COVID-19

WA stops FIFO from NSW

FLY-in, fly-out workers based in New South Wales will no longer be allowed to fly to Western Australia from Monday.

WA is stopping FIFO workers coming from NSW.

WA is stopping FIFO workers coming from NSW.

Australia's Mining Monthly is making some of its most important coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic freely available to readers. For more coverage, please see our COVID-19 hub. To subscribe to AMM, click here.

Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA chief executive Paul Everingham said the decision had been made by the WA resources sector in the interests of community safety.

NSW has the most COVID-19 cases of any state in Australia. More worryingly, there have been 145 cases identified where there virus was contracted from an undetermined source.

Everingham said the move had the support of the WA resources sector.

"The sector is very grateful for the support given us be the WA government ad we want to do all we can to stop the spread of COVID-19 across our sites and the wider community," he said.

"We have been in discussions throughout the day [March 27] with our members across all commodities and decided this was the best course of proactive action to take."

Queensland is WA's largest interstate source of FIFO workers.

The news comes as the Australian resources industry moves to implement strict national COVID-19 health and safety protocols in partnership with Australian governments to keep its workforce, families and communities safe and healthy and sites operating.

Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable said the MCA, state resources chambers and APPEA would work with all resources companies across Australia to continue the implementation of national COVID-19 resources industry protocols to protect the workforce and jobs by ensuring the highest levels of health and safety - the first priority of the resources sector.

"Companies are moving to adopt the protocols already," she said

The federal, state and territory governments have given the protocols their support.

Those same governments recently agreed that mining was an essential industry.

"Australia's minerals companies will work with health officials, resources regulators, law enforcement, local government and others to ensure that all official advice and restrictions are observed across the supply chain," Constable said.

"A safe, healthy and resilient residential, FIFO and drive-in, drive-out resources workforce, which is able to live in and move in and out of regional and remote areas while observing strict health protocols will help the sector support all Australians and our national economy during and after the global COVID-19 pandemic."

 

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Future Fleets Report 2024

The report paints a picture of the equipment landscape and includes detailed profiles of mines that are employing these fleets

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Digitalisation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations that use digitalisation technology to drive improvements across all areas of mining production

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Automation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations using autonomous solutions in every region and sector, including analysis of the factors driving investment decisions

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Exploration Report 2023 (feat. Opaxe data)

A comprehensive review of current exploration rates, trending exploration technologies, a ranking of top drill intercepts and a catalogue of 2022 Initial Resource Estimates and recent discovery successes.