Watch Future Resources Qld replay: Premier defends royalties, TikTok star on mining's seismic shift

TikTok sensation Sienna Mallon and Premier Steven Miles have headlined the Future Resources Queensland event in Brisbane on Friday. WATCH THE REPLAY

Queenslander Premier Steven Miles has joined leaders of the state’s mining companies at The Courier-Mail’s Future Resources event, which has highlighted the challenges and opportunities facing the state’s resources sector.

It was hosted by Sky News presenter Paul Murray and featured Sienna Mallon, the ‘TikTok miner’.

WATCH THE REPLAY ABOVE; READ THE BLOG BELOW

Live Updates

2:33 pm July 12, 2024 Highlight

'Misinformation' rife among young people when it comes to mining

Madura McCormack

An award-winning young miner and environmental scientist has decried the rife “misinformation” about the mining sector among those in her generation after revealing she was once morally opposed to the industry.
Ashara Moore, named Queensland’s most exceptional young woman in mining by the QRC in 2024, revealed she had predisposed ideas about the industry before she became involved.
Her comments came during a panel discussion at the Courier-Mail’s Future Resources event, helmed by Saturday Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail editor Mel Pilling.
The panel also featured Senex chief executive Darren Stevenson and Bravus communications head Kate Campbell.
“When I got there, and when I realised what this industry is all about… I was actually blown away,” Ms Moore said.
“And I thought at that point, there's so much misinformation out there about the sector, and I want to be a part of demystifying that,” she said.
Queensland’s resources industry, like other sectors, has struggled with a crippling skill shortage.
The panellists agreed attracting young people to the sector was crucial.
Mr Stevenson said it was important for the industry to “break the stigma” of working in the industry, pointing to the significant benefits the sector brought to regional towns.
Ms Campbell said Bravus’ strategy had been to attract workers already living in nearby regions like Rockhampton, while also making it attractive for employees from other areas to move to those towns.
She said it was critical governments also helped made regions attractive places to live, by getting services—like health and education—to those areas.

2:13 pm July 12, 2024 Highlight

Sign me up: TikTok sensation believes younger generation keen on getting into mining

Madura McCormack

Rockhampton-based miner and TIkTok sensation Sienna Mallon said the younger generation is interested in getting into the well-paid industry, revealing she is contacted constantly by people seeking to get started.
Ms Mallon, 27, also said mining companies were doing a “very good” job at recruiting women but it was hard to retain them amid a seismic shift in a male-dominated industry.
But making sure women succeed in the industry is about strong leadership she said.

1:32 pm July 12, 2024 Highlight

Premier says green tape a necessary evil for Queensland's reputation.

Madura McCormack

Green tape is necessary to protect Queensland’s reputation and social licence Premier Steven Miles has said.
Mr Miles, a former environment minister, defended the need for resources companies to go through significant environmental checks and balances.
He said one person’s green tape was another person’s “responsible environmental regulation designed to protect out land and water”.
“This is a perspective thing,” Mr Miles said.
“We shouldn't underestimate the value of our social licence and of our global reputation for having safe, environmentally sustainable mining. Those regulations are what helps us hold those two things.”

1:26 pm July 12, 2024 Highlight

Premier defends royalty changes and impact on Queensland's budget

Madura McCormack

The state government can’t convince the resources sector of the merits of the controversial royalty regime changes but the move has benefitted Queensland significantly, Premier Steven Miles has said.
Mr Miles, under questioning by Courier-Mail editor Chris Jones, said while New South Wales and Victoria were cutting back infrastructure programs Queensland was not.
“A big part of (this) is because we have the revenue from our resources, and that’s higher than it would have otherwise been because of that decision,” he said.
The state government has been forced to defend its lack of consultation with the industry over the royalty changes since it was implemented in 2022.
Mr Miles said government frontbenchers definitely took full advice from Queensland Treasury at the time.
“(But) there are necessarily times where you need to be able to announce it before it can be widely discussed. I suspect that was the focus of this particular (decision),” he said.

1:17 pm July 12, 2024 Highlight

Bold predictions has coal as rock starts of the future

Madura McCormack

The public persona of the mining sector will shift from an “evil polluting industry” to a “green energy enabler” according to the predictions of demographer Simon Kuestenmacher.
And while the industries could some day see bureaucratic red tape start to dissolve as its reputation changes, it will need to grapple with tax pressures to come and ongoing skill shortages.
Mr Kuestenmacher delivered his predictions in his keynote speech to the Courier-Mail’s Future Resources event.
He said he was “not too optimistic” about the diversification of the Australian economy.
“Because (diversification) only happens if the status quo stops working and it’s the status quo that’s providing wealth in this country,” Mr Kuestenmacher said.
“I don't see why you would roll this back.”
Mr Kuestenmacher’s predictions:
1) The pie keeps growing. Demand for mining products will only go up as global energy turns greener. Australia will approve more mines and mining will continue to deliver wealth. This might slow down the economic diversification.
2) Mining will shift in the public eye from a dirty and polluting industry to an enabler of a green electricity and transport future. Government will allow for more mining and try to better capture the value.
3) Expect big tax reforms. Australia might consider bold taxation reforms to better capture mining wealth. This will not slow down approvals of new projects. Expect more talk about following the Norwegian model towards resource extraction.

