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The Australian industry body, the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) have identified
several problems in the Australian mining industry. AMEC has realised the negative impact some big names
involved in the mining sector in Australia have been creating and has decided to make changes to the way
they govern the industry in a move to protect Australian resources and stakeholders. They have employed
YOU as an expert management consultant to review the current problems in order to implement appropriate
measures in a bid to improve the Australian mining sector and maintain sustainability.
Australia’s mining industry is a central part of Australia’s economy, with the country being one of the world’s
largest exporters of coal, iron ore, bauxite, alumina, and many other mineral resources. Recent statistics and
reports have confirmed the importance of the mining industry to the Australian economy. The Australian
economy has been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, however the mining industry has been a
source of strength for the nation.
Despite the overall economy contracting, mining industry GDP
increased 4.9 per cent in 2019-20 and totalled $202 billion. This
also made mining Australia’s largest industry with a 10.4 per
cent share of the economy. 2020–21 export earnings are
estimated at $310 billion, up almost 7% on the record set in
2019–20. Earnings are expected to rise further to $334 billion in
2021–22, before declining to $304 billion in 2022–23. The world
economic recovery has been accompanied by a rise in prices
for many goods and services.
The Australian industry is strongly export-oriented, with minimal
processing onshore. There are 240,000 people directly
employed by the resources sector and a total of 1.1 million
direct and indirect jobs in the mining and mining equipment,
technology and services sectors
Australia is the world’s largest producer of lithium and a global top five producer of gold, iron ore, lead, zinc,
and nickel. Australia is the fourth largest mining country in the world (after China, the United States and
Russia). With about 350 operational mines, Australia produces 19 minerals. The country currently leads the
global mining sector, with nearly 40% of the market value share.
Australia’s mining market is diverse, and accordingly, so are its mining companies. BHP and Rio Tinto, are
two of the biggest names in mining worldwide. In Australia, these companies lead the metals and mining
market.
BHP sits at the very top of the biggest mining companies in the world. Specialising in the extraction and
processing of minerals, as well as oil and gas, they employ over 72,000 workers - mainly in Australia and the
Americas. BHP is based in Melbourne, although their products are for sale worldwide. BHP Group is among
MCP assignment case study Trimester 1, 2022
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Mining in Australia.
the world’s top producers of major commodities such as copper, iron ore, metallurgical coal, oil, energy coal
and gas.
Rio Tinto is the second biggest mining company in Australia and the world. Like the BHP Group, they’re
based in Melbourne, with an impressive market cap of 146.75 billion. Rio Tinto currently employs over 47,500
people in 35 countries. Rio Tinto specialise in producing a range of materials.
Rio Tinto are responsible for a lot of the aluminium found in smartphones and cars, titanium found in
household products, iron ore for steel, copper for wind turbines and more.
With the high cost of labour in Australia, there is
strong interest in automation technology such as
driverless vehicles (trucks and trains), drills, and
excavation equipment. This interest is strongest
in the iron ore sector, where the large scale of
mine operations justifies the investment in
automation. The Australian mining industry is, in
many areas, an early adopter of technologies,
such as mobile and wearable technologies. There
are also moves to convert particular types of
heavy moving equipment, e.g. underground
loaders, to non-diesel power, for both
environmental and occupational health and safety
A new report commissioned by the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has found that over the next five
years, more than 77% of jobs in the country’s mining sector will be altered by technological innovations,
increasing productivity by up to 23%. However, new technologies such as geo-spatial data, 3D mapping and
hyperspectral core imaging allow the material drilled to be continuously monitored, while tools such as
autonomous drills allow exploration methods to be adapted in response to information gathered. Companies
already employing such technology include Rio Tinto and BHP, the former with its 3D mapping technology
and the latter with its downhole assay.
Drones, advanced analytics, digital twins and an Integrated Operating Centre (IOC) provide a means to better
manage feed presentation, optimise plant operations and shift maintenance strategies from reactive to
predictive. Earnest & Young, has estimated that this section of the industry could see a rise of 7%-15% in
asset productivity improvement, a 10%-15% reduction in processing cost and 8%-20% overall productivity
improvement.
Technology such as broken rail detection and digital
twins allow for maintenance to become predictive
rather than reactive, catching problems before they
have significant effects further down the line –
minimising interruptions and streamlining shipments.
