Live in Queensland? Type in your postcode and see how mining contributes to your local area in a newly updated website by the Queensland Resources Council.
QueenslandEconomy.com.au asks the question “What Are QLD Resources Worth To Me?” and seeks to answer this by providing an interactive map showing just how much money, jobs and community contribution is delivered by the resource industry.
Searching Mackay, the site states in 2012-13, the direct spend by the resources sector was at least $3.8 billion.
This was said to consist of $737 million in wages to 3,700 direct full-time employees (not including contractors).
While $3 billion was spent in community contributions and purchases of goods and services from local businesses (including contractors).
And despite the fact the Galilee Basin has no operating mines as yet, the resource spend was set at $6 million with more than $2 million of this spent directly on wages.
In comparison Diamantina in the state’s south-west which see’s no mining activity was shown to receive zero dollars in wages and only $0.03 million in community contributions and the purchase of goods.
According to the site, in 2012-13 QLD’s resource sector was responsible for one in every four dollars of the state’s economy and supported one in five QLD jobs.
“Despite the slowdown in the coal sector in 2012-13, data provided by QRC member companies confirms a $2 billion increase in state-wide spending on wages, goods and services and community contributions, QRC chief Michael Roche said.
” As a result, resources companies spent a total of $37.9 billion in Queensland in 2012-13, an important reminder of the robustness and value of a diversified resources sector.”
The website, which was first launched in 2010, also includes information on total taxes and royalties paid to governments, shareholder returns, a summary of the commodities that the Queensland resources sector produces, land use, the drivers of growth and a full economic report by Lawrence Consulting that contains all the spending data.
Roche said he hoped governments, anti-mining groups and community members would use the site to see the important role the sector plays in supporting jobs and keeping money rolling into the state’s economy.
