Have your say in the Hydrogen Fuel Cell EVs consultation by 6 June.
Dr David Gruen AO
Australian Statistician
Australian Bureau of Statistics
25th March 2025
Dear David,
Subject: Coverage of critical minerals within ANZSIC
As the Jobs and Skills Council (JSC) for Australia’s mining and automotive industries, the Mining and Automotive Skills Alliance (AUSMASA) wishes to provide feedback on how critical minerals are captured within the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC). Critical minerals, which also include various strategic materials,1 are increasingly important to decarbonising and the mining industry, with various Federal initiatives aimed at on-shore processing, beneficiation, and potential manufacturing applications.
Currently, critical minerals are split across two ANZSIC subdivisions: Metal Ore Mining and Other Non-Metallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying. However, at the ANZSIC group and class levels, critical minerals sit across both levels and are difficult to delineate or collate using ABS data sources like the Labour Force Survey. This prevents any clear, comprehensive snapshot of the critical minerals industry and its workforce.
We are proposing that the ABS create a dedicated category or categories to better capture these key metals and minerals.
Critical minerals and ANZSIC
As critical minerals use a range of ANZSIC groups and classes under the Metal Ore Mining and Other Non-Metallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying subdivisions, it is difficult and often impossible to separate and/or combine critical minerals to support a comprehensive snapshot of the industry and its workforce. This is due to the use of subdivisions and groups in some ABS outputs like the Labour Force Survey, which obscures the relative contribution of critical minerals to workforce and industry trends.
Example
Context: Australia was the world’s largest lithium producer in 2023, with 45% of global production.2 Output of lithium increased by 33% between 2022 and 2023, with production projected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 15% from 2023 to 2027.3
Concern: Despite Australia's importance as a global lithium supplier and the fact that lithium is a metal, it is categorised in ANZSIC’s Other Non-Metallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying subdivision and class, alongside unrelated activities like diamond mining.4
Challenge: The ABS’ industry reporting on economic and financial indicators obscures lithium’s role in its subdivision and class, while the same indicators are available for other metals (including strategic materials like copper).5
Furthermore, ABS Labour Force Survey data is only available at the group level, leading to a similar issue for workforce data for lithium and other critical minerals. The only related groupings include metal ores, construction materials, and non-metallic minerals and quarrying (while both coal and oil and gas extraction have dedicated classes, groups, and subdivisions).6 As a result, even where ANZSIC includes some degree of specificity for certain critical minerals, its use by the ABS, in some cases, further obscures this. The only ABS source that routinely includes class-level data on some industry and workforce trends is the Census, which takes place every five years. This lag prevents timely economic analysis otherwise possible under ABS products like the Labour Force Survey.
Industry, on the other hand, routinely reports revenue from critical minerals (Figure 2). ABS data at a similar resolution would allow more detailed economic analysis regarding critical minerals.
We also wish to reiterate that the Australian Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy has targeted greater onshore processing and beneficiation of these minerals, with funding available through its Critical Minerals Facility ($4 billion) and other support,7 like Geoscience Australia’s mapping work and partnership with the US Geological Survey that will support mining exploration activities.8 Yet, with the current variable coverage on critical minerals in ANZSIC and related ABS reporting, it is not possible to understand potential, industry-level shifts in the production, processing and beneficiation of these minerals – or rather, the success or otherwise of government and industry initiatives aimed at supporting these activities. As companies generate more revenue from critical minerals, it would ideally be possible for the ABS to provide more comprehensive data on them via potential changes to ANZISC and its reporting.
AUSMASA recommendations for critical minerals and ANZISC
- that the ABS clarify which existing ANZSIC classes all critical minerals belong to, with an aim to classify as many similar minerals together as possible (see our proposed approach for minerals and materials marked with an asterisk in Figure 1). For example, as tellurium is chiefly obtained as a by-product of copper processing or lead, we consider that the ABS could clarify that it falls within the class of Copper Ore Mining.
- that the ABS investigate the creation of new, and ideally dedicated, classes for critical minerals currently captured in ‘catch-all’ classes like Other Metal Ore Mining and Other Non-Metallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying. This would assist analysis for a wide range of critical minerals, similar to what is currently possible for classes in Metal Ore Mining and some industry reporting.
- that the ABS create one or more new dedicated groups for critical minerals, to support the analysis of regularly updated workforce data in sources like the Labour Force Survey.
This would in turn support:
- Workforce Planning: accurately identifying employment trends with ANZSIC would enable better national workforce planning and responses to potential skill shortages, especially if the new class/group has data made available through the quarterly Labour Force Survey.
- Economic Analysis: precise economic analysis with ANZSIC would help to understand revenue distribution, production data, and other key critical minerals trends.
- Policy Development: Detailed classifications and groups would aid in developing and assessing targeted policies and investment strategies, ensuring that any government incentives and funding programs reach the right areas and demonstrate proven results.
- Maximise Investment: Similarly, understanding existing supply, demand, and workforce trends for critical minerals could support private sector investment.
- Benchmarking Performance: Specific classifications and groups would allow the comparison of performance to other countries in critical mineral production, refining, and exports, and against competing or more established sectors (e.g. coal mining).
- Education and Training: Clearer classifications and groups would help education providers and the sector to align training programs to workforce and industry needs, ensuring that the talent pool meets the evolving demands of the critical minerals sector.
- Allow for accurate econometric identification and causal experimentation to specify the effects of various government programs and policy changes.
We appreciate that the ABS undertakes a significant amount of work and produces rigorous high-quality output that we frequently rely on to undertake our Workforce Planning and other Research activities. We look forward to engaging with you on these issues and potential solutions, some of which are outlined in our proposal. At the same time, we are open to any solutions that may support the goals we have identified and are keen to support ABS if we can.
Should you wish to discuss this further, please reach out to Dr Aneeq Sarwar, Senior Manager, Workforce Planning and Policy, who leads our Research division and can be contacted at aneeq.sarwar@ausmasa.org.au.
Sincerely,
Dr Gavin Lind
Chief Executive Officer
Mining and Automotive Skills Alliance Ltd
1 Department of Industry, Science and Resources. “Australia’s Critical Minerals List and Strategic Materials List,” 20 February, 2024.
2 Mining Technology. “Lithium production in Australia and major projects,” 23 August, 2024.
4 Australian Bureau of Statistics. “0990 Other Non-Metallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying,” 26 June, 2013.
5 Australian Bureau of Statistics. “Australian Industry: Annual estimates of key economic and financial performance of industries in Australia, including income, expenses, profit and capital expenditure,” 31 May, 2024.
6 Although the ABS Labour Force Survey is only designed to report at the group level, some other ABS reporting presents similar issues. For example, the ABS’ industry reporting on economic and financial indicators combines the class for nickel with bauxite and other metal ores from the Metal Ore Mining subdivision, despite ANZSICs' use of different classifications. Australian Bureau of Statistics. “Australian Industry: Annual estimates of key economic and financial performance of industries in Australia, including income, expenses, profit and capital expenditure,” 31 May, 2024.
7 Commonwealth of Australia. “Budget 2024–2025 Budget Measures, Budget Paper No. 2.” 2024.
8 Department of Industry, Science and Resources. “Australia joins United States on Landsat Next satellite mission as core partner,” 6 August, 2024