First Telfer-based trainees graduate

THE Telfer gold mine has celebrated the first graduates to complete a new six-month full-time on-site Certificate 1 course in Resources and Infrastructure Operations developed in partnership with the Pundulmurra campus of Pilbara TAFE.

Six of the 13 graduates have already found employment at the Newcrest Mining Ltd mine, about 450km east of Port Hedland, and Telfer’s Community Relations staff are working toward securing employment for all the graduates in the near future.

Community Relations Superintendent, Leon van Erp, said the tailor-made course was designed to give the trainees, young Indigenous students from Punmu and Warralong, the opportunity to live and breathe life and work at the gold mine.

“We are extremely proud of them and what they have achieved under the guidance of a highly credentialed course coordinator in Bruce Keane,” Leon said.

“These youngsters didn’t get an easy ride to their Certificate. They undertook study and hands-on practical training in 12-hour shifts on a two-weeks-on, two-weeks-off basis,” he said.

Newcrest also provided funds to upgrade the airstrip at Warralong so that the students, who live some 300km from the mine, could be flown in a chartered aircraft into and out of Telfer each fortnight.

The course comprised education and training in units designed to prepare the participants for work at Telfer, including small plant operation, light vehicle driver training, numeracy and literacy; activities in laundry, cleaning, housekeeping, baggage handling, gardening; and buildings, grounds and road maintenance.

Pilbara TAFE’s Pundulmurra campus principal, Alan Scott, who oversaw the design and supervision of the course, said that Newcrest had made a significant contribution in training and employing Indigenous people for many years and should be particularly

commended for their track-record in training with the Martu communities.

“Newcrest have been proactive in developing this training partnership with the Pundulmurra campus in which the Company supports all on-site training, and then follows up with employment opportunities for successful graduates,” Alan said.

“The success rates that we achieve through these types of programs are largely due to the commitment of Newcrest and other resource companies to Indigenous training and employment in the Pilbara.

“We’ve helped them prepare people for work in the hospitality industry, and in mine support, and not necessarily just to work at Telfer.
“These new graduates are now fit for work with any resources industry-based employer, and represents an important contribution that Newcrest has made to the Pilbara workforce,” he said.

Above, from left: Bruce Keane, Telfer General Manager Mark Mitchell, TAFE Program Manager Malcolm Campbell, and Leon van Erp.

Below: Cassandra Nanudie has already started work at Telfer

Below:  Some of the graduates at the celebration.