Autonomous vehicles allow operators to work offsite
and thus remove the need for operator-induced
stoppages. Rio Tinto began using autonomous trains
for their Pilbara operations in 2017 and have reported
improvements in safety and a reduction of bottlenecks
and cycle time. E&Y predicts that introducing such
vehicles could lead to an improvement in asset
operating time of up to 20%, and an overall productivity
improvement of between 3%-15%. Australia BHP uses
Artificial Intelligence (AI) to schedule track movements and the dispatch of trains carrying iron ore between
their mines and Port Hedland, something that has thus far helped BHP to manage stockpiles and ensure
deliveries are correct and on time.
The drilling machinery such as the Azimuth Aligner significantly improves drill-hole accuracy over traditional
alignment techniques, reduces rig set-up times (by up to 90%) and effectively automates the rig-alignment
process – reducing the associated on-site personnel costs (geologists and surveyors). The result is a
substantial improvement in both operational productivity and a significant reduction in cost. Production
Optimiser systems used by mining companies combines advanced hardware and software that substantially
improves production drilling efficiency and productivity in underground mines.
The threat or opportunity of resource development often prompts a movement for the recognition of
indigenous ownership and control of land. However, a number of serious implications arise from the late
recognition of indigenous rights in Australia law, not just as regards loss of land, but in the culture of land
administration and resource development that seeks to reduce the rights of indigenous peoples and secure
access for development. The relationship between indigenous peoples and mining is defined by struggles
over access to land.
The Mirrar, represented by the Gundjehmi Aboriginal
Corporation, are the traditional owners and custodians of the
area of Australia that now contains the Ranger and Jabiluka
mineral leases. Uranium was discovered in the area in the
1950s. The Jabiluka and Ranger mineral leases cut across
country containing the dreaming tracks of the Mirrar. Some
sacred sites within the mineral leases close to the proposed
uranium mine, have not been given "protection" by the mining
company or by the government despite having been publicly
identified by the traditional owners and custodians.
The physical threat to such sites has immense cultural,
spiritual, and legal significance. Land has a fundamental
social and economic importance to indigenous societies, one that can be disrupted and substantially
transformed by mining operations. According to the Mirrar, “do not argue that mining alone is impacting on
living tradition”-- the Mirrar argue that mining and its associated social, economic and political impacts are
the single greatest impact, and that an additional mine will push their culture past the point of cultural
exhaustion to genocidal decay.
The Mirrar maintain vigilance over Jabiluka's sister mine, Ranger, monitoring
the negative social impact the mine is having on the Aboriginal communities in
the vicinity. Mirrar fears about the safety of uranium mines are well-founded.
Around May, 2000, a leak from the Ranger Mine contaminated water with
manganese. Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation Executive Officer Jacqui
Katona (co-recipient of the Goldman Prize) noted that the leak highlights the
inadequate monitoring of the mine and evidences the grave threat that mining
operations pose to the land.
Mining giant Rio Tinto decided to destroy two 46,000-year-old Aboriginal rock shelters in order to access
$135 million worth of iron ore that would not have been available under alternative mining plans avoiding the
culturally significant site. The nation's second-largest miner has faced a storm of condemnation after legally
destroying the ancient site in Western Australia's Juukan Gorge, against the will of the land's traditional
owners. Rio Tinto spokesperson said the land's traditional owners were never told there were other options
that could have protected the Juukan Gorge site.
The Juukan Gorge disaster has highlighted the power
imbalance between the nation's mining giants and
Indigenous communities and raises questions being
explored by the inquiry about a need for greater legal
protections for traditional owners to safeguard significant
sites on their ancestral land. In its submission to the
inquiry, Rio acknowledged it could have made better
decisions and been better partners with the Indigenous
community in the years leading up to the blast in May.
Rio Tinto expressed it had missed multiple opportunities
to better communicate with the traditional landowners or
pause to rethink its mine expansion plan.
The mining industry’s super-profits have come at a high cost to some parts of the community, as evidenced
by workplace deaths in mines, to say nothing of the trashing of Aboriginal land rights and environmental
destruction. A twenty-five-year-old Indigenous man David Armstrong was killed on 30 September at
Fortescue Metal Group’s Solomon Hub iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Part of the
drill and blast team, he died after the ground collapsed beneath him. Workers are also afraid of losing their
jobs for raising safety concerns. Added to this is the issue of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) worker suicides. FIFO stands
for Fly In Fly Out and DIDO stands for Drive in Drive Out. This means that workers are brought to site for the
length of their work roster where they are provided with accommodation, recreation facilities, meals, etc.
FIFO jobs are those which involve employees being flown to their workplace for the duration of a roster before
being flown back to a preferred location. Companies are not required to investigate when there is suicide in
their mining camp, let alone if one of the workers or contractors takes their own life during an off swing (the
week off after working two or three weeks consecutively).
