn send it through to our resident bait chucker-

angus.peacocke@shiftminer.com

With Mike Griffin

e

T

i

m

e

s

Tue 30

Wed 1

Thu 2

Fri 3 Sat 4 Sun 5

Time

Ht

Time

Ht

Time

Ht

Time

Ht

Time

Ht

Time

Ht

Time

Ht

0548 1145 1738

0.81 3.50 0.93

0012 0644 1244 1833

4.17 0.99 3.31 1.18

0114 0749 1353 1944

3.98 1.13 3.20 1.39

0225 0900 1509 2106

3.83 1.17 3.21 1.46

0340 1013 1625 2228

3.76 1.10 3.36 1.41

0451 1119 1733 2341

3.77 0.97 3.58 1.27

0552 1213 1828

3.79 0.84 3.80

0056 0735 1323 1927

5.80 1.13 4.50 1.05

0151 0836 1429 2027

5.53 1.34 4.24 1.38

0256 0949 1547 2143

5.27 1.44 4.14 1.62

0413 1107 1712 2310

5.11 1.36 4.28 1.66

0534 1220 1828

5.10 1.15 4.60

0033 0644 1321 1930

1.50 5.18 0.91 4.96

0139 0741 1412 2019

1.29 5.23 0.74 5.24

Mon 6

Tue 7

Wed 8

Thu 9

Fri 10 Sat 11 Sun 12

Time

Ht

Time

Ht

Time

Ht

Time

Ht

Time

Ht

Time

Ht

Time

Ht

0005 0624 1245 1853

1.18 4.03 0.80 3.80

0100 0713 1329 1937

0.98 4.11 0.66 3.99

0146 0754 1408 2015

0.84 4.11 0.59 4.12

0226 0831 1443 2051

0.76 4.06 0.57 4.19

0303 0905 1517 2126

0.75 3.96 0.62 4.22

0338 0940 1546 2159

0.80 3.83 0.72 4.18

0411 1013 1612 2231

0.91 3.65 0.87 4.09

0234 0829 1455 2101

1.14 5.20 0.66 5.43

0319 0909 1532 2138

1.07 5.10 0.66 5.54

0359 0947 1605 2213

1.07 4.97 0.70 5.61

0436 1022 1635 2245

1.10 4.82 0.77 5.61

0510 1055 1703 2317

1.16 4.64 0.89 5.54

0541 1125 1729 2346

1.27 4.44 1.04 5.40

0612 1153 1755

1.42 4.25 1.23

Day then a late shower mainly in the east.

Storms in the Darling Downs during the weekend could brush the southern Coalfields.

Boaties! There’s a mild autumn breeze on Monday/Tuesday. Monday: SE 14-18 and maybe a brief shower. Tuesday: SE/ESE 10-15 with a shower about. Wednesday: ESE 8-10 north and ESE/ENE 5-10 south. Thursday: ESE/ ENE/NE 4-8 early tending SE 10-15 during evening. Friday-Saturday: SE 15-20 gusts to 26 knots in squally showers. Sunday: SE 18-14 tending ESE10-15 south. Late storm south?

WEEK 2 - the SOI has been down to + 5 and is now +8, or just a tad under La Nina territory.

Mild autumn conditions with minimums in the low teens in the south. Mostly sunny days around the 27/28C in the south and 29/30C in the north. A little warmer warmer day ( 3132C) midweek. If an early fog occurs watch for a late storm Tuesday/Wednesday. Then some single figure minimums with a frost risk in the far south.

Marine Lovers! The easing wind trend could continue into the first two days of the week, subject to a large high in the Tasman not lingering. If a low develops off the NSW coast then a cold southerly surge in the south could sneak into Capricorn waters with squally showers mid to late week.

29th April 2013

23

Shift Miner Magazine

Sport

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Young Cod running at Condamine

Condamine Cods vs Goondiwindi at the ‘fishbowl’ in Condamine

JUST three rounds into the competition and the Condamine Cods Rugby Club are confident the 2013 season will be a good one.

