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Our cover story this month focuses

on the main themes to come out the

annual talkfest/swim-through that is

Diggers & Dealers

hile Bill Beament’s new venture Develop, the future of gold, their approach. Whether Gold Fields Ltd’s investment in renew-
Wgender diversity and the industry skills shortage all held able energy, IGO Ltd’s clean energy metals focus, Evolution
prominence, it was hard to ignore the most dramatic shift at the Mining Ltd and Northern Star Resources Ltd’s commitment to
conference – the move towards decarbonisation, a greener ap- net-zero emissions strategies, or West African Resources Ltd’s
proach and mining’s role in a clean energy future. health and education commitments in Burkina Faso, presenta-
To focus on this is no gratuitous greenwashing exercise de- tions had a different feel at Diggers & Dealers 2021.
signed to appease interest groups or tick boxes. There was a As always, company presentations reflect investor demands
genuine feeling in Kalgoorlie that the West Australian mining and as Goldin pointed out, those demands do not fit as neatly
sector (for the East Coast was, of course, locked out) is under- into conventional political positions as they once did.
going a seismic shift in defining its role in society. Where once you could be expected to hear traditional centre-
The presence (digital at least) of Professor Ian Goldin of Ox- right and free market views from the Diggers keynote, Goldin
ford University as keynote presenter reflected this changing presented a world where the elections of Trump and Johnson
mood. have seen centre-right parties head towards nationalism and
Diggers is both an echo of the mood in the sector but also an protectionism, neither of which is in keeping with mining’s global
agenda-setter, so for forum owners Myles Ertzen and Sharon outlook.
Giorgetta and the Diggers committee to choose Goldin reveals If commodity demand is to increase, Goldin said, more people
much of where the industry is heading. would have to be dragged out of poverty and the best way to do
Goldin had originally been scheduled to attend the conference that is through globalisation.
in 2020 before the pandemic put paid to international travel. We Protectionism would only reduce mining’s horizons.
can only assume his initial address would’ve focused less on This is not to say mining now finds a warm embrace for centre-
COVID – even though in 2014 he predicted a pandemic would left parties. Like their adversaries on the right, factions of the
be the cause of the next global financial crisis – and more on his centre-left have been pulled further to the fringes. They no long-
area of expertise, globalisation. er talk of nationalisation of the mining industry. Instead, many of
Goldin’s opinions on a wide range of subjects – from the pan- these groups demand the end of mining altogether and are un-
demic to Donald Trump, decarbonisation and the rise of China willing to countenance a world where miners could be the “good
– were indicative of the shifting political dimensions of mining. guys”, producing materials needed for a green future or that their
For him, the climate emergency is a given, populist leaders like extraction can be done with minimal long-term environmental
Trump and Boris Johnson are an obvious threat to global devel- disturbance and to the net benefit of host communities.
opment and mining has a crucial role to play in decarbonisation This stretching of the political spectrum should, however, ulti-
and the growth of globalisation. mately benefit mining. The industry – for the first time in a cen-
The industry’s future prosperity, he said, was bound to the tury – could occupy the political middle ground and find itself in
continued spread of globalisation, in all its forms. agreement with the parties who will inevitably rule major econo-
“Globalisation is the reason the mining industry has been so mies, whether they be centre-right or centre-left.
successful [in recent years],” Goldin said. “We need more glo- The centre-right can continue to promote mining as an exam-
balisation to lift more people out of poverty and provide the capi- ple of the mobility of capital and the need for less regulation.
tal to ensure economic growth.” The centre-left will be equally comfortable in promoting the
That economic growth will necessarily rely on more raw mate- industry’s clean energy credentials, its ability to lift the world’s
rials, placing more demand on the world’s miners. poor out of poverty and provide enterprise opportunities previ-
Goldin also sees a clear role for mining in the decarbonisation ously locked out of the system.
project. It is rare for mining not to be a political football but as we saw
“Mining is linked to the Green New Deal,” he said, before de- in Kalgoorlie, the opportunity may be on the horizon.
claring fossil fuel demand would necessarily slow in coming
decades.
Goldin’s views were backed up by several of the company
presentations, with most of them featuring ESG commitments
prominently and some dedicating much of their stage time to dominic@paydirt.com.au @DominicPiper

Page 4 SePTeMBeR 2021 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT