Final Report Minerals Council 2013

Training and
education
activity in the
minerals sector

A NATIONAL CENTRE FOR
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH
CONSULTANCY REPORT

NATIONAL CENTRE FOR

Training and education
activity in the minerals
sector

National Centre for Vocational Education Research

20 March 2013

The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author/project
team and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government,
state and territory governments.
Any interpretation of data is the responsibility of the author/project team.

A NATIONAL CENTRE FOR
CONSULTANCY REPORT

Minerals Council of Australia, 2013
Report commissioned by and prepared for the Minerals Council of Australia.
Submitted on 20 March 2013.
Prepared by National Centre for Vocational Education Research.
The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) is an
independent body responsible for collecting, managing and analysing, evaluating
and communicating research and statistics about vocational education and
training.
Through its commercial arm, NCVER provides professional research, development
and implementation services to Australian and international clients.
NCVER
ABN 87 007 967 311
Level 11, 33 King William Street, Adelaide, SA 5000
PO Box 8288 Station Arcade, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia
ph +61 8 8230 8400 fax +61 8 8212 3436
email ncver@ncver.edu.au
<www.ncver.edu.au>
NCVER 5
Contents

Tables and figures 7
Tables 7
Figures 9
Abbreviations and definitions 10
Executive summary 11
Expenditure 11
Apprentice and trainees 12
Nationally recognised training 12
Structured training 12
Introduction 14
Technical information 16
Scope 16
Coverage 18
Gold 19
Apprentices and trainees 20
Results 25
Comparison to industry benchmarks 26
Nationally recognised training 28
Structured training 33
Results 37
Training expenditure 38
Gross direct training expenditure 38
Course fees 39
Government support for training (subsidies) 40
Net training expenditure 41
Current minimum standards for training expenditure 41
Results 46
Other support for training 48
Results 48
Selected comments 49
Access to government funding 51
References 52
Appendix A: Employment information 53
Results 58
Appendix B: Coverage estimation and weighting 59
6 Training and education activity in the minerals sector
Coverage estimates 61
Weighting 62
Appendix C: Derived fields 63
Converting proportions to numbers 63
Support for any nationally recognised training 63
Estimated salary information 64
Appendix D: Gold results based on production figures 65
Appendix E: Survey instruments 69
E.1 Mining company survey 70
E.2 Contractor survey 84

NCVER 7
Tables and figures
Tables
1 ANZSIC classifications and scope of study 16
2 Summary of companies and respondents contractors and total mining 18
3 Summary of companies and respondents by commodity 18
4 Summary of companies and respondents by state 18
5 Summary of companies and respondents by selected states and
commodities 18
6 Summary of coverage estimates (by market capitalisation) 19
7 Summary of apprentice and trainee numbers
contractors and total mining 20
8 Characteristics of apprentices and trainees employed in the
minerals sector contractors and total mining (% of total number of
apprentice/trainees employed in each group) 21
minerals sector commodity (% of total number of apprentice/trainees
employed in each group) 21
minerals sector state (% of total number of apprentice/trainees
employed in each group) 21
minerals sector selected states and commodities (% of total number of
apprentice/trainees employed in each group) 21
12 Proportion of apprentices and trainees and average salary expense 22
13 Utilisation of apprentices and trainees by company, characteristic of
apprentice/trainee and how engaged contractors and total mining 23
apprentice/trainee and how engaged commodity 23
apprentice/trainee and how engaged state 23
apprentice/trainee and how engaged selected states and commodities 24
17 Utilisation of apprentices and trainees by industry SEUV 2011 data
compared to MCA survey 26
18 Percentage of all employees provided support for nationally recognised
training total mining and contractors 29
training commodity type 29
training state 29
training selected states and commodities 29
22 Percentage of companies that support nationally recognised training
national and contractors 30
commodity type 30
state 30
selected states and commodities 30
26 Employers using nationally recognised training SEUV 2011 data
compared to MCA survey 32
27 Percentage of all employees who have undertaken structured training 34
28 Percentage of companies offering other support for training
contractors and national 35
29 Percentage of companies offering other support for training
commodity type 36
30 Percentage of companies offering other support for training state 36
31 Percentage of companies offering other support for training selected
states and commodities 37
32 Training expenditure ($) contractors and total mining 42
33 Training expenditure ($) commodity type 43
34 Training expenditure ($) state 44
35 Training expenditure ($) selected states and commodities 45
36 Training expenditure as a percentage of total salary expense 46
A1 Salary expenditure contractors and total mining 57
A2 Salary expenditure sector 57
A3 Salary expenditure state 57
A4 Salary expenditure selected states and commodities 57
B1 Size of sector and coverage measured by market capitalisation for
contractors and total mining 61
B2 Size of sector and coverage measured by market capitalisation, by
commodity 61
B3 Size of sector and coverage measured by market capitalisation,
by state 61
B4 Size of sector and coverage measured by market capitalisation,
by selected states and commodities 61
C1 Proportion midpoints 63
NCVER 9
C2 Derivation of support for nationally recognised training 63
C3 Estimating salary expenditures 64
D1 Coverage measures based on share of annual production, year ending
June 2011, data collected first half of 2012 65
D2 Actual and projected gold employee numbers based on annual
production weights 65
D3 Salary expenditure gold based on annual production weights 65
D4 Types of apprentices and trainees employed gold based on annual
D5 Percentage employment of apprentices and trainees and how
employed gold based on annual production weights 66
D6 Utilisation of apprentices and trainees gold based on annual
D7 Number of employees undertaking nationally recognised training
or other structured training gold based on annual production weights 66
D8 Percentage of companies offering support for nationally recognised and
other structured training gold based on annual production weights 67
D9 Training expenditure ($) gold based on annual production weights 68
D10 Training expenditure as a percent of salary expenditure
gold based on annual production weights 68
Figures
A1 Average employee numbers per company (including projections
for 2014 and 2016), 2011 2016, by commodity 54
for 2014 and 2016), 2011 2016, by state 55
for 2014 and 2016), 2011 2016, by selected states and commodities 56

