FLYING is nothing out of the ordinary for Scott Thorton but his destination certainly is.
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“When you spend a lot of time in and out of airports, flying becomes second nature,” he said yesterday, prior to boarding the largest commercial airliner ever to touch down at Orange Airport.
“This is the way mining is going really, and for me, it’s perfect.
“I get to stay where I’m living, get flown to work, stay there for two weeks, get flown back and have two weeks off.”
Mr Thorton was one of 17 local mining industry employees to board the plane bound for Newcrest Mining Limited’s remote operations at Telfer in Western Australia.
The 100-seat plane will make weekly trips to Orange to transfer Cadia Valley Operations employees west to plug gaps in the workforce.
“As the mining industry kicks off and heats back up again we think there is going to be a real pressure on labour in Western Australia,” Newcrest asset management general manager Tony McPaul said.
“We’ve never sent this sort of labour to Telfer before but we’ve decided it is time to tap into some of our own employees.”
Some of the workforce affected by the impending closure of the Cadia Hill open pit will find work in Western Australia, Mr McPaul said.
The flight from Orange to Telfer takes five-and-a-half hours, factoring in a fuel stop at Alice Springs.
“So basically the plane will come out of Brisbane, drop into Orange and then take the workers from here direct to Telfer,” Mr McPaul said.
For Mr Thorton, who has worked in the industry for 19 years, the flight to Telfer represents new beginnings.
“I’ve been to Western Australia before but this is my first time to Telfer,” he said.
“It’s going to be a good challenge and hopefully very rewarding.”
A new 70-seat plane, to be delivered next year to charter company Alliance Airlines, will cut the trip to Telfer to just four-and-a-half hours.