1:05 pm July 12, 2024 Highlight

Mining more productive than expected

Madura McCormack

Mining is four times more economically productive than should be expected demographer Simon Kuestenmacher has said.
“This is a very, very important industry. It has gotten more and more economically important, more productive over the last couple of decades,” he said.
“Because mining creates so much wealth, we're not going to step back from it. There will be political rhetoric, there might be a bit of a shift and so forth. But mining is absolutely going nowhere.”

12:53 pm July 12, 2024 Highlight

'She'll be right': Why Australia's mining heavy economy will be fine according to demographer

Madura McCormack

Australia’s economy—and Queensland’s by extension—will be just fine due to phenomenal ongoing population growth in Asia requiring our coal and gas demographer Simon Kuestenmacher has assured.
Mr Kuestenmacher, director of the Demographics Group, said mining was “not going anywhere” in his keynote address to Courier-Mail’s Future Resources event.
Top of mind it the growing population in Asian nations, particularly India, which will require the coal and gas Queensland pulls from the ground.
“Mining is absolutely not going anywhere, it is going to be needed,” he said
“All the while we are slowly starting to electrify the global transport system. What does that mean? It means an awful lot of batteries and batteries are nothing other than a couple of mining products thrown into a blender.
“So we will slowly understand that the free electricity future is actually a mining heavy future. You cannot go to a net zero world without an awful lot of big holes in the ground.
“So this means that slowly but surely the understanding of the mining industry will shift from an eating dirty industry to the enabler of the clean energy transition.”
He summarised Australia’s economy as “she’ll be right” over the decades to come.

12:44 pm July 12, 2024 Highlight

Gas who: The fuel critical to Australia's transition to net zero.

Madura McCormack

Gas will be needed to keep the lights on as Queensland, and Australia, transitions to a renewable energy system resources executives have said.
Australian Energy Producers chief executive Samantha McCulloch, highlighting the importance of the gas industry, said 42 per cent of the energy used in manufacturing came from gas.
“The other thing that I think gets missed in the discussion, there is growing LNG demand, including on our doorstep,” she said.
“If you look at some of the analysis from the International Energy Agency and other organisations, they're projecting a tenfold increase in LNG demand in Southeast Asia.
“So that's our entire export market today on our doorstep, and we should be capturing that opportunity.”
QRC chief executive Janette Hewson said the industry supported the renewables coming on board but it won’t be possible to reach net zero “without the resources industry”.
“It’s not about competing… You need everything in the mix,” she said.

12:37 pm July 12, 2024 Highlight

Royalty regime a royal pain: Mining company boss reveals impact

Madura McCormack

Nearly two-thirds of the funds in Bowen Coking Coal’s operating margin is funnelled into government taxes Bowen Coking Coal chief executive Nick Jorss has said, highlighting the stressors of the state government’s royalty regime changes.
“It was very painful for us as a company and our team, it was very painful for our shareholders, and painful for the 300 other people we had to put out of work,” he said.
The Queensland Resources Council has been running an ongoing campaign against the state government’s controversial royalty regime, which was put in place in 2022 to take advantage of sky-high coal prices.
The QRC has repeatedly warned the royalty changes would dampen the investment appetite of mining companies.

12:27 pm July 12, 2024 Highlight

Front of mine: Approvals process a real headache Bravus' example shows

Madura McCormack

The nearly decade-long journey to make Bravus’ Carmichael coal mine a reality was a “difficult, challenging, and quite painful” journey filled with drama the company’s executive director Samir Vora has said.
Courier-Mail’s Future Resources panel discussions has launched into a discussion about the mining approvals process, with the difficulties and potentially hurdles highlighted significantly by the Carmichael coal mine.
The project faced backlash from environmentalists while receiving significant support from surrounding communities where jobs were set to be based, including Townsville.
“For us, failure was not an option. We remain focused,” Mr Vora said.
Mr Vora noted it took nine years for the mine, in the Galilee Basin, to be approved but just three years for construction to be completed.
Queensland Resources Council chief executive Janette Hewson said she had spent most of her career trying to get project approvals and ultimately it was about lawmakers getting the settings right.
“Many of our members face that uncertainty,” she said.
She said government regulation was necessary but project approvals needed to be streamlined in order to give people “confidence” to communities and landowners.