One mine in WA is going alcohol-free, but some workers say the cost-cutting effort is an attack on their lifestyles.

Rio Tinto’s Argyle diamond mine is going alcohol-free, saying its “future operating model” will be one of temperance and sobriety.

The Argyle wet mess will be booze-free in coming weeks,

“Argyle has moved into a new era of complex underground mining and transitioning to a dry camp is an important part of its future operating model,” Argyle Diamonds managing director Shane Johnson told Fairfax Media.

For some, it is a sign that the perks once offered to get people into the mines are being reduced, as workforce numbers catch up to demand.

Resource analyst Peter Strachan says there was “a dash to get skills and people on a while back and the unions were in a very strong position to demand all sorts of benefits for FIFO workers in terms of accommodation and schedules”.

“The spending phase, when the focus was not on costs is over and companies are now paring back costs to ensure they can produce the returns they’d hoped for,” Mr Strachan said.

The wet mess is a long-running part of FIFO mining, with many workers considering it a fundamental place for socialising, unwinding and spending occasional days off.

Despite most mines having tough restrictions on the service of alcohol, two-can limits and breath-tests being common, Mr Strachan says the dry mess is a sign of the times.

“The unions have brought this on in some ways... because the safety culture has become, in some ways, a sort of religion,” he said.

“It may be that the wet mess falls to the gods of safety.

“You don’t want drugs and alcohol coming into play when people are operating sophisticated machinery.”

CFMEU WA mining sector spokesperson Gary Wood told reporters that employees are “basically desperate for employment with all the retrenchments going on” and closing the wet mess is “taking advantage of the current conditions”.

One 31-year-old FIFO truck driver told the Sydney Morning Herald that jobs are hard to find, and most will not leave due to this decision but they will be disgruntled.

“The way that the industry is going, everyone is aware jobs are scarce, a few years ago people would change jobs if they didn’t have the right flavour of ice-cream but it’s not like that anymore,” he said.

“I know guys who go and have four or five drinks a night and wake up okay for work at 4am.”

The driver said Rio Tinto often uses uniform site rules, and the grog-ban may be extended across the company’s camps.