Abstract Extreme weather events in Australia over recent years have highlighted the costs for Australian mining and mineral processing operations of being under-prepared for adapting to climate risk. For example, the 2010/2011 Queensland floods closed or restricted production of about forty out of Queensland’s fifty coal mines costing more than $2 billion in lost production...

Since the beginning of the mining boom Australia’s rural sector has lost $61.5 billion in export income. This includes $18.9 billion in 2011-12 alone. These losses have occurred because the mining boom has forced the Australian dollar to historic highs.

This report summarises the findings of a three-year study investigating the social dimensions of autonomous and remote operations technologies in the Australian mining sector.

This paper examines the resource economy, including both resource extraction and value added of industries that provide inputs to resource extraction and investment, such as business services, construction, transport and manufacturing.

This report argues that the mining boom has not been managed well, and that it has been allowed to expand with little consideration for the collateral damage it causes to other sectors of the economy.