Community
It’s all made possible through the support of the community on the West Coast – our home.
Sponsorship
Creating a pipeline of talent is critical to making sure our business can continue to grow and in 2023, we awarded the first of our annual $32,500 education scholarships to a local student undertaking study related to our field. We will welcome the current and future award recipients into our company on study completion, where we will help get them started in their careers.
We recognise there is more to life than work and our sponsorship of local community groups and events is one way we can help our people and their families to feel valued outside of business hours. In 2023, our initiatives included sponsorship of Buller Rugby, the Westport Whitebait Festival, the Kawatiri Coastal Trail and a REAP Discovery Day for local Year 8 students to learn about career opportunities and cyber safety.
How we help the economy
We are doing things differently. We are taking the community along with us on our journey – our success is their success. The people of the West Coast are directly invested in WMS Group, through a $3 million share purchase by Development West Coast in 2022. And we are committed to being a stable local employer and key exporter for generations to come, with as much as a century’s worth of resource available to us under our licences.
Our company employs more than 50 staff across our mining, ports and marine and support operations. Our growth plans will see that number double in the near future, with highly-skilled roles on offer in areas such as engineering, geotechnical, environmental management and sustainability, people and safety and operations.
Our proposed Mananui operation alone is expected to generate $71m in export revenue each year, contributing $37.9m or a 1.8 percent boost to regional GDP. Our efforts are helping to diversify and grow our national economy, leading New Zealand to become one of the top suppliers of critical minerals globally.
Our future people
We believe it is both our duty and a privilege to support our young people on their path to a career in our sector, building the pipeline of future talent. The more highly-skilled people we can attract to the West Coast, the more our local economy will grow in future.
In 2023, we were pleased to award the inaugural WMS Group education scholarship to Kaira Lourie, 17, deputy head at Westland High School. The award valued at $32,500 will support Kaira to study for a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Geology at Canterbury University and Kaira will have the opportunity to work for WMS Group at the completion of her study.
Staff highlight
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