(From Bloomberg Businessweek) -- Australia's resources industry faces the threat of a skills shortage by late 2011 to early 2012, especially in Western Australia and Queensland, a government- appointed labor task force said in a report.

Australia has some 75 planned mining and energy projects with a combined value of about A$110 billion, as of April, the National Resources Sector Employment Taskforce said on its website.

Resources projects may be short of 36,000 trades workers by 2015, the taskforce said.

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