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COVER

Paydirt marks its quarter century of reporting

O ver the 25 years since the first edition of Paydirt, the mining sector has experienced

more seismic shifts than at any time since the Industrial Revolution.

It has been an era of commodity su- cal and geographic trends witnessed in the tralia’s mining sector and Paydirt’s readers
per-cycles and global financial crises, sector. have always proved a willing audience.
of gold losing its safe-haven status and The inaugural Paydirt cover highlights Juniors can grow into majors and Paydirt
then seeing it reinforced. It has been a the differences and similarities between the has followed those “origin stories”. We were
quarter century in which fossil fuel demand sector in 1994 and 2019. The Issue No.1 there when Andrew Forrest launched Ana-
has grown exponentially and then been cover featured news of Joseph Gutnik’s conda Nickel and when he returned with
threatened by the climate change debate. latest diamond adventure, Astro Mining, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. We were also
The period has seen mining as social one of a dozen active Australian diamond among the first to report on major discover-
pariah but also the agent of developing explorers. While diamond exploration is ies such as Prominent Hill, Nova, Tropicana
world growth. In Australia, the industry has almost non-existent today, the other cover and Gruyere.
evolved from company towns, to FIFO and, feature was a more recognisable story of a Paydirt has always endeavoured to dig
now, remote operations centres. junior attempting to reinvigorate a forgotten through the “legalese” of market announce-
Through all these variables, the resourc- WA goldfield, in this case, Julia Mines and ments to identify what has motivated the
es sector remains the backbone of Aus- Menzies. news; the people driving the company, the
tralia’s economy and vital to the future de- In that maiden edition, founding publish- historical context, the economic factors and
velopment and prosperity of every human er/editor Ross Louthean set out the maga- the political setting affecting both project
on the planet. zine’s position: “There is a lot happening out and company.
Paydirt has tracked every shift in senti- there, and Paydirt is the magazine that will The last issue has always been a unique
ment over its 25 years. On the political front tell you what is happening out there – where aspect of Paydirt’s coverage. From its ear-
it has weighed in on the debates over Native the new discoveries are being made, what liest days, the magazine has sought to fol-
Title, the proposed West Australian gold they are shaping up to be, and holds the low intrepid Australian explorers and devel-
royalty, the pursuit of a flow-through share strategic ground near the finds.” opers across the globe, covering their bold
scheme and Kevin Rudd’s resources super It is testament to the continuing intrigue plans and ambitions across six continents.
profits tax. In a global context, it was early to of the sector that Paydirt has rarely strayed From Ghana to Guyana, Laos to Lesotho,
identify the effect China’s globalisation and from Louthean’s original remit of show- Australian miners have conducted them-
the commodity super-cycle it fuelled and casing the exploration sector. Commodity selves with the highest of social principles.
the subsequent GFC. At the sector level, trends ebb and flow but the junior explora- This development role is not restricted to
Paydirt has reported on the many geologi- tion industry remains the lifeblood of Aus- offshore ventures. Despite inevitable ob-

Top 5 industry trends since 1994

Socially conscious: and the nature of work has changed from out the globe is unheralded in the history
company towns to FIFO and now remote
of the industry with Australians active on
Once holding a comparable reputation ops centres. In 2019, “the miner” is more every continent. Where once few could’ve
to tobacco companies and arms dealers, likely to be drinking a macchiato while told you where Ouagadougou was, today
the industry has undisputedly improved wearing an open-neck shirt and chinos it seems most geologists, engineers and
its social image. Environmental protec- stockbrokers have visited at least one
tion and workplace safety were cleaned Technology: favourite bar in the Burkinabe capital
up in the late 90s with the focusing since Early editions of Paydirt included features
switched to indigenous, gender equality on new desktop computing technology Economics:
and corporate citizenship issues. The rise which today’s simplest smartphones The sector has always been vital to the
of battery minerals will likely increase this put to shame. Cutting-edge now means Australian (and indeed world) economy
position in coming decades automated operations run remotely. Even but after its 90s lull it is now undoubt-
People: in exploration, Internet-of-Things is reduc- edly the country’s backbone. WA has
grown into an economic powerhouse on
ing planning and decision-making from
Perceptions of “the miner” as the bloke months to minutes its iron ore, natural gas, gold and nickel
in stubbies and thongs drinking Emu reserves. In 1994, WA sold $12.9 billion
Export in a dusty, isolated camp no longer Geographic diversity: of mineral and petroleum exports. In
hold. The industry now boasts diversity Australians have always been bold but the 2018, the figure was $127.4 billion with
in gender, culture, skills and professions spread of miners and explorers through- contributions from 50 commodities.

Page 18 NOVeMBeR 2019 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT