This article is an editorial written by Mining.com.au’s Editor-in-Chief Adam Orlando.
Let the wining or perhaps the ‘whining’ begin. Today (22 November) marks National Mining and Related Industries Day, which celebrates the enormous contribution of Australia’s mining and related industries to the domestic economy and the livelihood of all Aussies.
It follows International Men’s Day which was celebrated on 19 November. Do men really need their own day you ask? Well, International Men’s day raises awareness about the health of men and highlights their socio-economic, cultural, and political achievements.
This year, National Mining Day will be held at a Santos (ASX:STO) gasfield, with charter flights for guests provided from Adelaide. When discovering this information this reporter too questioned how this affects carbon emissions and then logic kicked in and the realisation came – how else will they get there?
For 2023’s celebrations, guests were treated to dinner under the stars in the Pilbara – Western Australia’s mining capital. This news service is not privy as to who flew out to the Pilbara last year but what is known is that the plane used to send guests there required aluminium, steel, and titanium alloys, as well as composite materials in order to be built and fly.
Think of mining like hydrogen, which is the chemical element with the symbol H. Hydrogen is essential for all life, much like mining, and is abundant in the universe. One could argue that if the resources industry was an element it would be element H (hence the weird headline).
Some readers may want to pour a glass of wine or beer or water to carry on reading. Perhaps an ‘H’ pour for ‘heavy’ is warranted.
While anti-mining protesters begin flocking to post messages protesting against the industry having a national day from their smartphones – a device in which minerals such as aluminium, cobalt, copper, germanium, gold, and lithium are essential elements – since 2013 National Mining Day reminds those in the resources sector to be proud of their industry “and to stand up for it constantly”.
Why? Because mining is essential to Australia. The sector and its related industries are at the forefront of underpinning Aussie living standards.
Ubiquitous power of mining
The mining and METS sectors combined contribute an estimated 15% of the country’s GDP, creates more than 1.1 million jobs, and supports many regional and remote communities. Of those jobs, METS businesses employ 300,000 people directly, as reported by this news service.
The mining industry as a whole over the eight years to the end of 2023 has delivered some $240 billion in taxes and royalties and over $261 billion in wages directly, many more indirectly. Therefore, many people’s livelihoods directly rely on mining.
The National Mining Day website posits an interesting question to those who are anti-mining: “Without mining and its related industries, who would fill the huge gap to support our defence forces, police, fire fighters, roads, other transport infrastructure, hospitals, aged care and more, and who would be giving our regional and remote communities employment and other opportunities?”
And while considering this, the day’s organisers suggest people try to remember that with governments overspending, given the mining sector’s contribution to Australia’s economy and key role in transitioning to net zero, the industry helps keep things like electricity costs down.
Arguably, the power bills example is not ideal given the cost-of-living crisis being faced by many, however are rising electricity costs a result of the resources sector or perhaps is it government mismanagement or maybe is it due to a myriad of reasons combined?
Let’s dig a little deeper. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, a report released on 27 November 2023 notes Australia’s net energy supply decreased by 4% in 2021-22 to 22,914 petajoules (PJ). Renewable energy extraction (hydro, solar, and wind energy), which rely heavily on rare earth elements to build, for example, increased by 19% to 291 PJ.
The main sources of domestic energy production were black coal (10,838 PJ of which 93% was exported), natural gas (5,842 PJ of which 79% was exported as LNG), uranium (2,108 PJ of which 100% was exported), crude oil and condensates (844 PJ of which 77% was exported), and brown coal (410 PJ which was mostly used for domestic production of electricity).
Those exports contribute to Australia’s GDP, meaning they deliver wealth to the country, which means Aussies can enjoy a high standard of living and all this because the great nation is mineral-rich and well-endowed with a plethora of minerals, metals, and raw materials. Some might say filthy rich with various commodities.
After the cold and wet winter experienced by many states this year, most if not all readers will likely prefer these minerals and metals continue to be mined so their heaters work next winter.
