The mining and geoscience industries are grappling with an increasingly urgent question: ”Why are there so few students attracted to work in the mining sector and what can we do to change that?”
Australian Geoscience Council President Sandra Occhipinti says that while the industry has made strides, more still needs to be done to attract and retain talent.
Occhipinti tells Mining.com.au that the ongoing decline in student interest, particularly in earth science, is a significant challenge for the sector.
In recent years, fewer young Australians have opted for careers in geology and related fields, as universities have increasingly reduced their earth science faculties.
In fact, Mining.com.au recently found that less than half of Australia’s 42 universities offered undergraduate or postgraduate degrees in geoscience — a trend that has only worsened over time.
The Australian Geoscience Council (AGC) says historically, enrolments in geoscience and mining-related careers have been very cyclical with universities struggling to attract students consistently. As a result, there has been an overall trend in enrolments which shows a general decline over the last 10 years.
AGC has revealed a daunting trend in the sector which shows a lack of awareness among high school and university students about earth science and geoscience as a viable career path.
A new survey from the AGC and Ffiftyfive5 released today (6 February) finds that 42% of respondents were unaware of earth sciences as an area of study, while 55% were unaware of geoscience. Fiftyfive5 is part of Accenture Song and is an independent market research company.
According to today’s survey, a more concerning trend for the mining sector is that 67% of respondents were unaware mineral processing is an area of study. The quantitative data shows that in terms of net awareness, earth science, geoscience, and geo-engineering have less awareness among respondents than mainstream areas of study like mathematics and biology, with mineral processing ranking last on the awareness chart (see below).
AGC’s survey also reveals a lack of understanding about what geoscience actually entails. Many students mistakenly associated the field only with geology, rocks, and the past — rather than its broader applications in mining, energy, and environmental sustainability.
The survey’s respondents include 211 high school students and 159 university students with the aim of determining issues contributing to poor university enrolments.
Skills gap widening
Speaking to Mining.com.au, Erin Martin, President of Women in Earth and Environmental Sciences in Australasia (WOMEESA), notes that the covid pandemic caused distributions such as switching off the pipeline of international student enrolment which exposed the financial fragility of many universities.
“A lot of our major universities have huge enrollments in areas like law, medicine, and business, and with earth science, unfortunately we just can’t compete with the numbers,” she tells this news service.
“Some of our really great earth science schools would maybe turn out 100 graduates a year, which is compared to thousands in a school of business.”
Occhipinti highlights that while on most student’s radars, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses are inherently more expensive to run in comparison to arts and humanities courses. This is due to laboratories, teaching components such as fieldwork, and other extra expenses that other courses do not require.
These costs often make the courses less appealing for universities, which rely heavily on student enrolments in cheaper programs to cross-subsidise the more expensive ones.
“At many universities it seems that the higher cost schools like earth sciences are cross-subsidised by the fees received by universities for lower cost courses,” Occhipinti explains.
“For most courses the larger the student numbers, the more financially viable they are to run.”
The mining and resources sector, in turn, have increasingly looked overseas to fill the skills gap.
WOMEESA’s Martin says that with fewer Australians graduating in the field, international talent has become a necessary — but unsustainable — solution.
“And now, the places where people can get those degrees in Australia are becoming smaller and smaller”
“And now, the places where people can get those degrees in Australia are becoming smaller and smaller,” she tells Mining.com.au.
The resources and mining equipment, technology, and services sectors combine to contribute an estimated 15% of Australia’s GDP, creating more than 1.1 million jobs, of which METS businesses employ 300,000 people directly.
Australia’s mining and METS sectors are facing heightened competition for recruiting talent from neighbouring regions, such as New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia, where demand is increasing.
In May 2024 there were almost 30% more mining vacancies than during the pandemic.
Regional director for Hays North Queensland, Ged Welsh, recently told Mining.com.au that in 2024 Australia’s mining and METS sectors are facing heightened competition from neighbouring regions, such as New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia, where demand is increasing.