Abbreviations and definitions

Term Definition
ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics
ANZSIC Australia & New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification
MCA Minerals Council of Australia
NCVER National Centre for Vocational Education Research
SEUV Survey of Employer Use and Views of the VET System (NCVER survey)
TEPS Training Expenditure and Practices Survey (ABS Survey)
Apprenticeship A system of training regulated by law or custom which combines on-
the-job training and work experience while in paid employment with
formal (usually off-the-job training). The apprentice enters into a
contract of training or training agreement with an employer, which
imposes mutual obligations on both parties. Traditionally,
apprenticeships were in trade occupations (declared vocations) and
were of four years duration, but the duration of contracts has been
formally reduced in some trades.
1

Traineeship A system of vocational training combining off-the-job training with an
approved training provider with on-the-job training and practical work
experience. Traineeships generally take one to two years and are now
part of the Australian Apprenticeships system.
1

Nationally
recognised
training
Includes an accredited program of study that leads to vocational or
higher education (university) qualifications recognised across Australia.
It can apply to a whole course (qualification) or components of a
course (units of competency, modules, subjects and skill sets)
Skill sets Single units or combinations of units which link to a license or
regulatory requirement, or defined industry need. In 2007, the
National Quality Council (NQC) determined that skill sets would
complement full qualifications within the Australian Qualifications
Framework (AQF) and be included in training packages. Prior to this,
students who did not complete a full qualification could only receive a
Statement of Attainment for each unit completed, without any
indication of whether the units selected met a defined industry need or
licensing/regulatory requirement. Nationally endorsed skill sets will
provide formal recognition of training for a discrete part of a
qualification linked to a function or role within an occupation.
Structured
training
Unaccredited training that does not lead to a nationally recognised VET
qualification but which has a specified content or predetermined plan
designed to develop employment-related skills and competencies.
Gross direct
training
expenditure
The sum of employers expenditure on structured training, comprising:
gross wages and salaries of dedicated trainers and mentors, fees to
training providers, training facilities and equipment and other
expenditure on a cash paid basis.
Net direct training
expenditure
Gross direct training expenditure minus the sum of subsidies received
for training.

1
NCVER VET Glossary, accessed January 2013,
<www.ncver.edu.au/resources/glossary/glossary_full_record.html?query=BROWSE&entry=Apprenticeship>.

NCVER 11
Executive summary
The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) commissioned the National Centre for Vocational Education
Research (NCVER) to undertake a study investigating the contributions of minerals operators to training.
The study was commissioned to address the wide-spread belief within the mining sector that the number
of apprentices and trainees is underreported. This may be due to some on-site activity being classified
under industries other than mining (for example, apprentice chefs under hospitality, site remediation
under horticulture). Secondly, mining companies themselves may undertake a substantial amount of
training outside of the publicly funded VET system and as such, there is an absence of reliable publicly
available data on the level of training being undertaken by the mining industry.
The study found that the minerals sector spent just over $1.1 billion on training during the financial year
ending 30 June 2012, equivalent to almost 5.5% of total payroll. Almost 98% of this training expenditure is
industry-funded, with only 2% coming from government subsidies.
The approach used in this study was to undertake a survey of on-site training activity conducted by mining
companies and associated contractors. Contractors included full service all-in contract miners, as well as
on-site contractors (such as those providing above and below-ground extraction, accommodation, catering
or construction services to mining operators) and sub-contractors
2
.
The survey captured training activity in the areas of apprentices and traineeships, nationally recognised
training and study (including skill sets), structured training (including safety), and other skill development
activities.
Around 40% of all mining operators (excluding contractors) were captured in the survey (as measured by
market capitalisation). Two-thirds of iron ore operators and around 50% of all coal and gold operators
were captured. However, only a quarter of the remaining commodities were captured in the survey. Oil
and gas operators were excluded, as were small companies whose activities were primarily involved in
exploration.
Throughout the report, the term total mining will be used to refer to all mining operators and
contractors working on site. However, the contractors responses are not representative of the entire
population of mining contractors.
Expenditure
Total mining reported spending almost 5.5% of total payroll on training expenditure. This equates
to an amount in excess of $1.1 billion spent on training activity for the financial year ending 30
June 2012. This is in excess of government training benchmarks related to the employment of 457
visa workers (see page 41 for further details).
Approximately $570 million of the total training expenditure was related to salary expenditure for
trainers, for apprentices and trainees, and for staff attending training.
The remaining expenditure resulted from the payment of course fees ($440 million), and
infrastructure and other training costs ($130 million).

2
For the purposes of this study, we do not distinguish between the different types of contractors when reporting results.
In terms of government training subsidies, total mining received in total around $26 million; this
represents around 2% of total training expenditure
3
.
Contractors spent 7.5% of total payroll on training activity.
Apprentice and trainees
Overall, apprentices and trainees make up around 5% of the workforce of total mining.
Around 20% of all apprentices and trainees are reported as being mature-aged (> 21 years old),
however, contracting companies report that 50% of their apprentices are mature-aged.
Female apprentices and trainees comprise around 15% of all apprentices and trainees, with iron
ore employing around 20% female apprentices and trainees.
Apprentice and trainee average wage expenses are quite variable, with contractors having an
average annual apprentice and trainee expense of around $57 000 per year, compared to $39 000
per year for total mining.
Nationally, around 65% of all companies surveyed (including contractors) reported employing
apprentices and trainees.
All of the contractors surveyed (11) reported employing apprentices and trainees.
The use of schools-based apprentices and trainees is very low, with less than 2% of all apprentices
and trainees being schools-based and only around 10% of companies utilising schools-based
apprenticeships.
Most companies employ their apprentices and trainees directly, with around 20% using the services
of a group training company.
Nationally recognised training
Approximately 75% of total mining operators offer at least one form of nationally recognised
training
4
to their employees.
Skill sets are the largest form of nationally recognised training provided to minerals employees.
Around 50% of total mining employees undertook training in skills sets, with nearly three quarters
of all employees in iron ore undertaking skill sets training.
The remaining levels of nationally recognised training are fairly uniform, hovering around 10% for
vocational qualifications and around 5% for university degrees.
All of the contractors surveyed (11) provided at least one form of nationally recognised training to
their employees.
Structured training
Nationally, around 80% of total mining employees participated in structured training.
Almost 80% of companies provided some form of support for structured training.

