The Mining Industry has failed its workforce.

For an industry that has purportedly been the "backbone" of the Australian economy, the Mining Industry needs to take a good look at itself. 

Many of the Mining companies that had it good for a fair while, never really had to think about the consequences of their decisions; they just blasted their way to incredible capital, from a position of strong economic and business advantage.

We've now got massive amounts of volatility across many commodities, an ever ageing workforce, fewer younger generations training or wishing to go into mining; less innovation, and a antiquated "ethos" of (attempting to) drive employee engagement through increased salaries...

Times have changed... margins are shrinking to zero, operational costs are increasingly going up; failure to keep on top of worker safety; the verge of smarter, digital organisations;

stagnant wage increases in the industry - then who in their right mind, of a younger generation, would even aspire to work for an organisation that hadn't adapted to the 21st century, as other industries have done so successfully?

Non-Major Mining companies cannot afford to automate their mine site operations, or go fully digital - so why, when there are incontrovertibly so many other modes of optimisation technologies available - are they not innovating?

It baffled me during my time talking to mining companies; with the plethora of back-office automation technologies out there, and it still does.

The industry that refused to evolve, the laggard;

beyond measurement of any benchmarking bell-curve, that those McKinsey types could throw at you.

2020 and onwards, is going to be an interesting year of "sink or swim".

Views are of my own.