Domestically, the Department of Industry Science and Resources finds that almost 60 projects worth $41 billion have needed almost 21,000 on-site operating employees.
A McKinsey & Company report suggests if Australia decides to convert all of its spodumene to lithium hydroxide, nearly 4,000 additional workers will be required to operate Western Australian plants by 2030 alone.
The CSIRO’s Critical Energy Materials roadmap estimates an annual demand for metals and minerals exceeding 700 million tonnes by 2050, including nearly 9Mt of lithium for energy storage, more than 130 million tonnes each of silicon for EVs, and 48Mt of nickel, also necessary for batteries.
This increasing demand for just these minerals and metals means a growing skilled and diversified workforce is needed more than ever.
Declining interest, lack of awareness
The talent shortage comes as universities such as the University of Wollongong (UoW) face financial struggles and as a result, have cut their earth science programs altogether. At the same time UoW is restructuring its mining engineering program with a voluntary basis in staff numbers.
Australian Institute of Geoscientists’ President Dale Sims believes that universities are not opposed to maintaining these programs if they had higher enrolments to support courses from running.
“At the University of Wollongong, they started to look at a whole range of courses that had very low enrollments and the point they made in our meeting was that if we could lift [earth science, mining, and engineering] enrolments, they’re happy to run them,” Sims says.
Occhipinti says the root of the issue lies in the limited exposure students have to earth sciences during their school years. Without a clear understanding of what geoscience is or how it plays a role in the modern economy, students are less likely to pursue related degrees.
“Can the mining sector contribute to the uplift of Universities now – probably, but band-aid solutions might not be the answer,” Occhipinti adds.
No one can force students in high school or universities to enroll in a geoscience or mining engineering degree. However, the AGC has found that raising awareness of geoscience and getting on student’s radar early will support attracting talent into geoscience-related careers.
Year 10 is considered a key junction point in school students’ decision-making journey as they are making subject choices which impact their future courses and job opportunities.
On the other hand, Occhipinti says it is the case that some actions by the mining and resources sector in recent years, as well as messaging coming from peak body industry organisations have painted the sector in a negative light.
“This may have affected the demand for geoscience degree places,” she says.
Martin points out that the sector, alongside peak body industry organisations, need to do better with enticing potential students to take up the degree or career choice.
“It’s been a lot of people in volunteer roles in organisations like the AIG and GSA trying to do the work to contribute to this — I think we need to put money towards it,” Martin says.
“We need to go to people who understand marketing and fund campaigns for this. It would be really awesome as well if the industry and companies within the mining industry could, from their perspective, put pressure on universities.”
Another complicating factor is the disconnect between federal government policies, national objectives and needs, community perception, and university budgeting
For example, AGC highlights universities are not required to take into account the strategic significance of courses to Australia’s future — although the Australian Government has recently intervened to support nuclear sciences and engineering in preparation for AUKUS — which is a nuclear-powered submarine pathway that aims to deliver benefits for Australia, the UK, and US.
The AGC argues that better alignment between national objectives, university needs, and community perception is necessary to secure the future of mining and geoscience education.
The mining and geoscience sectors face a critical talent shortage, one that requires a mixed approach to solve.
Increasing student awareness, providing better financial support for STEM programs, and fostering positive perceptions of the industry are key steps towards securing the next generation of geoscientists.
Mining giant BHP (ASX:BHP) recently extended its Pilbara Education Partnership for an additional four years, following a $12 million investment. The partnership aims to strengthen education services and improve education outcomes in public schools in the region.
As a result of BHP’s latest investment, the Rise Up Program at Hedland Senior High School and Newman Senior High School will continue and there will also be a grants program which gives schools the opportunity to take on additional STEM-related initiatives.
Without a collective effort between universities, the mining industry, and government bodies, Australia risks losing the talent needed to support its growing resources sector, leaving the industry ill-prepared to meet future demands.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: AGC, Fiftyfive5 & Unsplash