3
Companies commented on the difficulty of accessing government funding and subsidies offered to provide support for
training activity. Some of these comments are included in the Other contributions to training section.
4
That is, approximately 75% of companies provided a response in at least one box in the Nationally recognised training
section of the survey.
NCVER 13
Approximately 65% of companies employ staff whose role is primarily training, coaching or
mentoring. This figure jumps to 90% for contracting firms.
Around half of all companies provided apprentices with a tools allowance.
Approximately three quarters of all companies provided support for structured training through the
engagement of consultants to provide training. They also paid the wages of employees while they
attended training, their course fees, related accommodation and travel expenses as well as all
relevant training materials.
Introduction
The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has commissioned NCVER to estimate the contribution of operators
in the minerals sector to training. The study is motivated by two key factors:
Standard counts of apprentice and trainee training activity may undercount the contribution of the
minerals sector. An added complexity of mining operations is that there has been a rapid growth in
the use of full-service contracting companies, labour hire and single contractors as a way to
meet employment needs conveniently. Contractors that may be classified under other industries
(such as construction or property and business services) may undertake a significant proportion of
training for the minerals industry.
There is an absence of reliable publicly available data on employer support for forms of training
other than accredited training (structured non-accredited, privately funded, capital expenditure
on training facilities, etc.), such that the minerals sector has been unable to completely identify
its contribution to training.
The approach used in this study is to undertake a survey of MCA members, as well as others operating
in the minerals industry who are not MCA members, and associated contractors working on-site. The
survey instrument collected information regarding apprenticeships, traineeships, accredited and non-
accredited training undertaken by mining companies and operators. The contractors included full
service all-in contract miners, as well as on-site contractors (such as those providing above and
below-ground extraction, accommodation, catering or construction services to mining operators) and
sub-contractors
5
. The survey also collected further information on the size of the operators in terms
of both total employee numbers and salary budgets.
The aim of the study is to:
estimate the contribution of the minerals sector to increasing the qualifications of the Australian
workforce
estimate the minerals sectors total expenditure on training and skills development activities
benchmark the minerals sectors expenditure on structured training against established minimum
standards
provide a more complete estimate of the minerals sectors investment in apprentices and trainees
by including activity of on-site contractors currently assigned to other industries.
This study captured training activity in the following categories. These categories are:
apprenticeships and traineeships
other nationally recognised training and study
structured training for employees (not involving a nationally recognised qualification)
other skills development activities.
The first three points have been investigated using a survey of mining companies and contractors. The
fourth category has been gathered through an audit of MCA member websites, company annual

5
For the purposes of this study, we do not distinguish between the different types of contractors when reporting results.
NCVER 15
reports and through the comments provided on the survey instrument, and is designed to give a
picture of the breadth of the minerals industry training tasks.
The MCA and NCVER thank the mining companies and contractors for their participation and enthusiasm in
completing the questionnaires. To maintain privacy and confidentiality, the list of participating companies
will not be made available.
The report is structured as follows. We begin with an overview of the surveys scope and a brief
explanation of how responses were weighted to be representative of the entire minerals sector. Results
are then organised into five main sections: apprentices and trainees, nationally recognised training,
structured training, training expenditure, and other support for training.

Technical information
The survey instruments presented to the mining companies and contractors appear in appendix E.
Wherever possible, NCVER has sought to use existing definitions for concepts. The concepts and definitions
used in the survey have come from a variety of sources including the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
Training Expenditure and Practices Survey (TEPS, cat no. 6362.0) and the Survey of Employer Use and
Views (SEUV) (NCVER 2011). In some instances, the survey questions have departed from these established
definitions in order to include other activities as required by the Minerals Council of Australia, to ease
data collection requirements of respondents or for other practical considerations (as discovered during the
piloting phase of the study).
Scope
The study examined training activity within the minerals sector. The survey sampled MCA members and
other operators in the minerals industry who are not MCA members, together with a subset of contractors
working on-site.
The scope included activities undertaken by organisations operating in the mining industry (excluding oil
and gas extraction) as defined by the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification
(Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006). Oil and gas operators have been excluded, as the focus of the study
is on mineral operators and membership of the MCA largely excludes oil and gas operators.
Also in scope is any training activity conducted by organisations that are contractors to the mining industry
working on-site but may be classified under other ANZSIC division classifications (for example
manufacturing, construction; professional, scientific and technical services). Typically the contractors are
involved in above and below ground extraction, on-site accommodation and hospitality and on-site
construction work. Some smaller mining operations were excluded due to the size of their workforce. A
small number of the larger mining contractors (11) were surveyed and are not necessarily representative
of the entire population of contractors. The results for contractors should be interpreted with caution.
Overall, our definition of the mining industry is consistent with the ANZSIC definition aside from the two
points of difference highlighted above and in Table 1.
Table 1 ANZSIC classifications and scope of study
ANZSIC group codes ANZSIC Division B mining This study
060 Coal mining In In
070 Oil and gas extraction In Out
080 Metal ore mining In In
091 Construction material mining In In
099 Other non-metallic mineral mining
and quarrying
In In
101 Exploration In In
109 Other mining support services In In
All other ANZSIC industry groups Out In, where they relate to onsite activity (for
example, construction and accommodation
and food services)

