KALGOORLIE (miningweekly.com) – Diggers & Dealers forum chairperson Nick Giorgetta has called on the Australian mining industry to educate the broader community on the positive contribution being made by mining, in order to influence policymakers.

Speaking on the first day of the Diggers & Dealers conference, Giorgetta noted that organised groups such as environmentalists had been more effective in operating as a unit and, as such, had had a large influence over policymakers.

“Our industry needs to spend some time in educating the broader community in the positive contribution, economically, socially and environmentally, that we deliver as an industry. We tend to promote our contribution individually as corporates, but not as an industry.”

Giorgetta said it was up to the mining industry as a whole to realign the thinking of policymakers, in order for the reality of policy impact on the industry to be understood.

“To be successful we need to attract investment and to do that, we need to be competitive. The government needs to support us to remain competitive by giving the investment community what they look for – certainty and fewer obstacles to development by cutting down the bureaucratic red tape.

“We struggle and will continue to struggle to compete on costs, but we have always been able to offer companies and investors minimum or no sovereign risk and this has underpinned Australia’s economic development.”

Giorgetta added that it was imperative that each project be measured on its own merits, rather than under a ‘one size fits all’ rule, which, he said, simply did not work.

Meanwhile, Giorgetta noted that while the last year had been tough for the resources sector, with exploration spend nearly halving, leading to fewer discoveries, and thousands of job losses reported as miners cut costs, the industry had remained resilient.

“These are challenging times, but challenging times bring opportunities and, in the last six months, we have seen a revival in merger and acquisition (M&A) activities.”

Giorgetta said the active M&A market was a sign of confidence in the industry, along with mining companies’ ability to raise cash through equity.

He added that there were currently between 700 and 800 mining companies listed on the ASX, and while not all of them would be successful, given the difficulties in discovering a deposit, ensuring it was sufficient for development and that the development was financially viable, all of the companies were aware that success was only one drill hole away.