The 2017 Annual General Meeting of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists will be held in Perth on 17th May, 2017.
The AGM venue will be:
Irish Club of WA
61 Townshend Rd,
Subiaco W.A. 6008
The Annual General Meeting will precede the MEGWA meeting being held that evening, commencing at 6:00 pm. Members may meet at the bar from 5:30 pm.
The Notice of Meeting was distributed to all members today. If you did not receive the notice, please confirm that your details are up to date using the AIG Membership portal, accessed via the Member Login link at the top of each page of the AIG web site. If you have forgotten your password it can be reset from the portal home page. If you encounter difficulties accessing the portal or your membership details, you can also contact AIG’s Executive Officer, Lynn Vigar by email, or the AIG Secretariat office in Sydney.
Eight Council vacancies are to be filled at the meeting. Eight nominations were received for the eight positions, six from Councillors eligible for re-election and two new nominees. A resolution to confirm the appointment of nominees to these positions was included in the meeting papers sent to members today. Members, Fellows and Retired Members are eligible to vote for these resolutions using an on-line poll.
Again, if you have not received the Notice of Meeting, confirm your contact details are correct and contact Lynn Vigar or the AIG Secretariat Office for assistance.
AIG 2017 AGM Agenda
AIG 2017 Proxy Form AGM
AIG AGM minutes 18 May 2016
AIG Victoria branch will hold their annual conference on Friday 13 October 2017 on the smart and successful use of innovative technology and data. The conference will be held at Macedon, a short country drive from Melbourne airport.
This conference provides the opportunity for geoscientists who have made smart discoveries using smart technology to showcase their results. The conference additionally provides the opportunity for innovative technology companies to showcase their smart products.
Topics to be covered include:
Call for speakers: Four sessions will be held for 12-16 speakers. Presentations are 20 minutes each plus 5 minutes for questions. No abstracts or papers will be required, instead authors are requested to provide a copy of their presentation for the AIG conference web site. Please include a brief biography when submitting your request to present.
Sponsorship & Exhibition Booths: Packages are available. Exhibition booths are restricted to the first 15 applicants. Booths include a table and 2 chairs. Please nominate when registering if you prefer to bring your own banners or require a 1.8 m x 1.0 m poster board.
Click here for more information and/or to register as a speaker.
For further information and to register your interest please contact:
Rodney Boucher
Phone: 0417 506 051
Email: rodney@linex.com.au
The Australian government yesterday (18th April, 2017) announced an overhaul of the 457 temporary work visa scheme. The announcement of the proposed changes lacked detail but in essence:
The list of occupations for which foreign worker visas may be applied for still includes geologists, but now excludes hydrogeologists and geophysicists. Drillers have also been removed rom the list of eligible professions.
There were 95,758 foreign workers on 457 visas as of September 2016, according to the Department of Immigration. The majority of visa holders were from India (26.6 per cent), followed by the United Kingdom (16.9 percent) and China (6.1 per cent).
Some 190 457 visas were issued for geologists, geophysicists and hydrogeologists since 2014 based on an analysis of available data by SBS. A further 117 visas were issued for other natural and physical science professionals and 79 for environmental scientists.
The number of 457 visas issued for geoscientists is estimated to represent about 6% of the number of unemployed geoscientists in Australia today based on there being 8,000 geoscientists in Australia according to the 2011 Census, but not all of whom would be working or seeking work in geosciences, making the 6% estimate likely to be much higher. The prospect that there are more than 1,100 unemployed geoscientists in Australia questions the need for geologists to remain on the list of occupations for which temporary work visa applications should be considered. A continued requirement for labour market testing could reasonably be expected to prevent issuing visas to workers to fill roles for which suitable, Australian candidates exist. The application of labour market testing has, however, been a target for criticism in the past. In the past few years there has been a marked shift towards employment opportunities being filled through companies identifying candidates through profile searches on LinkedIn and other on-line employment services, or companies’ own databases containing approaches from potential candidates.