NCVER 17
Results are reported for total mining, contractors, and mining without contractors. Further breakdowns by
commodity (iron ore, coal, gold and all other commodities), states (WA, NSW, Qld and all other states)
and certain state-commodity combinations (WA gold, WA iron ore, Qld coal, NSW coal and All other states
and commodities) are also reported. These breakdowns have been selected by the MCA stakeholders and
meet the sample size conditions required by NCVER.
The data collection period was September 2012 October 2012, and the timing for companies to report
information was for the financial year ending 30 June 2012. To be more precise, we collected information
on the:
number and type of apprentices and trainees as at 30 June 2012
number of employees as at 30 June 2012
size of payroll in the 2011 2012 financial year
training activity during the 2011 2012 financial year, and
training expenditure during the 2011 2012 financial year.
Further information was collected on the number of employees 12 months earlier as at 30 June 2011, with
employee projections for 30 June 2014 and 2016 also being requested. The information relating to actual
and projected employee numbers appears in appendix A. Further information regarding mining company
operations has been obtained using data from the Register of Australian Mining (2012/2013), and relevant
Australian Stock Exchange data as required.
The sampling methodology resulted in the number of respondents being greater than the number of
companies operating in each sector (state or commodity). This was because some survey responses were
received from individual mine sites. The mine sites were subsidiaries of larger companies. Further to this,
those who supplied whole of company information, but who operated multiple sites within the given strata
were separated into individual entities within the sectors.
For companies that span multiple strata, their numerical data is distributed across the strata according to
the number of assets held within each strata. For example, a company that responded to the survey might
report 60% of its operations as being in WA iron ore, and the remaining 40% in WA gold. In this case, we
apportion 60% of its responses (for example, total employees) to WA iron ore, and the remaining 40% to
WA gold. The company thus has two entries in the dataset. Each entry corresponds to one respondent. In
this way, a single company can produce several respondents.
The tables below show the number of companies and respondents or operators (that is, individual
companies may operate multiple subsidiaries or sites) in each stratum. A weighting scheme that uses the
market capitalisation of respondents and the population has been implemented. Details of this weighting
methodology appear in appendix B. Tables 2 to 5 present the number of responses received from each of
the areas of interest (n) as well as the population sizes that they represent (N). For example, 81 individual
mining companies provided a response, and this represents a population size of 194. Note that the
population of contractors is unknown, and as such, no weights have been developed. For this reason,
readers should interpret the results as being applicable to this group of contractors only, and not as the
findings for the entire population of mining contractors.

Table 2 Summary of companies and respondents contractors and total mining
Measure Contractors Total mining Mining w/out
contractors
n N n N n N
Number of companies 11 11 81 194 70 183
Number of respondents
1
11 11 112 302 101 291
1
Some companies responded in multiple strata (e.g. Vic gold and WA gold); thus the number of
respondents is greater than the number of companies.

Table 3 Summary of companies and respondents by commodity
Measure Coal Gold Iron ore All other
minerals

n N n N n N n N
Number of companies 18 39 27 54 8 12 31 135
1
22 48 32 63 8 12 39 169
1
Some companies responded in multiple strata (e.g. Vic gold and WA gold); thus the number
of respondents is greater than the number of companies.
Table 4 Summary of companies and respondents by state
Measure WA Qld NSW Other states
n N n N n N n N
Number of companies 24 55 19 50 18 45 26 79
1
27 62 22 58 20 50 32 98
1
Some companies responded in multiple strata (e.g. Vic gold and WA gold); thus the number of
respondents is greater than the number of companies.
Table 5 Summary of companies and respondents by selected states and commodities
Measure WA gold WA iron ore NSW coal Qld coal
Other states and
commodities
n N n N n N n N n N
Number of companies 9 18 7 9 11 23 8 16 44 173
1
9 18 7 9 11 23 8 16 66 260
1
Some companies responded in multiple strata (e.g. Vic gold and WA gold); thus the number of respondents is greater than the
number of companies.
Coverage
When measured in terms of market capitalisation
6
, the coverage of the MCA survey is 40% nationally. That
is, respondents to the MCA survey represent 40% of the market capitalisation of the entire minerals sector
in Australia.
Table 6 below presents the coverage estimates broken down by commodity, state and selected states and
commodities. Note that we cannot derive an estimate of coverage for the contractors, as we have no way
of determining the portion of their total market capitalisation that relates to their mining operations.
A summary of the methodology used for the coverage estimates is provided in appendix B.

6
Note that some market capitalisations had to be imputed for companies which were not listed on the ASX (this was the case
for approximately 16% of companies). See appendix B for full details.
NCVER 19
Table 6 Summary of coverage estimates (measured by market capitalisation)
Sector Coverage (%)
1

Iron ore 67
Gold 51
Coal 46
Other commodities 23
WA 44
NSW 41
Qld 38
Other states 33
WA iron ore 78
Qld coal 51
NSW coal 48
WA gold 50
Other 25
Contractors n/a
Mining w/out contractors 40
1
Coverage = (Market capitalisation of respondents in
the sector/Market capitalisation of the entire sector)
x 100
Derived variables and estimation
In some circumstances, variables and missing information have been estimated for some key questions for
some respondents. The details of this appear in appendix C.
Gold
MCA gold members requested that the survey results and coverage estimates also be estimated using
relative production figures. The results for the separate gold analysis appear in appendix D.

