Striking Gold in Kalgoorlie

Patrick "Paddy" Hannan discovered gold in Kalgoorlie in 1893 and the town has been mining gold ever since. On a visit to the Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mine, SkillsOne found the iconic Super Pit, which stretches almost 4km long and 500 metres deep. It is Australia's largest open pit gold mine.

It's 30,000 locals are adamant Kalgoorlie is not your average mining town - it's grown up and buzzing with activity making it a great place to live and work in retail and a range of other fields, including mining of course!

KCGM produces around 800,000 ounces of gold per year and ranks in the top 10%-20% of the world's gold producers. Its backbone are highly skilled trades people who are in charge of the much of the machines and operations.

Apprentices are often able to fast track their career in this field because demand for skilled staff is high in the mining industry whether male or female. They're well rewarded financially, are exposed to problem solving, travel and leadership opportunities.

To tackle the skills shortage, KCGM does cross-training for trades based skills whereby mechanical fitters may be exposed to a large number of broad areas outside a traditional qualification.