The South Australian Government recently announced the start of a range of pilot projects to build the skilled workforce for the state's expanding extractive sector.

Quarry magazine quotes the South Australian Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education, Paul Caica, said the pilot programs had been coordinated by the Resources and Engineering Skills Alliance
(RESA) and will be jointly undertaken by government and industry in a partnership approach.

RESA was set up by the SA government last year to act as facilitators and brokers of
training solutions.

The pilots - or 'proof of concept' projects - will identify and test innovative approaches to training that can then be used as models to scale up training programs on a statewide basis," Mr Caica said.

The combined investment of all parties involved in the projects is almost $2 million, with RESA undertaking the role as project coordinator for a number of the pilots.

The projects include:

• supporting TAFE SA to develop online courses for the industry. This will commence with the delivery of modules from TAFE's Geoscience program based at O'Halloran Hill campus, following areview of the program by RESA

• providing school-based apprenticeships for 15-19 year olds in Port Augusta including indigenous students.This has commenced with a pilot that draws on the highly successful model created by the Goal 100 program in Whyalla initiated by the state government and the Whyalla Economic Development Board

• using advanced simulation technologies for training tailored to the extractive industry. This is commencing with the refurbishment of Port Augusta TAFE facilities to house a Thiess/Oxiana heavy vehicle simulator, which will be available for industry use. While Thiess will continue to use the simulator for in- service training of their own staff, they have also made it available to TAFE SA for pre-employment training for industry and the community. Another project will test the use of Virtual Reality training for a health and safety module, and the promotion of careers in the
  resources industry

• commencing with collaboration with the Institute of Trade Skills excellence to develop a 30-minute
  presentation to be aired on Aurora Channel 183, Foxtel's dedicated careers and employment TV channel.
  

Mr Caica said the government was also having active discussions with the industry about training significant numbers of people for its expansion.

"We are now having discussions with individual enterprises about forming substantial partnerships with them to train large numbers of people to build their skilled workforces.

"We are also actively working on proposals for the development of training hubs for the industry, based in the upper Spencer Gulf and Adelaide with 'spokes' emanating from those hubs out to where the industry is located in order to provide on-site training."

Mr Caica said it was vital for the industry to work in partnership with government to develop the skilled
workforce it required.

"The industry knows it will need to make a substantial contribution to training its future workforce. It will need to contribute fairly to the funding required and it will need to give priority to taking on apprentices and trainees, either by direct employment of through group training schemes."