Apprentices and trainees
The definition of an apprentice or trainee used here is that used by the NCVER Apprentice and Trainee
collection:
Apprenticeship: A system of training regulated by law or custom which combines on-the-job
training and work experience while in paid employment with formal (usually off-the-job training).
The apprentice enters into a contract of training or training agreement with an employer, which
imposes mutual obligations on both parties. Traditionally, apprenticeships were in trade
occupations (declared vocations) and were of four years duration, but the duration of contracts
has been formally reduced in some trades.
7

Traineeship: A system of vocational training combining off-the-job training with an approved
training provider with on-the-job training and practical work experience. Traineeships generally
take one to two years and are now a part of the Australian Apprenticeships system.
8

It is worth noting that the survey was self-completed and as such, companies may have used their own
definition of an apprentice or trainee.
Table 7 summarises the employment of apprentices and trainees in the minerals sector. There are almost
11 000 apprentices and trainees in the sector, and these represent just over 5% of the total workforce.
Approximately 67% of companies employ apprentices and trainees.
Table 7 Summary of apprentice and trainee numbers contractors and total mining
Measure Contractors Total mining
Mining w/out
contractors
Total apprentice/trainees (N) 1 966 10 753 8 787
Percentage of companies which
employ apprentice/trainees
100.0 67.0 65.0
Percentage of employees who are
apprentice/trainees
7.6 5.2 4.8
The survey also collected information on the number of apprentices and trainees employed by respondents
who are:
Indigenous
female
schools-based
mature-aged (> 21 years old).
Further information requested also included details on how firms employed their apprentice and
trainees; that is, directly or through a Group Training Organisation. The questionnaire did not ask for
any further details about apprenticeships and traineeships such as occupation, as this information was
deemed to be too onerous to collect.

7
<www.ncver.edu.au/resources/glossary/glossary_full_record.html?query=BROWSE&entry=Apprenticeship>.
8
<www.ncver.edu.au/resources/glossary/glossary_full_record.html?query=BROWSE&entry=Traineeship>.
NCVER 21
Table 8 Characteristics of apprentices and trainees employed in the minerals sector
contractor and total mining (% of total number of apprentice/trainees
employed in each group)
Characteristic of
apprentice/trainee
Contractors Total mining
Mining w/out
contractors
Indigenous 6.1 13.2 14.8
Female 23.0 14.8 13.0
Schools-based 1.1 1.8 2.0
Mature-aged (> 21 years old) 50.9 22.8 16.5
Total apprentice/trainees (N) 1 966 10 753 8 787
Table 9 Characteristics of apprentices and trainees employed in the minerals sector
commodity (% of total number of apprentice/trainees employed in
each group)
Characteristic of
apprentice/trainee
Coal Gold Iron ore All other minerals
Indigenous 6.2 5.1 15.4 23.3
Female 8.7 10.2 19.5 14.0
Schools-based 0.9 1.1 0.0 3.9
Mature-aged (> 21 years old) 10.2 17.2 20.7 19.3
Total apprentice/trainees (N) 2 803 745 1 658 3 581
Table 10 Characteristics of apprentices and trainees employed in the minerals sector state (% of
total number of apprentice/trainees employed in each group)
Characteristic of
apprentice/trainee
WA Qld NSW Other states
Indigenous 14.6 17.7 1.6 19.0
Female 17.2 14.4 6.1 11.9
Schools-based 0.0 3.8 0.3 2.8
Mature-aged (> 21 years old) 20.8 15.8 4.6 24.4
Total apprentice/trainees (N) 3 435 2 287 2 055 1 184
Table 11 Characteristics of apprentices and trainees employed in the minerals sector selected states
and commodities (% of total number of apprentice/trainees employed in each group)
Characteristic of
apprentice/trainee
WA gold WA iron ore NSW coal Qld coal
Other states and
commodities
Indigenous 5.8 15.4 1.8 12.5 20.0
Female 10.3 19.5 6.0 12.6 13.2
Schools-based 0.0 0.0 0.4 1.7 3.6
Mature-aged (> 21 years old) 14.1 20.7 2.1 21.8 19.4
Total apprentice/trainees (N) 417 1 425 1 579 1 052 3 942

Table 12 Proportion of apprentices and trainees and average salary expense
Strata
%
apprentice/trainees
of all employees
Average expense
per
apprentice/trainee
($)
Total mining and contractors
Contractors 7.6 56 767
Total mining
5.2 39 395
Mining w/out contractors
4.8 35 508

Commodity

Coal
1
5.9 21 471
Gold 5.0 43 421
Iron ore
4.6 42 859
All other minerals 4.3 41 447

State

WA 4.2 42 383
Qld
6.1 35 861
NSW
5.5 21 886
Other states 5.5 31 703

Selected states and commodity

WA gold 3.8 39 357
WA iron ore 4.7 42 859
NSW coal
1
5.8 19 176
Qld coal
1
6.8 24 469
Other states and commodities 4.4 42 615
1
The average expense per apprentice/trainee is lower for coal in comparison to the other commodities. This arises due to some
large variations in the reported apprentice/trainee salary expenses. For example, some companies reported a very low average
expense per apprentice/trainee (as low as $8000 per apprentice/trainee) and coal (and subsequent state coal reporting) is most
affected by this.

