I had the privilege of working on a whitepaper late last year that got to the heart of this topic. To better understand the mindset of young engineers and what causes them to swerve employment in mining, Sandvik conducted a survey of 824 science, technology, engineering and mathematics students. Their answers gave me hope, and so we focused the paper on the opportunity rather than the problem.
While safety and environmental concerns were the most common deterrents to a career path in mining (no surprises there), the third most cited response was “lack of knowledge”. When asked, 52% of respondents said they viewed mining favourably and that good salaries, the chance to work with advanced technologies and solve challenging engineering problems were attractions. Over 90% said they would be more likely to consider mining if convinced that it contributes meaningfully to addressing climate change.
What do these responses tell us? That there is a clear path to fixing this problem: keep your people safe, respect and protect the environment and communicate your purpose to the world. While doing all these things is equally important, the third one is likely the quickest and easiest to implement. And frankly, if companies don’t start working on this soon, they will begin to run short of talent that will allow them to do the first two.
It’s time to stop wallowing in negative headlines and focus on the positives. The mining industry has a lot to offer the world and we need to put that front and centre in our communications if we want things to change.
Read the full paper here and send me your own thoughts. Go ahead, I’ll be right here waiting for you. Subscribe to read more and I’ll see you in March.
Until then,
Carly
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Jake Harris brings us the first instalment of his quarterly column for 2026 – Mining Tech Talk. This month, Jake explores how venture capital is accelerating innovation in mining by funding new technologies that improve efficiency and performance.
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