Reg Howard-Smith, the Chief Executive of Western Australia’s Chamber of Minerals and Energy, has announced that the state will need some 40,000 additional skilled workers to take up residence in the state and contribute to the its mining industry.

The Western Australia mining industry is suffering form a severe lack of skilled professionals at present, and is looking to recruit skills from overseas due to the fact that there are not enough local professionals to fill the void in the labour force.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chief Economist John Nicolaou commented “Failure to recruit from overseas will severely compromise the state’s ongoing economic performance and impinge on the ability to deliver major projects on budget and on time.”

However, the Western Australian mining industry could be suffering labour shortages for some time, as the lack of professionals in the field is, according to experts, a problem which exists the world over. Canada, for instance, is another major mining nation that is desperately seeking to boost its number of skilled mining professionals in an effort to enhance its economy.

The Minerals Council of Australia has announced that “Industry forecasts show that demand will exceed supply of these workers for some time to come”.