2014/15 NSW Minerals Council Expenditure Survey

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The NSW Minerals Council’s latest Expenditure Survey has found that the 23 participating mining companies directly injected $11.3 billion into the NSW economy in 2014/15, highlighting mining’s massive contribution to the State economy despite tough times for the industry.  

 

The $11.3 billion of spending in 2013-14 included $2.7 billion in wages and salaries, only slightly down on the previous year’s figures, to 21,265 full-time employees. $7.3 billion was spent on purchases of goods and services with 7,694 local businesses, along with community contributions and payments to local government.

 

Significantly, the research shows that 6 per cent or more than 1 in 20 jobs in the Sydney Local Government Area are supported by the NSW mining industry.  

 

The total direct mining spend in the broader Sydney region was again strong at $2.8 billion in 2014/15,   accounting for 25% of the state’s total mining spend.  This makes Sydney NSW’s second largest mining region. 

 

“Most people don’t realise that Sydney is a significant mining region, but the reality is that there are many suburbs of Sydney, particularly in Western Sydney, that benefit from mining industry spending,” NSW Minerals Council CEO, Stephen Galilee said today.  

 

“For example, the Local Government Area (LGA) of Parramatta received $392 million in direct mining spending on purchases from 154 local supplier businesses, with $65 million spent in the Fairfield LGA on 112 local businesses.”

 

The Hunter remains the beating heart of the state’s mining sector, accounting for $4.8 billion or 42% of direct expenditure by mining in NSW. 

 

This survey, now completed for a fourth year, demonstrates the scale of mining’s contribution and the importance of mining to the broader NSW economy, as well as the economic impact of tough times, and how this is flowing into other sectors of the economy. 

 

All commodity-based industries go through cyclical downturns, and mining is experiencing its toughest cyclical downturn in recent memory. This is having an impact beyond the NSW mining sector itself, with total direct spending on supplier purchases and the number of businesses supplying the sector falling by around a quarter over the past three years.

 

Despite these tough times, the number of direct mining jobs supported remains steady at 21,265, representing a relatively small drop over the last three years.  And the number of local community groups supported by mining has increased from 912 to 1,298 over the same period.

 

“Lower mining spending across fewer mining supplier businesses demonstrates that when mining is hurting, the pain is felt across the rest of the economy too. Yet despite the tough times, our sector continues to be an essential pillar of regional economies across NSW, contributing 23% of Gross Regional Product (GRP) in the Hunter, 8.3% of GRP in the Illawarra, and 10.6% of GRP in the Central West of NSW.”

 

“So let’s support mining to keep our sector strong. Because with the right policy settings we can manage the short term challenges and deliver more jobs, more opportunities, and better times for our mining communities over the long term.”

 

The results of the full survey will be released in the coming weeks.

 

Contact: Nat Openshaw