Queensland Employment, Skills and Mining Minister Stirling Hinchliffe and Mount Isa MP Betty Kiernan today met with MMG Century’s newest recruits – 12 young people from local Indigenous communities participating in the mine’s well-regarded pre-vocational course.
This is Century’s third pre-vocational course for the year and takes the total number of trainees and apprentices at the mine to more than 70.
After a tour of the mine’s training facilities, Mr Hinchliffe and Mrs Kiernan also met with some of Century’s longest-serving Indigenous employees.
MMG Chief Operating Officer Marcelo Bastos said since beginning operations 12 years ago, Century had led the industry in its support and outcomes for local and local Indigenous people and businesses.
“Upon completion of their traineeships and apprenticeships, the latest 12 recruits will join hundreds of people from the Gulf region to gain formal qualifications and begin their careers at Century.
“Today, about 25% of our workforce is drawn from local and local Indigenous communities and we’re proud that many of our former trainees and apprenticeships have moved on to find employment at other operations within the industry and beyond.”
“Furthermore, just this year, Century provided more than $2 million in payments for distribution to local communities and for use as loans and grants for up-and-coming local businesses in the accordance with the Gulf Communities Agreement (GCA).”
“We are very proud of these commitments and were pleased for Mr Hinchliffe and Mrs Kiernan to see the benefits to local communities first hand.”
Mr Bastos said that Mr Hinchliffe and Mrs Kiernan also toured Century’s mining operations and recent water management improvement projects.
“Century invested more than $13.5 million in water management improvement projects in 2009/10 and works to deliver a further $8 million in similar improvement projects this year.
“These works are part of our commitment for Century to become a more safe and sustainable operation.”
The GCA is a unique Native Title Agreement between Century, the Queensland Government and four Native Title groups of north-west Queensland. Century is owned by Minerals and Metals Group (MMG). MMG is a member of the Minmetals Resources Limited (MMR) group of companies, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.