“A skills shortage in most technical fields in coal remains in Queensland. In particular, there is demand for exploration geologists and drillers with coal experience, indicating positivity in relation to ore prices in the mid term,” Hays Resources & Mining regional director Simon Winfield said.

“Steady job flow is evident in project controls, particularly for estimators, planners and cost engineers for feasibilities and front-end engineering. These will eventually provide even more opportunities in the engineering sector.”

In New South Wales, Winfield said Hunter Valley coal mining operations remained busy, creating a need for exploration managers and mining engineers.

“Meanwhile, in heavy industrial engineering design, there is continuing demand for high-level senior engineers to ensure the bottleneck of projects is eased.”

Overall, mining engineers and senior design engineers are in demand and Winfield said there was encouraging demand for geologists in both production and exploration.

International Longwall News has witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of longwall positions on offer in its professional placement service over the past month, after a lean time since the global financial crisis hit.