Reuters Summit-Major Drilling says scarce labor poses hurdle

(For other news from the Reuters Global Mining Summit, click here)

By Euan Rocha

NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - The scarcity of trained labor, not machinery or capital constraints, is the main hurdle facing the mining industry, said the head of Major Drilling Group (MDI.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), one of the world's largest mine drilling companies.

"People ask us about machines. I can get all the machines I want. There may be a delay, and we have to order six months in advance, but that's not my issue," Chief Executive Francis McGuire said at the Reuters Global Mining Summit on Wednesday.

The spike in the prices of both precious metals and base metals has led to a wave of new exploration projects. Gold prices are nudging $1,000 an ounce, silver is at 27-year highs and base metal prices on average are up about 27 percent since the beginning of 2008.

"All the minerals that are easy to access have been found and are being depleted at a relatively quick rate. Therefore, what will happen over the next 10 to 15 years is that everything will be in areas that are difficult to access," McGuire said.

This means that the skills and technology will have to evolve quite substantially to meet the growing challenges, he added.

Major Drilling is focused on specialized drilling, which includes deep-hole drilling, directional drilling and high-altitude drilling.

"It takes 3 to 5 years to train a driller, and it is a very, very skills-intensive industry. Technology and capital play a somewhat lesser role," McGuire said.