The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) Victorian division has outlined four key policy priorities to support the state’s mining industry in its latest report, Mining Victoria: A Prosperity Agenda for Regional Victoria.
Key policies intended to create more jobs and growth in mining regions include reducing approval timeframes for mining projects, incentivising exploration technologies, reforming taxes to benefit regional communities, and strengthening school-to-mining pathways.
As reported by Mining.com.au, research from Hays identified a demand for upskilling talent in Australia’s mining industry, with the leading reason mining and resources professionals changed jobs in the past year being a lack of career progression, regardless of salary satisfaction and wage growth.
MCA Victoria Executive Director James Sorahan says the ongoing global demand for critical minerals has “created a once-in-a-generation economic opportunity for regional Victoria”.
“Victoria’s rich minerals endowment can be converted into jobs, revenue flows, and sustained economic growth, supporting families to stay in the regions and providing opportunities for young people,” Sorahan says.
“Mining already delivers strong social and economic benefits in the regions. Gold operations in Bendigo, Ballarat, and Stawell support thousands of jobs and local businesses.”
Gold explorers in Western Victoria include North Stawell Minerals (ASX:NSM) and Aureka (ASX:AKA), the latter of which released an upgraded resource estimate on 18 June at its Irvine Project, located in the Stawell Corridor.
As reported by Mining.com.au, Aureka increased its worldwide JORC resource estimate at Irvine by 26% to 455,000 ounces of gold.
“With the right policy settings, Victoria can unlock a new generation of gold, mineral sands, and rare earths projects by 2035,” Sorahan says.
“This is both realistic and responsible if we want to build a stronger economic base for Victoria.
“Mining works best as a genuine partnership: government as custodian of the state’s resources, industry as the provider of expertise, capital, and technology to develop them responsibly.”
MCA Victoria’s report, Mining Victoria: A Prosperity Agenda for Regional Victoria, sets out what partnerships in the mining industry could look like in practice.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: MCA Victoria
