Brazilian Bird your right the mines do set very strict minimums for not only the crews total times but also the experience base of its maintenance provider. Ive worked for 4 regionals that operate fly in fly out and when the mines sent their Auditors in it is much more intense than any CASA audit I've been involved with because they use industry professionals to carry out the audit.
Regionals like Skippers have always been the stepping stone for progression to something larger and will continue that way, there has been at least one pilot return to Skippers in the last 12 months after realising that the grass wasn't as green as it looked and the deal at Skippers wasn't too bad, they rarely do overnights or weekends so they get a stable life at home, plus with the increasing size of the Dash 8 fleet there is progression in house to larger aircraft.