Careers in the modern mining industry
Tania Constable, Minerals Council of Australia
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or decades, mining and resources have been the backbone of the Queensland economy. More than 300,000 Queensland jobs are supported by resources and in 2018-19 alone, mining and resources contributed $6.1 billion in wages for Queensland workers, $5.4 billion in royalties to pay for teachers, nurses and police and a total of $74.3 billion to the Queensland economy. That's one in every five dollars of the Queensland economy and one in every seven jobs, thanks to mining and resources. So it's not hard to see why mining is so important to Queensland. And on top of this, the mining and resources sector has a supply chain of more than 14,000 Queensland businesses and assists with 1,395 community organisations. The mining and resources sector continues to provide stability not only in Queensland, but right across the country. In 2018-19, Australia's worldclass resources sector generated a record high of $273 billion in export earnings for the nation, up 24% from 2017-18, and accounted for 58% of Australia’s total export revenue.
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BBMC Yearbook 2019
This increase in export values was across a number of commodities too. Iron ore exports increased 26% to $77 billion; coal exports increased 15% to $69 billion; and LNG exports increased 61% to $49 billion. The value of resources exports has in fact doubled since 2009-10. The mining industry (including oil and gas) accounted for 8.5% of Australia’s GDP in 2018-19 which was the second highest share of any industry. Of all industries in Australia, mining has been the largest contributor to economic growth over the last decade. Despite all of these facts and figures, the myth that the mining boom is behind us still persists in some parts of Australia. The mining industry has undergone a period of significant expansion in the past decade, with a period of massive investment supporting many construction jobs in the industry as new mines, processing plants and infrastructure were built. Now that these projects have been built, Australia is producing new record volumes of coal, iron ore, bauxite, gold and lithium. This production phase of the boom will last for a much longer period, because mines typically take a few years to build but can run for considerably more than 20 years.
Most of the things we use in daily life are made from mined materials. With global population growth and rapidly escalating demand for energy and infrastructure, we are using more minerals and metals than ever. So you can expect the appetite for our world-class Australian resources to remain strong. This in turn creates a demand for first-class people to work in the industry. These operating mines are offering many new positions in the industry. More than 17,000 new jobs in the resources sector have been created since 2016. There’s no doubt we have an outstanding workforce in Australian mining. Our miners are younger than the all-industries average, highly paid, highly skilled and totally committed to be the best in the world at what they do. They also look after the environment, their mates and put a huge amount back into their local communities. The Minerals Council of Australia’s (MCA) member companies such as New Hope are doing great work in mining rehabilitation and securing more opportunities for young people. With the growth and resurgence in coal and our other world-class commodities across the Bowen Basin, Queensland more broadly, and Australia, the industry will be looking for more people from
