Be it ever so humble…????

Working on a mine site is hard, dirty work, which is more often than not carried out in the most remote locations.

Fly In Fly Out employees work rosters that require leaving their ‘real’ homes behind for days, sometimes weeks, on end.

Speak with any mining company executive and they will tell you one of the more difficult aspects, besides attracting prospective employees to work for them, is actually keeping them.

This has resulted in the demise of the camp dongas as mining companies now focus on creating village communities which provide a ‘home away from home’ for their workers.

Modern mining camps are more than a place to sleep.

The village services provided by resources companies is having a great influence on how people decide where they are going to work and who they are going to work for.

The design and layout of any village must ensure that all the facilities are readily accessible and focused on creating a community.

The camp is no longer just place you go when you knock off from your shift because you’re not at home.

For the FIFO worker it is more than a workplace, it is the place they also live.

Not everybody has wireless access to the internet in their home but while they are ‘living’ on a remote work site it is an expectation that it will be available as part of their package as is Foxtel, gymnasiums and in larger villages, theatres and swimming pools.

A new column has now been squeezed on the expenditure balance sheet of mining companies when they begin to look at the construction phase of their operation.

Alongside plant and equipment, accommodation looms largely as an integral part of any Feasibility Study.

Mining camps, as they used to be called, are now mining villages, specifically designed with the worker in mind in order to meet their expectations and needs.

“It is essential that the design process for remote villages now focuses on the aesthetics and the overall environment and the real needs of the staff.” Credo Group managing director Tim Brady told The Roadhouse.

“We work with our clients to provide a village infrastructure and a community lifestyle which will contribute to our clients and their contractors’ productivity and ongoing retention.

The Credo Group provides an end to end solution working with mining companies from the initial stages of selecting a site through to the design, construction and finally the delivery of village services including catering housekeeping, recreation, transport, waste management and building maintenance.

Credo assists companies to meet environmental, financial and operational requirements resulting in a facility that is exclusive for their use on their site.

“Organisation’s needs change throughout a project lifecycle and we also need to be flexible as they move from exploration through to construction and production.” Brady explained.
 
“However the key element at all times is people and it is essential that we work with our clients in creating an attractive home away from home for their current and future employees.”