So far in A-grade, the Cods are one win from two, and in B-grade two wins on the trot, with the results of round three not available at the time of print.

Losing in A-grade to the perennially strong Goondiwindi side was no embarrassment, with the final score 28-14 (pictured).

Furthermore vice-president Daniel Rollinson says it was a game they should have won.

“This season B-grade has been going really well and while we have lost a game in A-grade, we really should have won it,” he said.

“We have got a lot of young blokes playing for us this year, which is really helping our B-grade and season ambitions.”

“They are coming from all over the local economy, from farming, grazing,

gas, and council, but sadly we haven’t had much luck with getting more players from the gas sector playing.”

“Monday to Friday the population triples in Condamine, with all the gas workers around. But by the weekend it’s back to normal, although we do get the odd player from the gas sector who has a Monday to Friday roster and is prepared to risk it playing football.”

Off the field, the Cods will look to rebuild their bank balance this year after undertaking significant upgrades to their clubhouse in 2012.

“We have had to put the screws on spending this year because we spent a lot of money last year upgrading the clubhouse and building change rooms at the fishbowl [their home ground in condamine],” Mr Rollinson said.

“This year we will have to get back to saving some money again.”

Mining correction causes uptick in league players It just goes to show there is a silver lining to every cloud.

One of the positives to come out of the correction in mining is that reduced rosters are translating to increased sporting participation in coal mining towns.

It has long been the complaint of sporting teams that the 12-hour shift has made it virtually impossible for many miners to play footy on the weekend.

But with mining companies in less of a rush to get the coal out, president of the Blackwater

Crushers League Club Chris Johnson says they are getting a few more players.

“So far this season we have had really good numbers,” he said.

“And that means we are already looking at a much-improved performance to last year, which shouldn’t be hard since we were wooden spooners.”

“We’ve got most of the crew back from 2012, but also a few more players who can play again now that they are not on the seven-day rosters.”

Pictured: The Song Room teaching artist Wanda Bennett took Victoria Park State School students Adam Williamson and Riley Inkson through an arts and crafts activity where they designed post cards about multiculturalism to celebrate Harmony Day.

24

29th April 2013

“There are also more apprentices playing this year.”

“I guess that is more on the Curragh side of things. Most of the BMA blokes are still on seven-day rosters.”

While the ease in work demands is bringing some new faces to the team, the club’s real foundation remains those players who have been with the Crushers for over a decade.

“Brad Dorman is the backbone of our side at prop,” Mr Johnson said.

“We also have players like Josh Ford and Dion Callinan, who have passed the 10-year milestone, who will bring great strength to the team.”

“I have been playing with the club for six years and this is the keenest I have ever seen the guys.”

With just four rounds completed in the Central Highlands Rugby League competition, the teams to beat are Bluff, Clermont and Tieri, according to Mr Johnston.

The Hail Creek Mine Community Development Fund is proud to support The Song Room’s Mackay Creative Connections Project

Proud to be part of the central Queensland community and committed to the future.

This innovative programme aims to improve numeracy, literacy and retention in the classroom for local students, by engaging their artistic and creative skills.

Clermont Region – Travis Bates on 4988 3503 or clermont.cdf@riotinto.com

Students will also develop their cultural awareness through exposure to different forms of music, drama and art projects.

We support a range of local projects through our Community Development Funds. For more information:

Kestrel Mine – David Cameron on 3625 5222 or kestrel.cdf@riotinto.com Hail Creek Mine – Fiona Kruger on 4840 4401 or hailcreek.cdf@riotinto.com

www.riotintocoalaustralia.com.au

Shift Miner Magazine

Money Matters

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MONEY TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS

Want to manage your money better? Then budget

My New Year’s resolution is to manage my money better. Where do I start?

There are many possible answers

to this question – however, the most important and relevant answer must include budgeting. Budgeting. It seems

such a simple concept but it is actually one of the most powerful wealth creation tools available.

There are many myths surrounding the topic of budgeting. For example, one myth is that budgeting means the end of ‘fun’ and spontaneous spending.

