MODEL INDIGENOUS MINING SERVICES BUSINESS TO USE GRANT TO EXPAND
Published Thursday, 31 May, 2007 at 08:55 AM
Minister for State Development, Employment and Industrial Relations
The Honourable John Mickel
A successful North Queensland Indigenous mining services company will use a Queensland Government grant to help it buy heavy equipment to expand its business.
Minister for State Development John Mickel announced today that Waayni Mining Services had received a $500,000 Indigenous Business Development Grant to go towards the purchase of a CAT Front End Loader.
“In 2005, we provided a $150,000 Indigenous Business Establishment grant to the company, previously called Northern Project Crushing Pty Ltd, to provide crushed aggregate to the Zinifex Century Mine, 250 kilometres north-west of Mt Isa,” Mr Mickel said.
He said the Waayni National Aboriginal Corporation established the business to provide employment and training opportunities for local Indigenous people and came out of the 1997 Gulf Communities Agreement, when Zinifex Century Mine agreed to assist the local community obtain greater economic self-sufficiency.
“Under the deal, the company agreed to supply road materials and stemming material for blasting for the mine site,” Mr Mickel said.
He said the Waayni people entered into a joint venture with Adelaide-based Exactmix, a supplier of earth moving and civil engineering services to the mining industry, to help them establish and develop the business.
In 2005, Waayni Mining Services won a Reconciliation Business Award in the joint venture category.
‘Since 2005, the company has expanded its customer base to the Queensland Department of Main Roads and to local shire councils and moved into providing workers and hiring out equipment to Zinifex for its mining operations,” Mr Mickel said.
Mr Mickel said Waayni Mining Services was testament to the effectiveness of non-Indigenous and Indigenous business partnerships and the company stood as a model for the establishment of businesses in remote communities.
Waayni Mining services general manager Derek Flucker said the purchase of the front end loader would provide four full-time jobs for local Indigenous people.
“We’ve got to the stage where the demand for our services is such that in order to capture the opportunities coming our way, we need a front-end loader.
“The grant will also provide us with the opportunity to buy Exactmix out over the next two years. Exactmix has been a great partner. They’ve provided us with the skilled people to manage on-site works and trained up local people in the business,” Mr Flucker said.
‘They’ve also helped us with purchasing the right machinery and helped us develop as a local business. But right from the start, the plan has been for Exactmix to help us get up and running and then for us to buy them out once the business was successful enough.
“We hope with the additional work that will come our way with the front end loader that we will be in a position to do that in the next two years.”
Mr Flucker said the company had an annual turnover of about $3 million, employed 23 people with about 17 local people working full-time and planned to take on another 15-20 people over the next 12 months.
He said the company’s success was helping to revitalise the local community, which had few employment opportunities up to its establishment in 2005.
Contact details: Derek Flucker, General Manager, Waayni Mining Services, tel 3206 2800, mobile 0409 723 179, email: derekflucker@bigpond.com
Media contact: Chris Brown 3224 7349 or Elouise Campion 3224 6784.
31 May, 2007
Minister for State Development John Mickel announced today that Waayni Mining Services had received a $500,000 Indigenous Business Development Grant to go towards the purchase of a CAT Front End Loader.
“In 2005, we provided a $150,000 Indigenous Business Establishment grant to the company, previously called Northern Project Crushing Pty Ltd, to provide crushed aggregate to the Zinifex Century Mine, 250 kilometres north-west of Mt Isa,” Mr Mickel said.
He said the Waayni National Aboriginal Corporation established the business to provide employment and training opportunities for local Indigenous people and came out of the 1997 Gulf Communities Agreement, when Zinifex Century Mine agreed to assist the local community obtain greater economic self-sufficiency.
“Under the deal, the company agreed to supply road materials and stemming material for blasting for the mine site,” Mr Mickel said.
He said the Waayni people entered into a joint venture with Adelaide-based Exactmix, a supplier of earth moving and civil engineering services to the mining industry, to help them establish and develop the business.
In 2005, Waayni Mining Services won a Reconciliation Business Award in the joint venture category.
‘Since 2005, the company has expanded its customer base to the Queensland Department of Main Roads and to local shire councils and moved into providing workers and hiring out equipment to Zinifex for its mining operations,” Mr Mickel said.
Mr Mickel said Waayni Mining Services was testament to the effectiveness of non-Indigenous and Indigenous business partnerships and the company stood as a model for the establishment of businesses in remote communities.
Waayni Mining services general manager Derek Flucker said the purchase of the front end loader would provide four full-time jobs for local Indigenous people.
“We’ve got to the stage where the demand for our services is such that in order to capture the opportunities coming our way, we need a front-end loader.
“The grant will also provide us with the opportunity to buy Exactmix out over the next two years. Exactmix has been a great partner. They’ve provided us with the skilled people to manage on-site works and trained up local people in the business,” Mr Flucker said.
‘They’ve also helped us with purchasing the right machinery and helped us develop as a local business. But right from the start, the plan has been for Exactmix to help us get up and running and then for us to buy them out once the business was successful enough.
“We hope with the additional work that will come our way with the front end loader that we will be in a position to do that in the next two years.”
Mr Flucker said the company had an annual turnover of about $3 million, employed 23 people with about 17 local people working full-time and planned to take on another 15-20 people over the next 12 months.
He said the company’s success was helping to revitalise the local community, which had few employment opportunities up to its establishment in 2005.
Contact details: Derek Flucker, General Manager, Waayni Mining Services, tel 3206 2800, mobile 0409 723 179, email: derekflucker@bigpond.com
Media contact: Chris Brown 3224 7349 or Elouise Campion 3224 6784.
31 May, 2007