Mining is being quietly transformed from the inside out by tireless AI agents from Workday, driving smarter, faster decisions across the industry.
In a sector known for grit, scale, and complexity, the mining industry is now entering a new era, one powered not by heavier machinery, but by smarter technology.
AI (artificial intelligence) agents, developed by enterprise software leader Workday, are reshaping how mining operations work, think, and make decisions.
Workday chief technology officer Shan Moorthy knows the pressure mining companies are under. Issues such as rising costs, workforce shortages and increasing ESG (environmental, social and governance) obligations weigh on businesses, and their impact is magnified when operating in Australia’s remote and demanding mining environments.
“For the mining industry, Workday AI agents can help with tasks such as workforce logistics and contract management, through to day-to-day operational finance,” Moorthy told Australian Mining.
“The result is faster decisions, lower risk, and better outcomes across operations, safety, talent, and finance.”
An operational game-changer
Unlike many tech solutions that simply slap AI on top of legacy systems, Workday has built AI directly into the core of its unified platform for HR (human resources), finance and planning. It has been trained on more than one trillion business transactions annually and executed by over 70 million users.
For mining companies, this means Workday’s AI agents don’t just automate, they understand why work is happening, uncover hidden opportunities, and reshape entire workflows.
The result is faster decisions, lower risk, and better outcomes across operations, safety, talent, and finance.
The contingent sourcing agent helps reduce time-to-hire by streamlining sourcing and shortlisting for contractor roles – a critical resource for remote and high-demand mine sites. It can also automate administrative tasks, unearth best-fit candidates, and speed up approvals.
Workday helps frontline teams stay focused, engaged, and connected, no matter how remote the mine site.
Finance teams, meanwhile, can use the document-driven accounting agent to extract and classify invoice data automatically, dramatically reducing manual entry and reconciliation errors.
This results in cleaner books and more time to focus on strategy instead of data cleanup.
Then there’s Workday’s contract intelligence agent, which assists in drafting and reviewing contracts using AI-driven suggestions, based on pre-approved language. It flags risky clauses, highlights cost savings, and ensures nothing slips through the cracks.
“Whether you’re using legacy scheduling tools or external finance systems, AI agents can surface insights and drive actions across systems,” Moorthy said.
“If there’s data trapped in a legacy system, you can always integrate it with Workday’s Prism or Extend features.”
A sustainable future
Workday’s AI agents are also a game-changer for ESG reporting, with data unified across HR, finance, and operations.
Mining leaders can use intelligence to track progress against sustainability goals, identify risks early, and produce audit-ready reports in real time.
“Workday AI agents help automate data capture, surface risks early, and generate auditable, real-time reports,” Moorthy said.
“This supports better decision-making and ensures mining leaders can meet evolving stakeholder and regulatory expectations with confidence.”
Workday customers are seeing the benefits with one customer enjoying a 72 per cent increase in screening efficiency, achieving more than $2.5 million in savings from contract AI.
Others have seen real-time benefits such as increased recruiter capacity, reduced review time, and an increase in the accessible talent pool. Workday has found that employees are two times more likely to apply for a role after it has been recommended by AI, further reducing retention risk.
All these advantages are delivered at speed and scale, as AI agents don’t just make suggestions, they act. They learn, improve, and deliver value inside a platform that already understands the business.
“AI agents will play a crucial role in helping mining companies stay resilient, responsive, and responsible, whilst increasing productivity across operations,” Moorthy said.
In an industry where every hour counts and every decision matters, the future of mining might not actually be found underground, but in the invisible intelligence helping miners move faster, safer and smarter.
This feature appeared in the August 2025 issue of Australian Mining.
