The mining industry’s acute shortage of talent is an on-going challenge that companies must face as skill gaps extend to a wider range of job functions. EarthStream Global shares its insight on the state of affairs.

1. THE INTERNATIONAL
RESOURCE JOURNAL
MAY 2012 Volume 4 Issue 5 www.irjonline.com
IN THIS ISSUE AFRICAN EXCLUSIVE WITH MOZAMBIQUE
MINERALS STANDARD CHARTERED COUNTRY PROFILE

2. 120 SUPPORTING INDUSTRIES EarthStream Global

3. MAY 2012 The International Resource Journal 121
SUPPORTING INDUSTRIES
120
EARTH
STREAM
GLOBAL
Working dynamics

4. 122 SUPPORTING INDUSTRIES EarthStream Global
The mining industry’s acute shortage of talent in 40 different countries and saw more than $15
is an on-going challenge that companies must million in revenue.
face as skill gaps extend to a wider range of
job functions. EarthStream Global shares its Lost generation
insight on the state of affairs.
in recruitment, having previously started compa-
IN A RECENT report, Deloitte contends that it is nies for technology and pharmaceutical sectors
time for mining companies to tackle the issue – both of which sold to public companies. In his
of global talent shortage in a more systematic
fashion. While collaboration with universities, natural resources caught his eye.
programme funding and internships remain im- “This is an attractive place for a specialist
portant tools in their arsenal, mining companies recruitment company to be. Industries at large
now must pursue longer-term, farther-reaching across the energy and natural resources mix
and perhaps less conventional solutions or they have the same common problem, which is an
acute global skill shortage – particularly for tech-
disruptions.
Some mining companies have turned to – that is driven by a few factors. First is that oil
technology as a way of diminishing the impact of and gas, and mining and resources in particular,
workforce shortages – including driverless trucks, have an ageing workforce problem;; there is a
remote operations centres, autonomous haulage huge vacuum of workers that is going to need to
systems, automated mine-to-port operations and
security control and data acquisition systems (SCA- from a historical perspective, the industry is prob-
ably suffering now for not properly investing in
cannot replace the need for skilled talent. new young talent during downturns,” Beeke says.
It is against this stark backdrop that Earth- In fact, the shortage of talent in the age
Stream Global entered the scene as a special-
in mining circles, he notes.
“Compared to other industry sectors, the
favourite over the last couple of decades for

5. MAY 2012 The International Resource Journal 123
LIGHTING RAINY SEASON AT CAMP MAKENI
graduates have been IT and investment banking. -
Now in the oil and gas industry, human resources tinents. In mining and resources, one of its key
directors and others are trying to re-promote markets is Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts
their image,” he adds.
Meanwhile, with the war for talent raging, Finding and retaining talent is becoming
prospective employees are commanding high increasingly challenging as the mining industry
salaries and are able to negotiate with compa- pushes into more remote regions – companies
nies interested in their services. That all adds up must determine how to make these locations
to a positive trading environment for a recruit- more attractive places for families to live. Mean-
Winning the war do it forever. As a solution, Deloitte writes that in
EarthStream covers three broad areas: oil and order to establish a more stable workforce, the
gas;; mining and resources;; and energy and mining industry should be collaborating to build

6. 124 SUPPORTING INDUSTRIES EarthStream Global
EARTHSTREAM’S HUMAN RESOURCES ON THE
GROUND
Travis Archibald, regional director, Australasia
With more than 10 years’ specialist recruitment
experience, Travis joined EarthStream as regional
director for Australasia to provide strategic solutions to
companies experiencing a shortage of skilled personnel
SCOTT DE-BRUSAUX, REGIONAL DIRECTOR,
in the mining industry.
EUROPE, MENA, THE AMERICAS
“Our business has recently been awarded a large number
of 457 working visas, allowing us to seamlessly integrate
these international skills into the Australian work force.
This is crucial, as the Australian region is facing a skill
shortage crisis with 32,000 positions unable to be filled.
The Australian operation liaises with the African offices
due to the large number of Australian-­owned companies
which have prospects in Africa that need to be staffed
with local nationals and expats. EarthStream is working
with Australian projects where the skill set is not readily
RYAN FORBES, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, available locally. In these situations EarthStream sources
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
expertise from the African continent.”
Scott De-­Brusaux, regional director, Europe, MENA,
The Americas
For the last five years, Scott has been based in Australia
helping major mining houses staff their operations during
the boom. Although just joining EarthStream in 2012, he
has over 17 years’ experience as a senior search and
selection professional within mining/resources, energy and
engineering.
“We are constantly told there is a skills shortage in the
PAUL BEEKE, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
mining industry, I started by trying to change the mind

