Mining is an important contributor to a strong NSW economy, supporting around 40,000 jobs in Sydney and in mining regions across the state. With long-term projects and global demand for our commodities remaining strong, mining will continue to help build and support economies and communities across regional NSW.
Mining produces the state’s most valuable export commodities - coal, gold and copper. And mining companies operating in NSW pay billions of dollars in mining royalties to the NSW Government that contribute to the funding of essential infrastructure and services, like roads, hospitals, schools and Police.
It takes a lot of different people in a lot of different jobs to keep our mines working. While around 40,000 people are directly employed in mining in NSW, thousands more work in mining-related jobs, including in the more than 7,000 businesses big and small in NSW that are part of the mining supply chain. These businesses support our mining operations by providing a range of goods and services needed to keep our mines operating. This helps to keep local economies growing and local communities flourishing.
Export Revenue
Coal is NSW's largest export earner in value terms, worth around $23.1 billion in 2018-19. This is greater than the value of our tourism and education exports combined.
A recent analysis from Coal Services shows coal export volumes from NSW to the rest of the world have doubled since 2001, from 75 million tonnes to over 164 million tonnes according to Coal Services figures for 2018. This is an increase of over 118 percent, reflecting the continued strong demand for our high-quality NSW coal from our trading partners in Asia.
Resources for Regions
The NSW Minerals Council supports the NSW Government’s ‘Resources for Regions’ Program, which invests in mining-related communities through improvements to important local infrastructure to generate economic activity and productivity.
Projects funded through the Program have included local road infrastructure and water and sewerage systems as well as social infrastructure such as childcare centres.
Funded by the NSW Government, this ongoing commitment recognises the $2 billion in annual royalties generated by mining operations in NSW and the infrastructure that is needed to support businesses and families in mining-related communities in NSW.
Our annual Jobs and Expenditure Survey
Each year the NSW Minerals Council engages an independent economist to survey mining companies operating in NSW to quantify their economic contribution to NSW through jobs, taxes and money spent with local companies supplying our mines and operations.
The survey was first conducted for the 2011-12 financial year and has since been completed annually. The results have demonstrated the strong and stable economic contribution that mining generates for NSW each year.
The survey found our mining member companies directly injected $15 billion into the state economy in 2019-20, while supporting tens of thousands of jobs and generating billions in additional spending across NSW, particularly in regional communities.
This $15 billion in direct mining spending in NSW is an increase of $1.3 billion on the previous financial year and the highest in the nine years that the survey has been undertaken.
Around 29,000 mining jobs were supported by our member mining companies in 2019-20. Remarkably, this was an increase of around 3,000 jobs compared to the previous financial year, and once again the highest in the history of the survey.
The survey also found almost 8,000 local businesses were part of the mining supply chain, sharing in the $15 billion in mining spending across NSW. Importantly, more than 2,500 of these businesses were in the Sydney region, highlighting how mining in regional NSW delivers tangible economic benefits to people living in the suburbs of Sydney.
The 2019-2020 NSW Mining Jobs and Expenditure Survey is available here.
Historical reports
2014-2015 Industry Expenditure Report
2015-2016 Industry Expenditure Survey
2016-2017 Industry Expenditure Survey
2017-2018 Industry Expenditure Survey
2018-2019 Industry Expenditure Survey
2019-2020 Industry Expenditure Survey
Jobs
Australian Bureau of Statistics data from February 2019 shows 40,200 people work in mining or minerals processing in NSW.
Thousands of people are also employed in businesses that supply our mines.
According to the 2017-18 NSW Minerals Council Jobs and Expenditure Survey, there were 7,135 local businesses across NSW that supply our mining industry.
The number of people working specifically at coal mining operations is monitored regularly by Coal Services. According to their reporting, in February 2019 there were just over 22,000 people directly employed working in NSW coal mines.