One area that could be adversely affected by the proposed changes is issuing of visas to academics and researchers to work at Australian universities and research organisations, including CSIRO, where there are arguments for the benefits of varied background and experience in higher education and the development and commercialisation of new technologies.
The Commonwealth government announcement met with a mixed reaction from industry groups. It was criticised by immigration lawyers as lacking detail, being implemented abruptly, and for not allowing people to plan. The IT industry is, by far, the biggest user of the 457 visa program. A number of IT industry representatives were also critical of the announcement.
The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils’, the peak body representing migrant communities in Australia, said it would welcome serious attempts to reform the 457 scheme but would wait on more detailed information relating to the program.
The Australian Industry Group (AIG) welcomed the changes, stating that changes to the 457 program would draw the focus back to the program’s primary purpose of addressing the pockets of skill shortages that persist in Australia.
AIG has written to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection on several occasions, criticising the issuing of 457 visas to overseas geoscientists at times of high unemployment in the profession in Australia. These representations met with the response that all visas were issued only following labour market testing by employers. The proposed changes How the Department of Immigration and Border Protection intends to apply labour market testing in light of the vastly increased use of on-line employment resources is something that AIG intends to pursue in a broader representation to the Minister and Department using data from the current geoscientist employment survey.
All Australian geoscientists can contribute to this effort by completing the survey by the 28th April closing date.
Official Launch of the Best Books for Earth and Environmental ScienceInvited guests of Earth Science Western Australia (ESWA) descended upon Canning Vale College on the 23rd of March to celebrate the official launch of edition two of Exploring Earth and Environmental Science.
ESWA Board members, supporters and volunteers, Earth and Environmental Science (EES) teachers and students took this opportunity to celebrate an important milestone in EES education. Peter Rudrum, Principal of Canning Vale College, enthusiastically welcomed all guests and spoke about the important assistance given to the College’s teachers and students to resource and promote earth sciences education across Years 7-12. Mark Thompson, Vice Chair of ESWA, reminisced about the history of the textbook (initially released in 2011), thanked the many contributors to this edition and shared a little about the large number of successful programs ESWA runs across the state.
Professor Lyn Beazley then took the stage to officially launch this edition outlining how import EES and STEM education is for our future and her love for the new textbooks. She went on to share with everyone her favourite parts of the texts (she really had read them cover to cover!) and why these were interesting and special to her, stating that they are the best Earth and Environmental textbooks in the world.
This launch was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all that is being done to support and promote earth sciences education across WA by a dedicated team with a large number of supporters. The new edition of this textbook would not have possible without the support of Woodside Energy nor this launch function without Canning Vale College.
About Exploring Earth and Environmental Science
The textbook Exploring Earth and Environmental Science was released in 2011 to support the Western Australian EES curriculum. This large volume, 520 pages, served teachers and students well for several years. With the implementation of the WA version of the Australian Curriculum from 2015 it was decided that the textbook needed a major revision to align itself to the curriculum and to allow for important updates. A team of dedicated authors then set out, under the direction of ESWA’s CEO, to split the book into two volumes, Year 11 and 12, to produce relevant, easy to read and visually appealing textbooks for students.
Since its release late in 2016 hundreds of volumes have been sold in WA, the ACT and Queensland, with growing interest from other states.
For more information on these texts, or to purchase them, visit – www.earthsciencewa.com.au or contact Jo – jo@earthsciencewa.com.au.
Any geoscientist working in mineral exploration in Australia over the past few years will tell you that the sector has been doing it tough.
Junior explorers have experienced difficulties raising capital. There appears to have not been a lot of mid-tier to major company interest in exploration in recent years, with a few notable exceptions. The industry as a whole has faced a growing burden associated with gaining access to land in the form of long lead times between applying for exploration licences and having them granted, and a mountain of red tape associated with permitting for even very low-impact exploration activities.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) mineral exploration expenditure statistics, released quarterly, and Australian geoscientist employment survey results, compiled by AIG since 2009, have recorded evidence of declining investment in mineral exploration in Australia, with consequences for discovery, development and retention of geoscientists with essential specialised skills, and the economic benefits experienced by the broader community especially in rural and remote areas.