7. MAY 2012 The International Resource Journal 125
set of my clients by showing them, that it was – one of the reasons why Africa is becoming an
not just a skills shortage we were suffering easier place to do business.
but also a lack of ”experience” within the
industry. Australia had plenty of skilled people Hugh Elvin, project director of African
wanting to get into mining -­ they just needed Minerals (AML), SOS Camp Makeni in
the opportunity and the training.” Sierra Leone
Ryan Forbes, regional director, Sub-­ Hugh has a background in operations and
Saharan Africa country management, as well as business
development in oil and gas and mining
After five years in London focusing on hedge sectors globally, most recently in Port
fund and asset management recruitment in Harcourt and Lagos, Nigeria. He was serving
the City of London for a major firm, Ryan was in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project in
tasked with setting up a satellite office in Cape northern Canada before taking over country
Town, South Africa, to facilitate the “cross-­ management of Sierra Leone.
border” recruitment happening between the “AML’s needs as a client are certainly the
two regions. most unique among any that I’ve worked
It was then he realised the significance of the with around the world. This is a big, fast-­
opportunity Africa possessed and also the moving project that is subject not just to the
importance of staffing in companies wanting to usual problems of construction but also the
have a global footprint. He joined EarthStream inherent challenges of the location. AML
as the regional director of Sub-­Saharan Africa needs two things to allow it to move ahead
in July 2010. effectively: instant responses to personnel
“30 per cent of the world’s natural resources are requests and reliability. To this end,
currently located in the African continent but EarthStream has chosen to work permanently
in the last decade it has only attracted five to onsite with the client and personnel, rather
seven per cent of the global natural resources than serving it from a remote location.”
investment, until now.”
He adds that populations in typical, rural,
emerging world countries with little or no
infrastructure have all of a sudden gained
access to technology, such as smart phones with
internet. This means that they are not only able to
learn more about what is going on around them,
but also to get connected to the rest of the world

8. 126 SUPPORTING INDUSTRIES EarthStream Global

9. MAY 2012 The International Resource Journal 127
more permanent communities – with schools, or site-based, the maturity of the industry or of
hospitals, housing and the infrastructure that the market, and the degree to which the internet
families expect. has been adopted. The lowest cost-per-hire val-
Beeke echoes this sentiment, noting that ues globally are in the UK and US and Canada.
workers are not only interested in the salary “These are the most advanced markets, with
sophisticated procurement techniques. Especial-
ly in the US, there is a move to bring recruitment
camp conditions, level of autonomy and responsi- in-house as opposed to using external providers,
bility, and security. In some cases workers do not the development of web recruiting strategies all
have a family and are happy to operate in harsh-
er conditions and for those that do have families, positions in the US and Canada, those cost-per-
there could well be interest in being exposed to hires are coming down and coming down fast,
He points to African Minerals, an iron ore Faso, that is a completely different metric,”
project in Sierra Leone for which EarthStream is Beeke says.
a lead provider of the workforce, as an example. As the next year unfolds, EarthStream has
“That project is transforming the area and expansion plans for each of the three sectors it
economy and touching the lives of a huge provides recruitment services for and is looking
amount of local people in Sierra Leone. In terms
“Sitting alongside Sub-Saharan Africa for our
well in some of these territories,” Beeke says. growth plan, we are focused on growth in Aus-
tralia and sitting behind that is Southeast Asia,”
Costs vs growth Beeke says, adding that he expects 2012 rev-
Cost-cutting is less of a driving force behind com-
per-hire” metric is still an important discussion to EARTHSTREAMGLOBAL.COM
have when working with companies, Beeke adds.
Factors that affect such calculations will be the