Spring Creek miners start training for work in Christchurch

Media release – 5 November

Spring Creek miners start training for work in Christchurch

Up to 50 redundant workers from Solid Energy’s Spring Creek mine are to start civil construction training in Greymouth in order to work on the Christchurch horizontal rebuild.

The first 20 miners start the two-week Introduction to Civil Construction programme at Tai Poutini Polytechnic (TPP) today with up to 30 others beginning the following week. The training is a joint initiative between TPP and the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) which will fund the miners training programme.

SCIRT is in the process of delivering a $2.2 billion work programme to repair Christchurch’s underground water systems and roads and has projected the need for an additional 900 workers in the next twelve months.

TPP Director of Business Development Colin McDonnell says the two week training programme will prepare the redundant miners for work opportunities in Christchurch.

“A range of the miners’ skills are transferable to the construction industry so they aren’t starting from scratch but there are differences in the environment they will be working in. TPP looked at the base skills set the miners had and after reviewing SCIRT’s requirements identified the areas where the miners need to extend their knowledge,” he says.
In late September SCIRT representatives met with up to 200 Spring Creek miners to discuss employment opportunities.

“Many of the miners have a strong base of knowledge and skills that can translate into effective employment within the horizontal rebuild of Christchurch,” says Duncan Gibb, SCIRT General Manager.

“In partnership with TPP, we are delivering training to ensure that interested Spring Creek miners can quickly be brought up to speed to meet the Christchurch market’s specific needs. This is important, rewarding work and it will be needed for the horizontal infrastructure for the next four years,” he says.

The two week Introduction to Civil Construction programme will include training on reading and interpreting civil construction plans, operating macinery on civil construction sites and health and safety on the civil construction sites.

ENDS

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