“Luxurious Accommodations: Five-Star FIFO Housing Attracts Workers”

The facility features 500 rooms, each three times the size of a standard donga, including individual bathroom, kitchenette and laundry facilities. 

Currently, 23 couples are residing at the resort. 

FIFO worker Cory Cruttenden described the accommodation as “second to none”.

“I’ve had nothing like this in my experience,” he said.

His partner, Deni Latus, also a resident at the facility, was similarly impressed.

“I bought a house and I would say this is actually better than my house currently,” she said.

“It is a bit of a holiday, it is nice up here.”

Dump truck operator Lisa Vines likened it to “the Club Med of the Pilbara, if not Australia”.

“We all feel respected and valued and no one wants to leave — everyone wants to come here,” she said.

The resort’s amenities include an 18-hole miniature golf course, racing and golf simulators, basketball and tennis courts, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and a gym. An onsite restaurant and tavern provide approximately 175,000 dinners annually. 

The resort is located alongside the MinRes Ken’s Bore airport and is a 20-minute drive from the mine site where crushed ore is loaded onto road trains for transport to the Port of Ashburton, 150 kilometres away.

Mineral Resources Director People Andrea Chapman said the new accommodation may broaden the appeal of FIFO work. 

“People that previously may not have considered FIFO an option are now becoming more open-minded to it, and that includes women,” she said. 

“But in addition to it being beautiful, it is also safe.”