IMDEX chief of product management and marketing Michelle Carey says the mining-technology sector is struggling to attract geoscientists from an increasingly small pool, due partly to universities being battered by a COVID-linked collapse in income from international students, which has led to severe cuts to courses and staff.

Key staff including geoscientists, mine managers and software engineers are in demand to develop the technology needed to facilitate faster, more precise exploration and mining.

Underlying the urgency, geologists and mine managers have been put on the federal government's skilled occupation list, to lure those with the skills to Australia.

Carey said everyone was trying to get geologists and mining engineers and could not.

"What's happening in parallel is that universities are cutting their geology courses [and] over the past couple of years some universities have shut geology departments," she said.

"Macquarie University shut their entire geology department in the past 12 months, that was the highest-ranking geology department from a research perspective in Australia."

Carey said there was a complete disconnect between those actions and the needs of the industry.

The decline in students enrolling in earth science-related subjects has been well-publicised, with mining's poor public image another big factor.

According to a November report by the Australian Geoscience Council, year one earth science enrolments in Canada, the US, the UK and Australia started falling dramatically from 2012, the peak of the previous mining boom.

It says the lack of exposure and awareness of geoscience in Australian secondary schools remains an issue, partly due to a lack of teachers and other problems in the science, technology, engineering, mathematics disciplines.

"A lack of scientific literacy in the general population does not serve the development of science policy or assist the sector in encouraging support for higher education and research in geoscience," the report says.

Carey said the shortage could precipitate the faster adoption of technology within the sector.

"We have to accept we are not going to get the volume of geoscientists and mining engineers that we once had," she said.

"In that respect, adoption of technological innovation and improvement is non-negotiable, the mining sector doesn't actually have a choice, they have to accept technological change because they won't be able to do things the way they always have."

Imdex geologist Henrique Persequini said even when he started his career in 2015, the shortage of geologists was evident.

"There are few geology universities in Brazil and few professionals graduate each year," he said.

"Geology work is extremely investigative, there is always a story to be told but for that, meticulous work involving data collection and interpretation must be done."

Imdex principal technical specialist Rocky Barker said he was sold after attending his first intro geology class.

Barker said rather than eliminating economic geology programs, universities should take ownership and teach sustainable, clean mining practices.

Carey said geologists were part of the mining industry but did not have to work in a typical mining environment.

"The work you do as a software engineer or product manager, or geoscientist is helping to build the products that, increasingly, resource companies will need as they respond to the demand for sustainable mining," she said.

"There are companies with big research and development budgets employing a lot of smart people in potentially more interesting technical environments than the mining companies."

Source: Mining Monthly

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