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Australia's mining industry is a central part of Australia's economy, with the country being one of the world's largestexportersofcoal,ironore,bauxite,alumina,andmanyothermineralresources. Recentstatisticsand 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 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, suchasmobileandwearabletechnologies. 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).

There's a strong culture in Australian mining of female trailblazers who have forged a path for those established leaders of mining's current generation with a commanding presence. However, there has been increasing cases of sexual harassment. In particular, women has acknowledged it to be still relevant to choose between family and a career. This has created many challenges for women in FIFO roles.

A mining giant,

Fortescue Metals Group has rejected calls

for a register of sexual offenders in Western Australia's

mining industry. About 30 per cent of respondents to a recent online survey of 2000 staff said they had

witnessed sexual harassment or inappropriate behaviour at FMG sites.

FMG's director of people Linda O'Farrell said the priority should be to streamline reporting for victims. However, FMG also opposed to the creation of an independent body to oversee the management of harassment claims. FMG's stance is at odds with fellow Pilbara giants Rio Tinto and BHP. Facing a WA parliamentary inquiry, chief executive Elizabeth Gaines on Wednesday said FMG had investigated 11 sexual

harassment matters in 2020 and a further 31 so far this year.

"Working directly with people who have made complaints to us, it is very daunting to them when we need to explain they may be contacted by somebody they don't know from a department that they don't have involvement with," CEO Gaines said. Rio Tinto's iron ore chief Simon Trott said he was sickened by the evidence of widespread sexual misconduct within the industry. Since the start of 2020, Rio has identified one substantiated case of sexual assault and 29 sexual harassment cases. About 15 workers have been dismissed, while others remain under investigation. BHP last week said it had sacked at least 48 workers for sexual misconduct over the past two years. The three mining companies combined with the Chamber of Minerals and Energy Western Australia pledge support for the parliamentary inquiry into sexual misconduct against women in the FIFO mining industry and committed to work cohesively to eradicate these behaviours from the sector. A pilot program, to be developed in 2022, will be established for TAFE students through South Metropolitan TAFE. This will form part of core learning requirements for students who may be planning to join Rio Tinto, BHP or Fortescue.

Mining operations, however expansive and complex, are temporary. Eventually, once the most accessible and valuable materials have been extracted, the mine is closed, and the site must be restored back to its original state. This includes covering up mine entrances, replanting grass and trees, and testing surrounding water, soil, and air for contaminants. The chief executive of a small shire in Western Australia says cleared land, open pits, and hazardous materials left behind at abandoned mines are a major concern and has called on the state government to prioritise rehabilitation.

Peter Fitchat from Dundas Shire explains, "The big ones that are a concern are still exposed, that cause dust, there's asbestos on these sites, there's contamination, there's arsenic and old processors,". There were more than 190,000 abandoned mining features across WA's outback, including open pits, dumps, and mining shafts.

Adam Cross from Curtin University's Centre for Mine Site Restoration said abandoned mines were a hazard and "Mining creates materials that are among the most challenging for plants and animals to recolonise naturally,". He further added "Landforms like waste rock dumps and tailings can erode over time and their dust can contain particles and heavy metals and other compounds that can be harmful for plants and animals, even for us.

The East Kimberley's only operational iron ore project has started loading its last shipment, after a management decision to shut the mine and lay off hundreds of workers in Western Australia's far north. It is estimated the closure of Ridges will see about 200 jobs lost and as much as $3.5 million a month in lost revenue for local businesses across the region. The closure was particularly devastating in light of all the work done to build Indigenous employment across the mine, haulage, and ship loading operations.