New spending by some of the world's largest iron ore miners is tightening the market for jobs and support services in Australia's biggest mining region.
Privately held Dundas Mining is restarting its Avebury nickel mine in Tasmania early next year and Swiss trading house Transamine has secured the offtake.
The union had earlier asked the company to negotiate by 10:00 a.m. local time but said in a statement later on Monday that it had begun preparing for a strike.
The market research firm states that despite coal being an increasingly targeted commodity on environmental protection grounds, the demand remains strong.
For the International Energy Agency, having the Democratic Republic of Congo as the supplier of almost 60 per cent of the global production of cobalt is a risky business.