In response to criticisms that Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill project is favouring foreign labour over Australian workers, the firm has initiated measures to hire locals for the construction phase of the iron ore venture.

Roy Hill Holdings Chief Executive Barry Fitzgerald said on Friday that the miner appointed recruitment firm Skilled to help them hire locals for the project in Pilbara. It would also participate in two job fora in Kwinana and Illawara in the coming months as a response to representations from Labor MP Gary Gray and Liberal MPs Joanna Gash and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.

The Roy Hill project needs 8,500 workers for its construction phase and Ms Rinehart was allowed by the government to bring in temporarily 1,700 foreign skilled workers, which was heavily criticised by some groups.

Mr Fitzgerald said Skilled will have direct responsibility for primary recruitment and hiring through advertising in print media and online, telephone follow-ups, face-to-face interviews and participation in job forum.

He said the bulk of the hiring would be done after Roy Hill secures final investment approval in early 2013.

There are speculations of delay in the projects after Roy Hill called for more equity investors and sold its 30 per cent stake on s mine, rail and port project to overseas investors such as Korean steel giant Posco, Japanese trader Marubeni and China Steel Corporation.

Roy Hill targets to produce its first ore in 2014.

On Wednesday night, Hancock Prospecting Chief Development Officer John Klepec called on the federal government at the yearly Diggers and Dealers mining conference in Kalgoorlie to end the class war with big business.

"As Mrs Rinehart says, it is time to stop the smoke screen of this divisive class warfare and get on with building projects to help Australia to get out of its record debt," Mr Klepec said.

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