NCVER 23
Table 13 Utilisation of apprentices and trainees by company, characteristic of apprentice/trainee and
how engaged contractors and total mining
% companies employing: Contractors
Total
mining
Mining w/out contractors
Apprentice/trainees overall 100 67 65

Indigenous 73 34 31
Female 82 41 39
Schools-based 18 11 10
Mature-aged (> 21 years old) 82 43 41

Directly 100 61 58
Through Group Training Organisation 18 22 22

how engaged commodity
% companies employing: Coal Gold Iron ore All other minerals
Apprentice/trainees overall 74 59 67 64

Indigenous 33 22 50 33
Female 51 37 50 39
Schools-based 13 11 0 10
Mature-aged (> 21 years old) 33 37 67 42

Directly 67 56 67 55
Through Group Training Organisation 33 11 42 23
how engaged state
% companies employing: WA Qld NSW Other states
Apprentice/trainees overall 75 52 78 54

Indigenous 42 32 22 39
Female 55 32 51 43
Schools-based 0 16 7 13
Mature-aged (> 21 years old) 58 42 29 28

Directly 71 48 71 51
Through Group Training Organisation 22 22 22 20

how engaged selected states and commodities
% companies employing: WA gold WA iron ore NSW coal Qld coal
Other states and
commodities
Apprentice/trainees overall 78 78 83 50 57

Indigenous 22 67 30 38 28
Female 44 67 57 50 34
Schools-based 0 0 13 13 12
Mature-aged (> 21 years old) 56 78 30 38 34

Directly 78 78 74 50 50
Through Group Training Organisation 0 44 39 25 18

NCVER 25
Results
Overall, apprentices and trainees make up around 5% of the workforce of total mining.
Around 20% of all apprentices and trainees are reported as being mature-aged (> 21 years old),
however, contracting companies report that 50% of their apprentices are mature-aged.
Female apprentices and trainees comprise around 15% of all apprentices and trainees, with iron
ore employing around 20% female apprentices and trainees.
Apprentice and trainee average wage expenses are quite variable, with contractors having an
average annual apprentice and trainee expense of around $57 000 per year, compared to $39 000
per year for total mining.
Nationally, approximately 65% of all companies surveyed (including contractors) reported
employing apprentices and trainees.
All of the contractors surveyed (11) reported employing apprentices and trainees.
The use of schools-based apprentices and trainees is very low, with less than 2% of all apprentices
and trainees being schools-based and only around 10% of companies utilising schools-based
apprenticeships.
Most companies employ their apprentices and trainees directly, with around 20% using the services
of a group training company.
Comparison to industry benchmarks
Nationally, the MCA survey found that 65% of companies in the minerals sector (excluding contractors)
employ apprentices and trainees. This result can be compared with findings from NCVERs Survey of
Employer Use and Views of the VET System (SEUV, 2011), a national survey of 7500 companies across a
variety of industries. However, it is important to stress that our survey is quite different from the SEUV, in
that the SEUV is a randomly-selected sample, while the MCA survey is a survey focused heavily on the
larger mining companies, who were not randomly selected (as we were trying to measure total training
expenditure, it was vital that the large companies were included as they contribute a substantial
proportion of the total spend).
Table 17 presents SEUV 2011 data relating to the employment of apprentices and trainees by companies.
The SEUV found that 29% of companies from the mining industry employed apprentices/trainees, well
below the figure obtained from the MCA survey. There are a number of possible reasons for this
discrepancy. First, the SEUVs definition of mining captures oil and gas operators, whereas our survey
specifically excluded this category. Secondly, the difference is likely to be a function of the size of the
companies surveyed. More than 95 per cent of companies surveyed for the SEUV had fewer than 100
employees (that is 78% of companies had 19 employees, 20% of companies had 1099 employees, while
only 2% had over 100 employees). By contrast, the MCA survey featured very large employers (> 1000
employees) who are more likely to employee apprentices and trainees than smaller companies.
Table 17 Utilisation of apprentices and trainees by industry
SEUV 2011 data compared to MCA survey

Employers with
apprentices (%)
Minerals Council Survey (2012) 65.0
Survey of Employer Use and Views (2011) by ANSZIC06 Industry:
Agriculture, forestry and fishing 13.2
Mining 29.3
Manufacturing 36.7
Electricity, gas, water and waste services 39.5
Construction 61.7
Wholesale trade 10.1
Retail trade 25.2
Accommodation and food services 21.5
Transport, postal and warehousing 8.5
Information media and telecommunications 12.4
Financial and insurance services 14.0
Rental, hiring and real estate services 20.3
Professional, scientific and technical services 15.7
Administrative and support services 18.0
Public administration and safety 24.7
Education and training 27.9
Health care and social assistance 22.4
Arts and recreation services 16.8
Other services 51.0
Australia 29.0

NCVER 27
Looking at the SEUV results alone, the SEUV reported that 62% of employers in the construction industry
have apprentices/trainees (SEUV, 2011), versus 29% for the mining industry. Again, this may be due to a
difference in the proportion of large employers surveyed in construction versus mining, or it could be that
a construction firms propensity to hire an apprentice is not as strongly related to employer size as it is for
mining. Unfortunately the SEUVs sampling design did not allow for detailed breakdowns of the results by
industry and company size.

Nationally recognised training
The survey asked respondents to estimate the proportion of employees who were supported to undertake
nationally recognised qualifications (excluding those undertaken as part of an apprenticeship or
traineeship) during the financial year ending 30 June 2012.
Nationally recognised training includes an accredited program of study that leads to vocational or higher
education (university) qualifications recognised across Australia. It can apply to a whole course
(qualification) or components of a course (units of competency, modules, subjects and skill sets). Skill sets
are included in the measurement of nationally recognised training as they are a collection of units of
competency included in a training package. Skills sets are widely used in the minerals industry, and so are
included in this survey. In particular, skill sets are:
Single units or combinations of units which link to a license or regulatory requirement, or defined
industry need. In 2007, the National Quality Council (NQC) determined that skill sets would
complement full qualifications within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) and be
included in training packages. Prior to this, students who did not complete a full qualification
could only receive a Statement of Attainment for each unit completed, without any indication of
whether the units selected met a defined industry need or licensing/regulatory requirement.
Nationally endorsed skill sets will provide formal recognition of training for a discrete part of a
qualification linked to a function or role within an occupation(NCVER VET Glossary).
This covers both nationally endorsed skill sets and locally approved skill sets. For example a licence to
operate a boiler, first aid refresher course, safety courses. Given the nature of the survey, respondents
may have included skill sets that arent nationally endorsed or linked to a formal recognition of training.
Examples of skill sets include:
MSA07 Licence to operate a standard boiler
RII09 Underground Coal Mine Safety.
Vocational qualifications are limited to those at AQF Levels 16 (that is certificate I, certificate II,
certificate III, certificate IV, diploma, and advanced diploma)
Also covered in this category is study towards university qualifications at the bachelor, graduate
certificate, graduate diploma, masters, and doctorate level.
In this section, we have excluded apprenticeships as these are covered in the previous section.
It also excludes:
on-the-job training which is not part of a nationally recognised qualification
graduate employment programs and work experience programs.

