The Minerals Council of Australia’s (MCA) Victorian branch has submitted a pre-budget submission to the Victorian Government, calling for further investment in the state’s mining industry.
The mining industry association said the Victorian Government should aim to have multiple new gold-antimony, mineral sands, rare earths, and base metal mines by 2030, as they will create thousands of jobs and establish supply chain opportunities for businesses across regional Victoria.
The submission calls for the state government to prioritise:
- improving approvals timeframes by building capacity in Resources Victoria to speed up approvals
- promoting critical minerals projects, discoveries and processing technologies
- reforming Victoria’s gold royalty to remove regressive elements
- to not impose new taxes, rates or charges on mining and exploration
- building a skills pipeline through a regional skills package.
“The world is facing a shortage of the critical minerals and rare earths required to meet the insatiable global demand for renewable energy components, electric vehicles and modern technology,” MCA Victoria executive director James Sorahan said.
“Victoria has the potential to supply mineral sands, rare earths, copper, antimony and gold, generating enormous economic benefits to regional areas, and creating additional revenue streams for the state. More mines mean more revenue.”
As part of building a stronger mining workforce, MCA Victoria has suggested introducing more earth science courses at a secondary and tertiary level.
“Victoria lacks earth science education options at VCE level, and there are limited options for regional school leavers to study mining related courses, despite the growing number of mining jobs across Australia as we supply the critical inputs to electrification and modern technology,” Sorahan said.
“Small investments in supporting mining will pay huge dividends to the Victorian community as regional economies diversify and create more opportunities to grow regional towns.”
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