The finger of blame is frequently pointed at the Federal Government as the ultimate steward of Australia’s economy. Land and natural resource management, however, are state responsibilities. Evidence suggests that different states are discharging these responsibilities with varying effect and success.
The proportion of each Australian state held under some form of exploration title has fallen steadily since 2011 according to information compiled by Doug Brewster, a Brisbane based AIG member (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Proportion of the area of each Australian state held under exploration title 2011 – February 2017
The chart shows steady decline in the proportion of each state held under exploration title. The rate of decrease has been greatest in New South Wales where the overall rate of decline has been almost double that evident in the other states, despite a recent slowing.
The important feature of this chart is that every state has experienced a decline in the area under exploration between 2011 and early (February) 2017 and that no end to, or even a significant slowing in the downward trend is in sight except for the Northern Territory in recent times). The similarities in the rates of decline in each state is hard to conceive as being a coincidence, but the reason for this is considered to be elusive.
The more populous states are, by some, considered to create a greater compliance burden for explorers and, in doing so, discourage exploration. Figure 2, which compares the proportion of each state under exploration licence and average population density suggests that there may be some evidence of this, but that its far from conclusive.
Figure 2. Area under exploration licence vs average population density (2015 data)
Canada’s Fraser Institute has been conducting an annual survey of mining companies since 1997. One of the parameters derived from the survey responses is a Policy Perception Index (PPI). While geologic and economic considerations are important factors in mineral exploration, a region’s policy climate is also an important investment consideration. The PPI measures the overall policy attractiveness of the jurisdictions covered by each survey. The index is based on survey responses to policy factors that a affect investment decisions including:
All of these, with the exception, perhaps, of trade barriers and security, are areas of State government responsibility.
The performance of each Australian state was examined over the past ten years by plotting the position of each state in the survey rankings to obtain a comparison of how Australian states are perceived relative to other jurisdictions for exploration investment (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Fraser Institute policy Perception Index Ranking – How each Australian state and territory compares with other surveyed jusrisdictions 2006 – 2016
Figure 3 shows that over the past decade, the PPI standing of Western Australia has steadily improved, South Australia and the Northern Territory have remained more or less static, while every other state has fallen. The policy perception index ranking for New South Wales exhibits a sharp decline since 2012. New South Wales was ranked 14th globally in 2006. It ranked 66th in the world in 2016. In comparison, in 2006 Western Australia ranked 18th in the world in terms of PPI. In 2016 it was ranked 9th.
The actual PPI scores tell a slightly different story. The actual scores for most Australian states are higher today than their lowest point in the past decade (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Fraser Institute Policy Perception Index of each Australian State 2006-2016
A case can be made that the policy perception index for most Australian states and territories have improved over the past decade. The issue is, however, that competing jurisdictions have, clearly, improved more, arguably making them better placed as potential destinations for exploration investment.
A situation where only one state is exhibiting consistent improvement in terms of exploration investment attractiveness over the past decade doesn’t bode well for Australia.
Table 1. Who are we competing with? Selected Fraser Institute PPI rankings from the 2016 survey of mining companies.
The jurisdictions that Australia’s states and territories are competing with is summarised in Table 1.
The Republic of Ireland had the highest PPI in the 2016 Fraser Institute Survey, followed by Saskatchewan, Sweden, Finland, Nevada, Manitoba, Wyoming, New Brusnwick, Western Australia and Northern Ireland rounding out the top 10.
South Australia and the Northern Territory ranked closely against Norway, Utah, Alaska, Spain and Canada’s Yukon Territory, but ahead of a number of U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
Tasmania was ranked between Ghana and Serbia, while Queensland was ranked between Chile, Namibia and New Zealand.
Victoria was perceived to have a PPI comparable with those of Ivory Coast, British Columbia and Zambia.
