Australia's first “enterprise migration agreement” will be announced today, delivering hundreds of foreign workers to one of Gina Rinehart's iron ore projects in Western Australia.

Ms Rinehart's Roy Hill project will be the first to use an “EMA”, which is a new type of workplace visa devised by the Federal Government to ease chronic worker shortages in the resources sector.

EMA's are only available to projects worth more than $2 billion with a projected workforce beyond 1500. As part of the deal, companies granted an EMA have to provide training to the foreign workers they receive.

Ms Rinehart has long campaigned for more foreign workers to be allowed into Australia, and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said this morning that he expected more companies to seek EMA's in the weeks ahead.

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“While the emphasis is on developing local workers, the Government acknowledges that increased migration has a major role to play in providing skills that cannot be met by the Australian labour market,” he said.

pker@theage.com.au