Budgeting does not mean the end of spontaneous spending and it definitely doesn’t mean the end of fun.

Guilt-free spending is one of the main goals of budgeting.

The budget method I teach involves a three column cash book (cost $3 - $5) and roughly one hour of your time for training and establishment of your budget. It then takes a couple of minutes each day to maintain absolute control of your money.

This budget system is also great for kids to manage their pocket money - no more nagging children at the shops.

It doesn’t matter how much you earn, it’s how you manage those earnings that matters, and budgeting is an earnings management tool. Let me give an example.

I had two couples who came to see me late last year. Both couples were roughly the same age and both were seeking pre-retirement planning. With the first couple, only the husband had ever worked and he had earned quite a modest income. They had three children whom they had supported through university.

They had close to $1 million in investable

assets (not including their home) and will achieve a tax-free retirement income higher than their pre-retirement income.

The second couple, both professionals, both earning extremely high incomes also had close to $1 million in ‘assets’ but had debt almost to match! They will achieve a retirement income roughly 80 per cent below their current income.

Both couples had enjoyed annual holidays, enjoyed updating their motor vehicles etc and both had stated that they were happy with their lives. However, only one couple had considered their short-, medium- and long-term goals and used a simple budget to assist them to achieve these goals. The first couple had largely financed their lifestyle with current income, the second couple had largely financed their lifestyle with current and future income (consumer debt means you use future income to fund today’s purchases).

Seek out a professional adviser who understands the importance of managing your earnings by demonstrating a simple budget system and take control of your money today!

Information provided by Peter Foreman, RBS Morgans Limited, PO Box 984 Rockhampton QLD 4700. Phone: 07 4922 5855. Email: peter.foreman@ rbsmorgans.com. Web: www.rbsmorgans. com/rockhampton

Discover Australia's 2013 top investments and slash money off your taxes Call us or visit our website to learn how you can secure your financial future

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1300 884 379 www.nsg.org.au

Whether you are starting out, building wealth, or in retirement, RBS Morgans can help you with customised advice and services designed to form a long term relationship based on trust.

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www.rbsmorgans.com

Westpac Banking Corporation ABN 33 007 457141 Australian credit licence 233714 02/13

29th April 2013

25

Shift Miner Magazine

Off Shift

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To your credit If you’ve ever applied for a loan, a credit card or a mobile phone plan then there will be a credit report about you.

There’s a perception among some people that a credit report is a mysterious document, kept locked away in a bank vault and only accessible to banks and lending agencies.

In reality, it’s usually free to obtain, and you should do so yearly to make sure everything is in order.

Although you might be meeting all the repayments on your loan with ease, it is not uncommon for errors to occur on a credit report.

If these errors aren’t corrected, they may affect your capacity to obtain a loan in the future.

So what do you do if you notice an error?

Your best bet is to contact an Ombudsman, who can then tell you if the listing in your report is wrong.

Obviously the Ombudsman you contact will depend on the nature of the error, but say for example there is a problem with your mobile phone bill, you would contact the telecommunications Ombudsman.

If an error is discovered, the Ombudsman can then order the creditor contact the credit reporting agency and remove the error from this report.

26

29th April 2013

The best part about this service is it won’t cost you a penny.

There are a lot of advertisements on television and the internet for credit repair and debt solution services that claim they can improve your credit rating.

Be wary of these services, as they will often charge extremely high fees for services other organisations such as the Ombudsman perform for free, which may worsen your financial situation.

In most instances a default or historical listing cannot be removed from a credit report unless it is proven to be wrong.

Not to further alarm any technophobes out there, it’s also a good idea to look at your credit report yearly to help guard against identity fraud.

Unfortunately it’s a fact of life in the information age, and if someone has stolen your identity and taken out a loan in your name, this can affect your credit down the line if it’s not reported.

If you suspect someone has stolen your identity, contact the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (www.asic.gov.au) for information on what to do.

Shift Miner Magazine

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Money Matters

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