NCVER 29
Table 18 Percentage of all employees provided with support for nationally recognised training total
mining and contractors
Type of qualification Contractors
Total
mining
Mining w/out
contractors
Lower Vocational Qualifications 9 11 12
Higher Vocational Qualifications 9 12 12
Skill Sets 51 50 50
Undergraduate/Postgraduate 3 6 6
Table 19 Percentage of all employees provided with support for nationally recognised training
commodity type
Type of qualification Coal Gold Iron ore
All other
minerals
Lower Vocational Qualifications 4 1 19 14
Higher Vocational Qualifications 6 9 18 13
Skill Sets 43 20 73 49
Undergraduate/Postgraduate 4 2 17 4
state

selected states and commodities
Type of qualification WA gold WA iron ore NSW coal Qld coal
Other states and
commodities
Lower Vocational Qualifications 1 19 5 3 13
Higher Vocational Qualifications 7 18 7 5 13
Skill Sets 15 74 40 50 46
Undergraduate/Postgraduate 2 17 4 3 4

Type of qualification WA Qld NSW Other states
Table 22 Percentage of companies that support nationally recognised training total mining and
contractors
Type of qualification Contractors
Total
mining
Mining w/out
contractors
Lower Vocational Qualifications 100 72 70
Higher Vocational Qualifications 91 76 74
Skill Sets 100 77 75
Undergraduate/Postgraduate 100 77 75
At least one of the above 100 77 75

Table 23 Percentage of companies that support nationally recognised training commodity type
Type of qualification Coal Gold Iron ore
All other
minerals
At least one of the above 74 67 75 77

Table 24 Percentage of companies that support nationally recognised training state
Type of qualification WA Qld NSW Other states
At least one of the above 75 64 78 73

Table 25 Percentage of companies that support nationally recognised training selected states and
commodities
Type of qualification WA gold WA iron ore NSW coal Qld coal
Other states and
commodities
Lower Vocational Qualifications 67 89 91 50 68
Higher Vocational Qualifications 67 89 83 38 64
Skill Sets 67 89 91 50 66
Undergraduate/Postgraduate 67 89 91 50 68
At least one of the above 67 89 91 50 68

NCVER 31
Results
Approximately 75% of total mining operators offer at least one form of nationally recognised
9

training to their employees.
Skill sets are the largest form of nationally recognised training provided to minerals employees.
Around 50% of total mining employees undertook training in skills sets, with nearly three quarters
of all employees in iron ore undertaking skill sets.
The remaining levels of nationally recognised training are fairly uniform, hovering around 10% for
vocational qualifications and around 5% for university degrees.
All of the contractors surveyed (11) provided at least one form of nationally recognised training to
their employees.

9
That is, approximately 75% of companies provided a response in at least one box in the Nationally recognised training
section of the survey.

Nationally, the MCA survey found that 77% of mining companies (excluding contractors) use nationally
recognised training. This result can be compared with findings from NCVERs Survey of Employer Use and
Views of the VET System (SEUV, 2011), a national survey of 7500 companies across a variety of industries.
Table 26 presents SEUV 2011 data relating to the use of nationally recognised training by employers
(NCVER 2011). The SEUV found that 47% of companies provided nationally recognised training, compared
to 77% reported by the MCA survey. There are a number of possible reasons for this discrepancy. First, the
SEUV captures oil and gas operators in its definition of mining, whereas the MCA survey specifically
excluded this category of mining company. Secondly, the size of the companies included in the SEUV is
likely to have had an impact. More than 95 per cent of companies surveyed for the SEUV had fewer than
100 employees. By contrast, the MCA survey featured very large employers (> 1000 employees) who are
more likely to provide employee training. We further note that in the definition of nationally recognised
training, the SEUV does not capture skill sets, which in the MCA survey were one of the most common
forms of nationally recognised training offered.
Looking at the SEUV results alone, the survey found that mining firms use of nationally recognised
training (47%) was around double that of manufacturing (19%) and construction firms (23%). As well,
mining firms use of nationally recognised training was found to be about double the national average of
22%.
Table 26 Employers using nationally recognised training SEUV 2011 data compared to MCA survey

Employers using nationally
recognised training (%)
Minerals Council Survey (2012) 77.0
Survey of Employer Use and Views (2011) by ANZSIC06 Industry
Agriculture, forestry and fishing 14.0
Mining 46.8
Manufacturing 19.1
Electricity, gas, water and waste services 36.4
Construction 22.5
Wholesale trade 15.7
Retail trade 15.6
Accommodation and food services 19.9
Transport, postal and warehousing 14.5
Information media and telecommunications 11.1
Financial and insurance services 40.2
Rental, hiring and real estate services 24.6
Professional, scientific and technical services 16.6
Administrative and support services 20.0
Public administration and safety 43.6
Education and training 39.9
Health care and social assistance 33.7
Arts and recreation services 29.6
Other services 22.9
Australia 21.7

NCVER 33
Structured training
Structured training refers to unaccredited training that does not lead to a nationally recognised VET
qualification but has a specified content or predetermined plan designed to develop employment-related
skills and competencies.
Types of structured training:
occupational specific training
(for example, on-the-job operator training where workers are assessed and then accredited to
operate plant)
organisation specific training
(for example, product or service-specific courses)
induction training
health and safety training
management and supervisory training
project management courses
personal development training (such as health, diet, life skills)
general computing training
other structured training.
It excludes:
activity that has already been counted:
- apprenticeships and traineeships (already counted above)
- other nationally recognised training and study (already counted above)
induction, health and safety or any other training that is unstructured
other skills development activity.
Structured training is captured in this survey as it is an important investment by the minerals sector but
because it is not publicly subsidised, it is not captured in any existing survey, or official data collections.

