New Acland Mine open online portal for new employees as it edges closer to final approvals

As New Acland prepares for its Stage 3 expansion, the organisation has to fill 600 positions. Here’s who they’re looking for, and how you can apply.

New Acland Mine has today launched an online portal where potential workers and businesses can submit their expressions of interest for 600 impending roles.

Last month, after a 10-year battle through the courts, the Queensland Government approved the operation’s mine lease for its Stage Three expansion, and all that is left now is for the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water to sign off on its water licence.

Mine general manager Dave O’Dwyer said he was confident the licence would come through soon and he wants to be ahead of his mining sector competitors in the fight for workers.

“We just want to be ahead of the game,” he said.

“We know the market is tight for finding people and we want to make sure we get the best people.

“We are very interested to hear from past employees because we know they have the best resumes out there.”

New Acland Mine estimates there are about 10-15 years of work in the Stage Three expansion, and as of today there were 21 staff at the site doing general maintenance.

The project is expected to inject about $1 billion into Toowoomba’s economy.

If the water licence comes through this will spike to about 600 workers during construction and 400 during operation.

“We need to rebuild an entire workforce,” Mr O’Dwyer said.

“We need operators, maintainers, engineers, geologists, admin staff and safety professions.”

Mr O’Dwyer’s plan is to collect expressions of interest now and wait for the water licence to come through.

He said ideally the mine would start digging coal within the next few months and be in full production within six to nine months.

“We will be working in the background as to what the ramp up looks like,” Mr O’Dwyer said.

“We won’t be going from zero to 100.”

The callout for employees comes after a decade-long fight over the mine’s Stage Three expansion that included two hearings before the Land Court and dozens of appeals and cross appeals.

The Oakey Coal Action Alliance was successful in delaying the expansion until the Stage Two section ran dry forcing the New Acland Coal to lay off about 300 staff.

OCAA remains committed to fighting the mine with a spokesman saying it is looking into several possible legal avenues it could take.

The latest approval is for a larger operation meaning the mine will need an extra 100 staff.

“If the water licence does take some time we could be sitting on these expressions of interest for some time, but we want to be ahead of the curve,” Mr O’Dwyer said.

Click here to register your interest.

Originally published as New Acland Mine open online portal for new employees as it edges closer to final approvals