The number of people employed by the mining industry in the Illawarra has defied the doom and gloom around coal, with employment rising over the past year and the sector investing almost a billion dollars here, the state's mining lobby group said.
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The NSW Minerals Council's annual members expenditure survey showed the sector taking on workers in the Illawarra region - rising to numbers not seen since 2019.
The 2060 people employed in mines in the Illawarra in the 2022-23 financial year was an increase from 1856 the previous year, which had been a slight dip from 1875 jobs the year before.
And this is without counting the hundreds who were working for the failed miner Wollongong Resources until recently.
Wollongong Resources, which cut up to 300 jobs when it closed its mines at Russell Vale and Wongawilli earlier this month, was not included as it did not participate in the survey.
Expenditure was up too: Illawarra miners had invested $964 of direct spending into the region's economy, which included $190 million on wages and $774 million on goods and services from mining supplier business in the Illawarra.
NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee said the sector was showing its importance to the region's economy.
"Mining companies in the Illawarra are spending more in the local region than they have in almost a decade, while also supporting an increased number of Illawarra jobs, highlighting the importance of mining for local mining communities and the region's economy," Mr Galilee said.
"These very strong results are a timely reminder of the need for policies that support a strong mining sector for the future of the Illawarra."
The spending number is down significantly on the recent peaks for sector spending, $1.49 billion in 2013-14 and $1.42 billion the previous year. But it is the third straight year of growth in sector spending in the Illawarra, significant at a time when many talk of the coming demise of coal as clean energy takes over.
The Illawarra industry is largely insulated from the demise of coal-fired power, as its mines produce mostly metallurgical, or black, coal used for steelmaking rather than the brown coal burned for power which dominates other regions.
The Illawarra jobs numbers peaked in the first year the Minerals Council survey was undertaken - in 2011-12 the survey counted about 2570 mining sector employees.
There have been only four years when employment topped 2000 in the 12 years this expenditure survey has been undertaken.
Further details of the survey's figures aren't made available in the interest of Minerals Council members' confidentiality.
Ben Langford
Senior journalist writing on the environment. Opinion columnist, independent. We rely on your news tips so please, don't be shy to let us know what's going on.
Senior journalist writing on the environment. Opinion columnist, independent. We rely on your news tips so please, don't be shy to let us know what's going on.
