The Queensland Government is creating a new pathway for regional students to enter careers in the resources industry with a new Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy (QMEA) hub opening in Rockhampton.
The QMEA is set to operate three regional hubs delivering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and trade workshops.
Hubs will be available in Mackay, which opened in late 2025; Townsville, which is set to open next year; and the newest hub in Rockhampton.
The Rockhampton QMEA hub will provide an additional 10,000 regional students across 50 schools with exposure to career opportunities.
This new hub is focused on boosting the resources sector workforce, offering students pathways into mining, engineering, technology, and trade jobs in Central Queensland.
For the first time, QMEA is spreading to primary schools as well. The initiative is designed to give the next generation of Queensland workers more career choices, while also providing regional businesses with a stronger pipeline of skilled workers.
As part of its 2024 state election commitments, the Queensland Liberal Party committed to fund $2 million to the QMEA expansion.
What’s being said
Minister for Finance, Trade, Employment and Training Ros Bates says the expansion to QMEA is to ensure Queensland students have access to local opportunities.
“Some of the best career opportunities in Queensland are right here in our regions, and we want young people seeing those possibilities before they leave school,” Bates says.
“This means 10,000 more students getting a look inside real industries, meeting employers, and understanding how what they learn at school can lead to a good job.
“We are turning the tide by building stronger pathways from the classroom into a career and making sure regional employers have the skilled workers they need to grow.”
Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dale Last says providing a local skills pipeline is essential to support the future of Queensland’s resources sector.
“More than 81,000 Queenslanders work directly in mining and resources. These jobs underpin regional communities right across our state,” Last says.
“Nowhere is this more evident than in Central Queensland where the industry supports thousands of local families and businesses.
“Allowing Queensland’s resources sector to grow means creating pathways into rewarding careers and helping shape the next generation of resource workers from communities like Rockhampton.”
Member for Keppel Nigel Hutton says providing students with early exposure to different career opportunities could change the direction of their lives.
“You can’t aspire to a career you don’t know exists, and that’s why getting these opportunities in front of young people early matters,” Hutton says.
“For a student here in Central Queensland, a QMEA program could be the moment they realise that the science they enjoy at school could lead to a career in the resources sector.”
Queensland Resources Council CEO Janette Hewson says the momentum from the Mackay hub demonstrates the impact of the hub model.
“Since the Mackay hub launched last year, 10 new schools have joined the QMEA network, giving many more primary and secondary students access to workshops, camps, and leadership programs linking their classroom studies directly to careers in the resources industry,” Hewson says.
“The resources sector is critically important to the Queensland economy, and it needs the next generation of engineers, scientists, and data technologists to keep it thriving.”
Resources nearby
Just 20km northeast of Rockhampton is QMines’ (ASX:QML) Mt Chalmers Copper and Gold Project in Central Queensland.
The company announced today (18 August) that it had returned an ‘outstanding’ intersection of 35m @ 2.88% copper (Cu), 0.75 grams per tonne gold (Au), and 3.3g/t silver from 107m, including a higher-grade core of 31m @ 3.22% Cu and 0.83g/t Au from 110m.
QMines is currently progressing a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) at Mt Chalmers ahead of a final investment decision. The DFS is wholly funded by a $15 million investment from the Queensland Investment Corporation.
Mt Chalmers holds a JORC-compliant resource estimate of 11.86 million tonnes (Mt) at 1.22% copper equivalent.
Meanwhile, south of Rockhampton and west of Gladstone sits Alma Metals’ (ASX:ALM) Briggs Copper Project.
Briggs hosts a JORC-compliant resource of 415Mt @ 0.25% Cu and 31 parts per million molybdenum at a 0.2% Cu cut-off grade.
The company recently received its first batch of assay results from infill drilling at the project.
Alma is targeting a resource upgrade through infill drilling at Briggs, with the program also set to support a Prefeasibility Study.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: QMEA
