
Labour shortages and a lack of technical talent are pressing challenges for the mining industry, which is attempting a digital transformation while expanding to meet the needs of the green transition.
A narrowing pipeline of technical and science-based careers, together with global skills shortages and a tightening labour market, are hindering the mining industry’s ability to secure and retain current and future workers.
There are more than 299,000 people directly employed in mining, while the broader mining and mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector supports 1.1 million jobs at more than 200 operating mine sites and across various supply chains.
The mining sector’s vacancy rate reached 5.2 per cent towards the end of 2023, up from 3.3 per cent in 2020, and according to data from the Australian Resources and Energy Employer Association (AREEA), the industry will need an estimated 24,000 new workers by 2026, but the supply of available skilled workers is expected to only be about 16,000.
Recent research by GlobalData found the global mining industry had a 20 per cent drop in new job postings overall in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter.
Notably, architecture and engineering jobs accounted for an 8 per cent share of the global mining industry’s new job postings in the quarter, down 17 per cent over the prior quarter.
Mining’s rapid transformation is enhancing existing occupations and creating new ones, as digitalisation and emerging technologies drive improvements across the mining lifecycle.
Lower demand for machinery operators and labour workers brought on by automated equipment has driven a shift in the mining workforce.
GlobalData found the global mining industry had a 44 per cent rise in new job postings related to cloud computing in the first quarter of 2024, compared to a 30 per cent decrease in the first quarter of 2023.
Computer and mathematical occupation jobs accounted for a 43 per cent share of the global mining industry’s cloud-related total new job postings in the first quarter of 2024, up 12 per cent from the prior quarter.
Though automation improves mining production rates, it also reduces mining companies’ expansion capabilities as the skills required to use and maintain the technology become harder to find.
A study from earlier this year by University of Wollongong Honorary Principal Fellow Ray Tolhurst examined current trends in mining education, finding traditional Bachelor of Mining Engineering programs were stagnant or declining, while there had been significant growth in both participant numbers and breadth of alternative pathways for entry into the industry, as well as on-going employee development.
In his analysis of data from the National Mining Engineering Academic E-Network 2020 and 2023 surveys, plus NCVER Databuilders for advanced diploma/diploma completions, Tolhurst found Bachelor of Mining Engineering graduates were less than 20 per cent of the pool of available talent for initial mining technical services and production middle-level positions.
The study found a stagnant decline in the traditional Bachelor of Mining Engineering programme, in parallel with a significant growth in both the participant numbers and breadth of alternative pathways for both entry into the industry and then ongoing employee development.
Tolhurst explained: “It is most unlikely that this source of mining talent alone will meet the requirements to overcome the mining industry’s near-term skills shortages.”
However, the mining sub-degree group, while the smallest in numbers, has been the fastest-growing sector in the last three years. “From just one-third of the numbers of Bachelor of Mining Engineering in 2020 (34 and 104), this sector now has three quarters (74 and 102) of the number of Bachelor of Mining Engineering graduates.
“One of the main reasons for the 176 per cent growth over the three-year period is the online external associate degrees conducted by Central Queensland University and the University of Southern Queensland.”
Tolhurst recommended greater recognition of the differences between the core industry disciplines of mining, geology, metallurgy/materials, and environmental, as well as investigating why very few coal and metal mining national qualifications were being delivered by TAFE institutes.
He added: “Rather than basing mining skills planning predominantly on graduates from Bachelor of Mining Engineering programs alone, companies may find it advantageous to consider the full range of mining engineering pathways, thus diversifying and expanding entry and progression options, effectively overcoming some of the perceived barriers of skills shortages.”