Tag Archives: fly-in fly-out

A guide for mining FIFO families across the globe

The ‘Survival Guide for Mining Families’ helps families to survive and thrive despite the pressures of working away in the mining and resources industry, authors Alicia Ranford and Angie Willcocks say.

With nearly 180,000 copies sold worldwide, it’s an award-winning resource featuring professional advice and practical tips from Mining Family Matters co-Founder, Ranford, and psychologist, Willcocks.

South Australian-based Willcocks, a registered nurse, teamed up in 2010 with journalist Lainie Anderson to create Mining Family Matters, after her young children struggled to cope with their father’s fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) rosters. Alicia and her Mining Engineer husband, Joe, also moved six times in a decade, so she had become accustomed to relocating a young family, coping with life in isolated mining towns and staying happily married despite the challenges of FIFO.

Following lots of interest from companies involved in everything from construction and security to pipelines and logistics, the survival guide content has also been converted into a generic guide for employees who work away in any industry. It’s called ‘Working Away: A Survival Guide for Families’.

The working away guide has been adapted for Canadian workers (English and French versions available) and American workers.

The 32-page, A5 guides are quick and easy to read, and packed with practical advice to boost worker happiness and resilience. The 14 chapters include:

  • What to expect in the first few months;
  • House rules for a happy home;
  • Boosting your workplace resilience;
  • Overcoming stress, anxiety and sadness;
  • Knowing your mental health first aid;
  • Helping children to cope when you work away;
  • Simple ways to stay connected;
  • Making your money work; and
  • Parenting on the same page.

For further information, click here.

Mineral Resources’ FIFO staff to gain Swift Access to entertainment, engagement services

Swift Networks says it has secured a new three-year agreement with Mineral Resources Limited to service its nine mine sites with Swift Access.

The contract comes with a subscription value of A$3.4 million ($2.1 million), with revenues expected to commence in second half of the company’s 2023 financial year, it said.

This contract represents ongoing subscription revenue for Swift Access: Swift’s premium entertainment and engagement solution powered by its proprietary technology developed specifically to enable a reliable service within low bandwidth environments, Swift’s local 24 hour support and other additional channels, Swift said.

Installation and upgrade work, which is additional to the A$3.4 million subscription revenue, will be performed by Swift’s in-house infrastructure team across MinRes’ portfolio on a site-by-site basis.

Swift’s flagship product, Swift Access, will be installed in over 2,000 accommodation rooms and common areas. Swift Access will allow staff to cast their favourite streaming apps from their mobile device straight to their room’s TV, all while maintaining user privacy and offering smart device setup and management to improve efficiencies for facility staff, Swift says. As part of the agreement, Swift Access will provide Mineral Resources staff with Swift’s full content library including first release movies and sector-specific mental health and indigenous education resources.

Swift Access also allows facility managers to easily upload and distribute site information such as inductions, health and safety messages and more directly to TVs across the site.

The entire Swift Access experience is managed by Swift’s unique bandwidth management platform and includes support services over the three-year term.

Swift CEO, Brian Mangano, says: “For the past five years, Mineral Resources and Swift have enjoyed a strong partnership based on the mutual values of innovation and high-performance outcomes. MinRes was the first mining company to trial Swift Access at its Wonmunna camp (the mine site pictured above) in Western Australia earlier this year. This latest collaboration is a natural next step in Swift’s mission to assist MinRes in providing an outstanding workplace experience.

“We are excited to grow a Swift and MinRes partnership and look forward to working together to create new, innovative solutions to address the challenges of the FIFO lifestyle.”

Alliance Aviation wins two-year contract extension from BHP

Alliance Aviation Services has announced an extension of the air charter services agreement with BHP’s Western Australia Iron Ore division for a further two years.

This extension, Alliance says, is further evidence of Alliance’s reputation of outstanding customer retention with the extension solidifying the relationship that started with the first flight for BHP’s Western Australia Iron Ore division in 2009.

BHP WAIO is an integrated system of four processing hubs and five mines connected by more than 1,000 km of rail infrastructure and port facilities in the Pilbara region of northern Western Australia.

Lee Schofield, Alliance’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Alliance is delighted to be continuing the provision of these charter services into the Pilbara. Our commitment to safety and providing our clients with industry leading on time performance has played a significant role in being awarded this extension. We look forward to continuing our exceptional safety and operational record for BHP.”

Aqura Technologies to boost FMG’s network at Kangi accommodation camp

Veris Ltd’s wholly-owned subsidiary Aqura Technologies has been awarded A$1.1 million ($849,165) in works to undertake an upgrade of the in-situ accommodation network at Fortescue Metals Group’s Kangi 1,850 room village in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia.

The scope of the Kangi village engagement is to design and deliver physical upgrades to the GPON network to ensure a high level of reliability of services to village guests, it says.

The enhancement of the existing infrastructure using Aqura’s specialist technical expertise will establish an extremely robust platform for the delivery of entertainment services and wellbeing programs to the large workforce accommodated at the site, the company explained.

Aqura has commenced the design phase and will look to complete the scope of works by July.

“The new contract adds to Aqura’s strong track record in delivering high-performance Content Access Network (CAN) solutions for clients such as BHP, Newmont, OZ Minerals and Abra Mining,” Veris said. “Aqura’s expertise in the delivery of CAN solutions has delivered enhanced user experiences in over 16,000 accommodation rooms completed to date.”

The Kangi camp was constructed – and expanded – by Pindan (photo courtesy of Pindan) as part of FMG’s Solomon iron ore mine development.

Aqura Technologies CEO, Travis Young, said: “We’re pleased to kick off a new engagement with Fortescue who are looking to our in-house team to provide a high-quality foundation for their Kangi Village network.

“The contract award is testament to the strong quality and safety record of Aqura in the design and delivery of high-quality network infrastructure.

“We are very mindful of the benefits of this type of investment which fundamentally supports and enhances the positive wellbeing for fly-in fly-out staff who are away from home for extended periods and need reliable infrastructure to support connections to family and friends.”