New South Wales joined Brazil, Russia, the Dominican Republic, China and Mozambique in the lower part of the rankings, but ahead of a number of countries including Papua New Guinea, South Africa, India, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Importantly, the highly ranked jurisdictions, with favourable regulatory and resources policy environments, are not developing countries. The most highly ranked African nation, for example, Botswana, is ranked 12th globally and is the only developing nation in the top 25 positions in the survey.
Explorers need to compete for investment by generating projects that compete technically and commercially with others in a global market. Countries, provinces and states that wish to have a viable minerals industry have a responsibility to ensure that there is a pipeline of projects to at least main that jurisdiction’s reserves, to maintain or facilitate expansion of their minerals industry.
The policy climate of each state and territory is something in their immediate control. It is not constrained by local or global economic conditions or the outlook for commodities which do have a marked impact on the level of exploration investment.
The desirability of exploration investment: the policy settings and bureaucratic processors faced by explorers; is something that is completely within government control.
Importantly, the PPI Index rankings arguably contradict the perception frequently expressed by some groups expressed about exploration and mining companies that they prefer to operate in jurisdictions where controls on the industry are lax. Quite the opposite is true: exploration and mining companies prefer to operate where the regulatory environment offers transparency and security for exploration investment.
There is a compelling case for looking closely at what the top ten jurisdictions in the PPI ranking are doing right for guidance on the policy settings and regulatory environment required to ensure Australia remains a favoured destination for exploration investment. The Fraser Institute Policy Perception Index and the area of each state and territory under exploration title provide clear and transparent measures of success in addressing this issue.
All levels of government have a role in achieving improvements, but primary responsibility rests with individual states to either continue efforts to remain globally competitive or address issues responsible for their declining global competitiveness.
Andrew Waltho FAIG RPGeo
Classification: Senior Geoscientist
Employment Status: Ongoing, Full-Time
You will be a geoscience professional with broad experience in building 3D geological models, expertise in modelling software packages, and proficiency in compiling data and maintaining databases. You will have comprehensive geological knowledge as well as being process-oriented with the ability to design and document modelling workflows.
This role works within the 3D team creating regional-scale models which provide a framework for more detailed interpretation projects. The role requires an ability to work collaboratively and communicate your results both within the team and to other stakeholders. Your demonstrated capability to solve complex problems under pressure and strong project management skills will be essential for building models in a production environment. Experience creating regional scale interpretations and knowledge of hard-rock geology will be highly regarded.
If you have the capability to achieve success in this role and are interested in creating a more prosperous NSW we would love to hear from you!
The Department of Planning and Environment is the lead NSW Government agency in planning for a growing NSW.
The Department’s vision – Planning for a growing NSW: inspiring strong communities, protecting our environment – provides the benchmark for our partnership and leadership approach to engaging and working collaboratively with key State and Local Government, community and industry stakeholders to deliver better outcomes in the areas of planning, local government and the environment.
Primary purpose of the role: The Senior Geoscientist – 3D Modelling is a member of a small team undertaking 3D geological modelling projects across the state. This position provides expert knowledge on 3D geology, modelling methodologies and processes, and a focus on data compilation and model documentation.
You must read the following documents prior to preparing your application:
Role description
Application Guide
Applying for a role in the NSW public Sector
Job Notes: A Recruitment Pool may be established for future temporary and ongoing roles with similar focus capabilities. The Recruitment Pool may be available to hiring managers from DPE and other NSW Public Sector agencies over a 12 month period.
Essential requirements:
To Apply:
Q1. Describe a large and complex 3D geological model you have built. What was your role in the project? What were the major challenges you faced? Describe the process you used to collate and verify data and how the data were stored and archived.
Q2. Describe a complex problem you had to solve when integrating diverse datatypes to create a 3D model.
The information provided in your application needs to show how you meet the focus capabilities and other essential requirements of the role. (Refer to the role description for details about the capabilities and the associated behaviour indicators. The role description also lists the essential role requirements.)
DPE is committed to providing a flexible, diverse and inclusive workplace. We are also committed to offering flexible work arrangements where possible. Candidates should discuss options available for this role with the hiring manager.
