Mining industry short on tech skills

The world's leading mining companies have a big problem – with the industry being transformed by a mad rush to acquire raw materials supporting the worldwide energy transition, and mining companies' sweeping moves to drastically reduce their own carbon footprints, the future of labor is becoming more of a hybrid of specialized technical skillsets and traditional experience.

Just as the average miner no longer counts a pick and shovel among his toolkit, the miner of today won't long be driving trucks or loaders (Within a year, from 2021- 2022, the number of autonomous haul trucks in operation across the world increased from 769 to 1,068).

Today's desirable skills will be in robotics, automation, and data analytics.

When the 2020 World Economic Forum survey asked mining executives what was in highest demand, they primarily named tech skills.

Companies especially need young talent familiar with the new advancements that are integral to modern mining operations. But the ideal cross-section of prospects has traditionally been uninterested in or even discouraged from mining as a career.

According to a report from PwC (Mine 2023: The era of reinvention), 41% of mining CEOs polled were concerned that the next decade may see a tech skills shortage threatening economic viability amidst the biggest changes the industry has seen in decades.

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The energy transition has not only inspired new vehicles on the roads for consumers but also influenced industrial automation, heavy mining equipment electrification, and remote or fully autonomous operations, to name a few of note.

In addition to uniquely trained workers to manage smart equipment, the industry may still expand its workforce due to the demand for reopening and prospecting new mines.

The landscape has changed exponentially, and with its reinvention, the workforce will have to follow suit.

Leading equipment, tech, and solutions providers like Sandvik provide training and onsite experts, with worker production and safety greatly increased.

But as with any industry transformed by new technology, the burden will fall on CEOs to attract a younger, more tech-savvy workforce, and the present workforce will need to be willing to up their game and learn new tricks. Additionally, with the number of mining operations existing in remote locations, successful retraining of local workers is also vital.

Thus, according to the PwC report, 57% of mining companies rightly felt recruitment and a growing shortfall in skills were the biggest barriers to adopting new technology, and in a survey by the Mining Industry Human Resources Council of Canada, 70% of those surveyed between 15-30 years of age weren't interested in mining careers.

Expanding the search

Rather than being a deterrent, adopting new technologies may be the solution to diversified recruitment and closing gender gaps (According to the International Labour Organization, only about 14% of mining jobs are currently being held by women).

Quite the opposite to losing employment to automation, mining companies will likely need a greater human workforce overall, meaning that companies need to facilitate environments that are more open and inclusive toward potential employees who do not initially find the industry attractive.

"To meet the demand for these skill sets, leaders must look beyond the traditional mining talent pool and retrain existing workers," Said Vuyiswa Khutlang, Africa energy, utilities and resources partner at PwC.

However, lack of worker confidence in on-the-job training is also an issue. In PwC's Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2022, 38% of workers said that they're concerned about not getting sufficient training in digital and technology skills from their employer.

To fulfill workforce requirements, top employers will need to lead the way by investing in education at the site and community level, as well as continue to collaborate with governments and peers on policy advocacy for migration of skilled workers and support for remote mining communities.

They will also need to continue to highlight the mining industry's role in the energy transition and its use of technology to vastly improve employee experience and bring new innovations and challenges, addressing the outdated perception of mining as hazardous, physically demanding, and remote.

Just as it has taken reinvention of so many other aspects of the industry to set up for long-term success, it will take reimagined workforce strategies to attract and retain the next generation of minerals that will extract the metals needed to build our carbon-zero future.