More than 100 new mining and energy projects will start production over the next five years, triggering almost 27,000 jobs across the country.
A new report from the Australian Resources & Energy Employer Association has broken down the estimated labour required to operate new, expansion and restarted mining and oil and gas projects.
The Resources and Energy Workforce Forecast: 2024-2029 report showed there were 107 major resources and energy projects in Australia’s investment pipeline expected to enter production between the second half of 2024 and end of 2029.
The report said the projects were worth about $131 billion and were forecast to drive demand for around 26,810 new production-related jobs.
“While estimates are slightly own on last year’s 2023-2028 report (103 projects worth $142 billion and 28,000 jobs), the consistency reported across AREEA’s past five editions demonstrates the ongoing attractiveness of Australia as a place for major resources project investment,” the report stated.
It showed the mining commodities retaining traditional strengths included coal (13 projects for 4836 workers), iron ore (eight projects for 4495 workers), gold (13 projects for 2830 workers) and critical minerals (14 projects for 3,078 workers).