Competing for the future minerals’ workforce

Tania Constable PSM, Chief Executive Officer, Minerals Council of Australia

In the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, the mining and resources sector continues to provide stability for Queensland – supporting the jobs of 372,000 people and contributing $82.6 billion to the state’s economy.

However, our industry’s capacity to continue growing, competing and thriving in a dynamic global economy relies heavily on employers across Australia being able to access and use the right people with the right skills at the right time.

Competing for talent

The nature of work in Australia is changing. The pace of change has been increased by the pandemic and businesses and workplaces across all sectors in Australia are sitting up and paying attention. Whilst Australia’s minerals sector is a global leader in innovation and safety, we are actively competing with a range of sectors to captivate the interest and imagination of emerging talent.

Across the mining process – from exploration through to operations, processing, transport and trading – technology is transforming the way we mine. So as the nature of work changes and evolves, workers will need skills and capabilities that are adaptable, transferable and relevant to the needs of the future economy. The MCA has long advocated for more flexible, higher quality and responsive education, training and workforce development to build the minerals workforce of the future.

For Australia’s resources sector to continue to underpin our economic recovery, we need to find new, innovative ways of how to achieve this sooner rather than later.

In late 2019, the Mining Skills Organisation Pilot (MSOP) was announced as the third Skills Organisation pilot – along with digital technologies and human services care – funded through the Australian Government’s $585.3M Skills Package. The pilots will work to strengthen Australia’s Vocational Education and Training system (VET) by ensuring it remains responsive, respected and flexible – providing learners with the skills needed to succeed in modern workplaces and employers with the workers needed to grow a strong economy.

Supporting regional communities

Regional Australian communities need more support from the resources sector than metropolitan communities, as the nation rebounds from the pandemic, which has hit young Australians and their job prospects hard. Australia’s minerals industry is supporting jobs and regional economies in their time of need, with apprenticeships a particular focus.

The MCA, together with the Australian Government, is coordinating the MSOP on behalf of employers and with the broader industry, creating more than 1,000 new apprenticeships. This, combined with BHP’s five-year commitment to fund 3,500 new Australian apprenticeship and training positions and spend $450M with the METS sector, will be a huge boost for regional jobs and skills across Australia – great news for communities and young people in heartland mining regions like the Bowen Basin.

BHP Mitsubishi Alliance's Caval Ridge Mine has also welcomed 20 Indigenous Trainees to their team as part of a new 12-month traineeship program on site.

Every day the minerals industry is proud to stand with our host communities across the Bowen Basin – and during the COVID-19 pandemic, standing together and helping each other is more important than ever before.

Companies are working closely with local pandemic response committees, councils, government agencies, community organisations and others to meet local health and social needs and keep people working.

Anglo American, with its five metallurgical coal mines across the Bowen Basin, has taken a range of actions to support their host communities - reducing payment terms for small to medium businesses to 14 days, donating $140,000 to a new kindergarten service in Moranbah for playground equipment and additional placements, and partnering with Hearts of Australia to ensure the towns of Middlemount, Moura, Theodore and Banana have access to medical specialists.

Glencore launched a $25M global community support fund to help local teams provide support and resources to host communities, such as purchasing a $45,000 COVID-19 testing machine and the donation of hundreds of protective goggles to the Mount Isa region and hospital.

Building the future minerals workforce

As Australia emerges from COVID-19, it’s more important than ever to promote the work by industry and academic institutions on flexible and responsive university education arrangements to build the modern minerals workforce of the future.

The MCA has announced the Australian minerals sector will invest more than $1M into new university programs to strengthen the learning experience and create the professionals required by the modern mining sector – with Queensland-based universities leading the way.

Under this approach, three new initiatives across the University of Queensland, Central Queensland University, University of Southern Queensland and Curtin University will modernise the mining engineering curriculum and co-develop pathways into the modern mining sector. In an industry first, Curtin University and University of Queensland have developed a micro-credential package as an online professional certificate in foundations of modern mining, consisting of six individual short courses providing most of the qualifications required for a rapid pathway into a Graduate Certificate.

Given some restrictions in higher education environments, this program advances training creation and delivery mechanisms in innovative ways while providing a pathway into relevant graduate programs at both universities.

Curtin University will also pilot, test and evaluate a redesigned undergraduate curriculum in mining engineering, established through extensive consultation with industry and community partners.

Central Queensland University and University of Southern Queensland will run a curricular pilot to refresh and re-focus the Associate Degree of Engineering to reflect the modern mining sector. The Associate Degree provides a pathway to a professional engineering career for trade-qualified paraprofessionals in engineering related industries, including the broader resources sector. This $1M investment is part of the $65M of MCA member company investment into minerals-related programs at Australian universities since 2000 to ensure the quality supply of Australian graduates for the mining industry.

Together with MSOP, these university initiatives are building new pathways into the industry for people at different stages of their lives and careers, while highlighting existing pathways into Australia’s world-leading minerals industry. A strong mining sector and a highly-skilled workforce will ensure a speedy economic recovery is delivered for the benefit of not only Queensland but all Australians.