An initiative of the National Graduate Group for BSc/MSc/PhD students and Early career geoscientists (<5 years experience)
Our program connects undergraduate students, honours, MSc and PhD candidates, and early career geoscientists (0-5yrs) with experienced industry professionals. The aim is to build our community by providing emerging geoscientists with connections, knowledge and experiences from knowledgeable professionals who are looking to give back. Our professionals provide practical advice and guidance on a number of areas of interest in regards to beginning and maintaining a healthy career within geoscience.
Fill out and submit an expression of interest form for the program you’d like to join via www.aig.org.au/mentoring-program/. Note the deadline for submissions is 15 April 2017.
Participants will be notified of their acceptance into the program in May 2017.
AIG membership is a prerequisite to participate in the mentoring program as a mentor or as a mentee. If you are not already an AIG member then this is a great reason to join up – sign up for membership online at www.aig.org.au/membership/
AIG membership for students is free!
If you are passionate about giving back and want to make an impact in your community, we are seeking mentoring program state champions who have >15-20 yr practical industry experience to lead dynamic mentoring committees in NSW/ACT, SA/NT and TAS. You will help connect our program across the nation by joining our network of established programs in WA, VIC and QLD.
Any questions? For more details about the AIG Mentoring Program please contact us at aigmentoringprogram-nationalchair@aig.org.au.
Click here to download the EOI flyer.
The AIG is pleased to host the second instalment of its very successful Drilling for Geology conference, first held in 2008. Organisation of the conference is proceeding smoothly and at the present time we have locked in:
Online registration is open. Visit the conference web site for more details and review the technical program drillingforgeology.aig.org.au
This conference is the premier Australian mining geology forum and has developed strong international support since the first event in 1990. Interested in attending, sponsoring or exhibiting at the Conference? Visit www.mininggeology.ausimm.com.au.
The Tenth International Mining Geology Conference 2017 will feature a 3 day technical program of peer reviewed papers presented in multiple formats such as standard conference presentations, snap shot presentations and poster presentations. The program will include Q&A sessions plus an extensive program of networking events to continue the exchange of technical knowledge.
Themes
Setting new standards
The conference will host an extensive tour and workshop program to maximise learning opportunities for delegates.
Suzie Chan
Senior Coordinator, Events
AusIMM
Phone: +61 3 9658 6126
Email: schan@ausimm.com.au
This latest instalment in AIG’s Australian Geoscientist Employment survey series will provide data on trends in geoscientist employment in Australia during the first quarter of 2017.
The improvement in employment prospects for Australia’s geoscientists evident during 2016 came to an end in the final quarter of the year.
At 31st December 2016, the unemployment rate amongst Australian geoscientists was 14.4% and the under-employment rate was 19.5%, up slightly from 13.9% and 18.8% respectively at the end of September 2016. The unemployment and underemployment rates at the end of 2016 were, however, lower than those recorded earlier in the year.
There have been signs of improvement in the employment situation and state of the resource exploration sector in Australia. Consultants are reporting increased workloads but exploration expenditure in Australia remains flat. The land areas held under exploration licence in Australia also continue to decline.
This survey is opening only a relatively short time after the December quarter 2016 survey – this survey opens a month later than usual due to the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Thanks to your support, this survey series is becoming increasingly recognised as an important indicator of not only geoscientist employment but the general health of the exploration and mining sectors in Australia. The survey results are reported widely and used to promote and inform others of the health of an industry which is vital to Australia’s economy. Importantly, the data supports advocacy by AIG on the need to improve access to land for responsible, well executed resource exploration throughout Australia. Please support this ongoing initiative by taking a few minutes to complete this latest instalment in the survey series and encouraging your friends and colleagues to do so.
You do not need to be an AIG member to participate. Please note that no data that could personally identify respondents is collected by this survey.
The few minutes of your time spent completing the survey really helps to make a difference to the standing and knowledge of our profession.
Complete the survey now by following this link. The survey will be open until Friday 28th April.
