Mining Workload Prospects

It is expected that the wage and salary employment in mining will go down in the years to come. This progressing long term decline is as a result of augmented productivity that has come about due to technological advances that have been introduced in the mining operations and because of bigger mining equipment, consolidation, international competition, and very strict environmental regulations. Employment is expected to go down a great amount the coal and metal ore mining, but only a little in non metallic mineral mining. Progress in mining technology will have a negative effect on the employment in mining as original machinery and processes add to worker productivity. New mining machines that function exclusively by computer and self diagnose mechanical inconveniences have the need of less workers for operation and maintenance. Progress in longwall and surface mining which are not as big of a work load in addition, have improved productivity as do advances in transportation and processing. Furthermore, improvements like that of roof bolting, self advancing roof supports, and continuous mining machinery have resulted in safer, more professional operations. In the past, low commodity prices made the domestic production go down, but as prices for metals enhance as a result of mounting demand from some countries, domestic production is increasing and moderating the loss of mining jobs. International demand is likely to keep on increasing which is likely to end up in further investigation and superior domestic production. It is known that environmental worries are going to keep having an effect on the mining operations. More and more, government regulations are controlling the access to land and limiting the kind of mining that is done so as to conserve the native plants and animals and reduce the amount of water and air pollution. As population growth increases more into the countryside, new developments are fighting for land with mine operators, and people are increasing their opposition to nearby mining activities.

The products of the coal mining industry are utilized to generate electricity and steel products so demand for coal is something that should continue being high. Further competition should bring about added consolidation in the mining industry. The long term outlook for coal depends on how electric utility companies, who just so happen to be the most important consumers of coal, act in response to provisions of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, which try to restrict the discharge of sulphur dioxide and other dangerous contaminants that are caused when coal is burned. Conformity to this entails the setting up of expensive cleaning and monitoring equipment as well as more use of low sulphur coal. As energy plants look for cleaner burning fuel, a lot of new power plants are being set up to run on natural gas. If the demand for coal contracts consequently of stricter environmental policies, employment in mines will become even more reduced, as mine operators are required to reduce their production. On the other hand, recent increases in the price of natural gas have brought about some electricity producers to slow down the conversion to natural gas, which is serving to preserve the production of coal.