Why use electric heaters when wood fires can do the same, if not, arguably a better job at heating households? Good question.
According to a report from Science Direct, Australia’s annual contribution to global warming would be reduced by at least 8.7 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent (the same as removing about 21% of Australian passenger cars from the roads, or generating electricity from 5.8 million household 1kW rooftop photovoltaic systems) if the 4.5 to 5 million tonnes of firewood currently burned in domestic wood heaters were instead used to replace coal in power stations and domestic wood heaters replaced by gas or reverse cycle airconditioning.
Firewood production is often considered to be CO2 neutral if the carbon dioxide emitted by burning the wood is absorbed by replacement trees. However, burning firewood in domestic heaters currently available produces methane and black carbon particles that actually increase global warming.
If you got this far reading then a glass of wine or beer is warranted.
Wood burning aside, mining is also an industry at the forefront of innovation and one that regional communities rely on – building and sustaining many country towns, offering employment in remote areas where otherwise employment opportunities are scarce.
Technical innovations in mining can be used to benefit many other industries, such as in agriculture, utilising digitalised communications and drones trialled in the mining industry, and in the services industry, to name a few.
As previously mentioned, the renewable energy market relies heavily on mining. For example, minerals used to build wind turbines include aluminium, rare earth elements, lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, graphite, and steel.
The primary raw materials used in steel production are iron ore, coking coal, and limestone.
Everything from houses to bridges, hospitals and shopping centres, infrastructure, and city skyscrapers require steel. The construction industry is responsible for about 25% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. One reason for the industry’s high emissions is that it is a voracious consumer of steel – accounting for more than 50% of global demand. Steel is also used in cars, ships, trains, tools, and electrical appliances, among other things.
Partial steel decarbonisation is possible, however near-zero emissions steel is more expensive, albeit with variations based on technology that can only be developed through mining various commodities, location, and the project itself.
So if you enjoy driving a car to get around instead of a horse and buggy, and if you prefer to sleep in a house rather than a tent then the reality is that mining is necessary. Very necessary.
‘Everything that is anything can only exist through mining of raw materials‘
For those anti-mining people who are bored and now looking at their watches – which for the most part contain a combination of gold, nickel-plated brass, stainless steel, bronze, silicon, and titanium, among others – perhaps a better understanding of the critical role the resources sector plays in everyday life might be warranted.
Mining companies collectively will likely agree, by logging onto a laptop – which is made from raw materials like tantalum (for portable power storage), precious metals like silver and platinum, nickel, and rare earth elements like neodymium, yttrium, and dysprosium, among others – plenty of information is available to become educated on the importance of mining.
Sure improvements can be made and there are some companies out there which have what can only be described as having a questionable history when it comes to things like environmental protection, health and safety, and all things heritage. They are but the very few bad eggs in a massive basket.
With this in mind and to celebrate the sector, National Mining and Related Industries Day was founded by mining magnate Gina Rinehart who also serves as Patron of the day. The inaugural event was held in Brisbane in 2013.
Rinehart, who is Executive Chairman of Hancock Prospecting states: “When mining does well, Australia does well. But when mining doesn’t do well, nor do Australians.”
As Rinehart stated last year addressing attendees of the Pilbara event, “someone who gets the importance of common sense is the leader of the opposition in Canada, we need this echoed loudly in our country”.
Well, if this article leads to the kind of vitriol that is derived from derision, dissent, indifference, or even incredulity then as the Editor-in-Chief of Mining.com.au, direct such views towards this author and not the other good people that make this news organisation or the mining sector exist.
Just remember, whatever electronic device is used to send such communication, it will contain everything from bauxite to cassiterite, to fluorite, galena, and gypsum, to hematite, sphalerite, and also wolframite.
If you got this far reading the article then a glass of beer or wine is truly earned.
Did you know that that very glass will contain silica (silicon dioxide), limestone (calcium carbonate), sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, and aluminium oxide?
Mining huh, who needs it? Happy National Mining and Related Industries Day everyone!
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Brydie Noonan & iStock
