POPEY’S Diesel Services owner Adrian Pope considers locally trained employees to be of benefit to Mount Isa’s industries.
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It’s one of the reasons his business has donated a Caterpillar C15 six cylinder inline diesel engine to Tafe Queensland’s Mount Isa campus.
“They might be someone who comes from outside and decides after six months they don’t like it here, and you have put a lot of time and effort into them, and they are gone again," Mr Pope said.
“To have young men or women come through and stay after they have finished training and their apprenticeships and give a little back is a very good thing.
“We have got apprentices that train here locally so to be able to further their training by donating equipment the Tafe does not have, it just benefits us as well as the other kids that are coming through.”
The donated engine was common in the region and was used in the R2900 underground loader, Mr Pope said.
“All mines that you can think of, say Cannington, run them. Locally in town run them, Eloise runs them, George Fisher Mine runs them. Nearly every mine in Australia runs them.
“So that engine is common to those machines and the training that’s on them now, they can take anywhere.”
The engine had been kept in the campus’s automotive and diesel fitting workshop.
Automotive teacher Zane King said the motor will be of benefit to the Tafe and to its students.
“It’s a late model engine and it incorporates the mechanical and the auto electrical components of what we teach here at Tafe,” Mr King said.
“The advantage to us is not only does it incorporate the mechanical side but the auto electrical side.
“Everything is moving to an auto electrical field.”
It was an interesting time for students learning about the industry, especially with recent development of automation.
“It’s a really exciting time for people wanting to get into these trades,” Mr King said.
“Everything is going automotive.
“There’s going to be more components that need attention and maintenance, to make the roads we’ve got safer.”
“That’s a way from the heavy vehicle environment and more in everyday use in the next seven to eight years.”