Jobs bonanza as resources sector gear up for ‘bumper year’

Queensland’s resources sector is strapping in for a “bumper year”, with a third of the state’s mining bosses indicating they will hire more people over the next 12 months.

Queensland’s resources sector is strapping in for a “bumper year” including high demand and increased production — with the state set to benefit from the windfall.

A new survey of the state’s mining bosses, to be released on Tuesday, also found companies were confident about growth prospects over the next year, with 95 per cent agreeing Queensland’s resource sector had a “strong long-term future”.

Release of the Queensland Resources Council’s latest “ceo sentiment survey” comes a week after a departmental quarterly report revealed thermal and metallurgical coal exports nationally would exceed $100 billion for the first time this financial year.

This was partly due to the conflict in Ukraine, rising demand and logistics pressures pushing global prices higher.

The March 2022 Resources and Energy Quarterly, released by the Department of Industry Science, Energy and Resources, predicted national resources and energy export earnings would reach a record $425 billion this financial year before falling back to $370 billion in 2022/23.

It is anticipated exceptionally high commodity prices, including for alumina which Queensland produces in Gladstone, will pour significant royalty windfalls into state government coffers.

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian MacFarlane said the survey also revealed a third of the state’s mining bosses indicated they would be hiring more people over the next 12 months, with no one expecting jobs to be lost.

More than half of the chief executives surveyed, from a pool of about 30 to 35, said they planned to consider expansion opportunities in Queensland in the next 12 months.

The biggest worry among company heads was the lack of skilled workers, a situation set to be made worse as mining-intensive Western Australia’s borders reopen — causing more competition for staff.

“The stronger our sector performs, the more royalty taxes are generated for the State Government, which go directly into the budget to fund essential government services and infrastructure such as healthcare, education, transport and law and order,” he said.

“Resources royalties generated this financial year in Queensland are expected to reach around $6 billion, which is double the amount paid last year and demonstrates why the resources sector is so important to our economy and to jobs.

“These royalties are part of our sector’s overall $84.3 billion contribution to the state economy last financial year, which is helping enormously with Queensland’s economic recovery from Covid.”

The forecast of record earnings in 2021/22 is 33 per cent higher than the record $320 billion made last financial year from Australian exports including gas, nickel, iron ore, coal and steel.