Miners in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, injected $14.9bn into the state’s economy in the 2019-2020 financial year.
That is according to the NSW Minerals Council’s latest annual member company Expenditure Survey, which found that the 27 participating mining firms also supported tens of thousands of jobs and generated billions in additional spending across NSW, particularly in regional communities.
The $14.9bn spent by the region’s miners represents an increase of $1.2bn on the previous financial year, even though the survey period included the first half of 2020 when the impact of COVID-19 was being felt across the economy.
“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic that gripped the world last year, mining’s contribution to the NSW economy remained strong in 2019-20, with increases in jobs, salaries and the number of local mining supplier businesses in NSW,” said Stephen Galilee, NSW Minerals Council’s CEO.
New South Wales miners contributed $1.8bn in taxes to the state’s government
Across 2019-2020, there were almost 27,500 mining jobs supported by the Mineral Council’s member companies – marking an increase of about 1,300 compared to the previous financial year.
The council said its members directly spent $10.3bn in NSW during the last financial year on the purchase of goods and services from almost 8,000 local businesses. This is an increase of about 1,000 in the number of local businesses supported by mining from 2018-2019.
It added that surveyed companies also spent $94m in community contributions and payments to local governments and contributed $1.8bn in taxes to the NSW government, including royalties.
“The overall improvement in mining jobs during the last financial year highlights the resilience of our industry during tough times and the importance of keeping mines operating while maintaining safety of miners, their families and mining communities across NSW,” said Galilee.
“These results also demonstrate the importance of mining for thousands of small and medium businesses in regional NSW and across Sydney that supply our mines.”
While the Minerals Council’s CEO believes some people don’t realise the “strong connection” Sydney has with mining, he claims many of the city’s suburbs are “home to hundreds of local businesses that are part of this mining supply chain, particularly in Western Sydney”.
The Minerals Council said its survey, which has now been completed for a ninth year, “demonstrates the scale of mining’s contribution and the importance of mining to the broader NSW economy”.
“These survey results confirm that much of regional NSW continues to depend on mining projects for local jobs, investment and economic growth,” added Galilee.
“If mining is to continue to deliver these direct economic benefits to NSW and help with the post-COVID-19 recovery, we need the right policy settings to support our miners, their families and our mining communities over the long term.”