Table 27 Percentage of all employees who have undertaken structured training
Group % of all employees
Contractors 79
Total mining 82
Mining w/out contractors 82

Commodity

Coal 72
Gold 38
Iron ore 87
All other commodities 94

State

WA 85
Qld 74
NSW 75
Other states
66

Selected states and commodities
WA gold 32
WA iron ore 88
NSW coal 78
Qld coal 67
Other states and commodities 86
The survey asked respondents (companies/sites) to provide information on the number of employees who
undertook some form of structured training during the financial year ending 30 June 2012. Further to this,
respondents were asked to provide information on other types of support for both nationally recognised or
structured training in a series of yes/no questions. Respondents were asked whether they provided the
following types of support to employees during the previous financial year:
employed trainers, coaches or mentors to provide on-site training
engaged external contractors to provide on-site training
paid employees wages and salaries while attending training
paid wages and salaries of relief employees or employees backfilling those attending training
paid employees structured training fees (for example fees to TAFE, university or private training
provider)
paid employees travel accommodation expenses associated with structured training
paid for employees training materials.
The tables below show the percentages of companies offering other support for structured training.

NCVER 35
Table 28 Percentage of companies offering other support for training contractors and total mining
Type of support Contractors
Total
mining
Mining w/out
contractors
Employed staff specifically as trainers,
coaches or mentors
91 64 63
Provided pre-employment of other work-
related programs
73 52 50
Engaged consultants to provide training
to workers, either onsite or offsite
100 78 77
Paid employees wages and salaries
while attending training
100 78 77
Paid wages and salaries of relief
employees so that employees could
attend training
64 54 53
Paid employees' structured training fees 100 76 74
Paid employees' travel/accommodation
expenses associated with structured
training
91 72 71
Paid for employees' training materials 100 75 73
Provided apprentices with tools or paid
apprentices a tool allowance
73 51 50
Other training support
10
18 23 23
Any support for structured training 100 78 77

10
Other support includes any type of support not already listed in the other categories, such as mentoring programs, work
experience programs, health advice programs, and schooling subsidies for children of employees in remote areas.

Table 29 Percentage of companies offering other support for training commodity type
Type of support Coal Gold Iron ore
All other
minerals
coaches or mentors
67 44 75 61
Provided pre-employment of other work-
related programs
56 37 67 48
Engaged consultants to provide training
to workers, either onsite or offsite
79 67 75 77
79 67 75 77
attend training
67 30 67 48
Paid employees' structured training fees 79 67 75 74
training
74 63 67 74
Paid for employees' training materials 67 63 75 77
74 44 42 45
10
13 7 42 23
Any support for structured training 80 67 75 77
Table 30 Percentage of companies offering other support for training state
Type of support WA Qld NSW Other states
coaches or mentors
67 64 62 54
Provided pre-employment of other
work-related programs
67 52 51 43
Engaged consultants to provide
training to workers, either onsite or
offsite
75 68 78 73
75 68 78 73
attend training
45 32 67 54
Paid employees' structured training
fees
75 68 78 70
training
71 64 67 73
Paid for employees' training materials 75 64 71 70
58 48 67 43
10
35 12 18 16
Any support for structured training 75 68 78 73

NCVER 37
Table 31 Percentage of companies offering other support for training selected states and
commodities
Type of support WA gold
WA iron
ore
NSW coal Qld coal
Other states
and
commodities
coaches or mentors
44 89 74 63 53
Provided pre-employment of other
work-related programs
56 78 65 50 41
Engaged consultants to provide
training to workers, either onsite or
offsite
67 89 91 63 68
67 89 91 63 68
attend training
22 78 83 50 43
Paid employees' structured training
fees
67 89 91 63 66
training
67 78 83 63 64
Paid for employees' training materials 67 89 83 63 64
56 44 83 63 41
10
11 44 22 13 18
Any support for structured training 67 89 91 63 68
Results
Nationally, around 80% of total mining employees participated in structured training.
Almost 80% of companies provided some form of support for structured training.
Approximately 65% of companies employ staff whose role is primarily training, coaching or
mentoring. This figure jumps to 90% for contracting firms.
Around half of all companies provided apprentices with a tools allowance.
Approximately three quarters of all companies provided support for structured training through the
engagement of consultants to provide training. They also paid the wages of employees while they
attended training, paid for course fees, accommodation and related travel expenses as well as
paying for all relevant training materials.

Training expenditure
The measurement of total training expenditure is simply gross direct training expenditure minus any
subsidies.
Gross direct training expenditure
Gross direct training expenditure is derived as the sum of employers expenditure on structured training,
which includes:
gross wages and salaries of dedicated trainers and mentors
wages and salaries paid to staff while attending off-the-job training or whilst on study leave
wages paid to apprentices and trainees
11

fees to external training providers
training facilities and equipment
travel, accommodation and meals for participation in training
membership fees, donations and levies for training
other expenditure on a cash paid basis,
as expended on a cash-paid basis during the financial year.
This is based on the definition used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in the 2001-2002 Employer
Training Expenditure and Practices Survey (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003). We have also added
wages paid to workers while on study leave, and part of the wages paid to apprentices and trainees.
We have derived an estimate of wages for staff who attended training, by asking respondents to indicate
the total number of hours spent by employees in training. An estimate of the cost of staff wages
undertaking training is then derived by multiplying the number of hours by average hourly wage. We have
also acknowledged that apprentices and trainees are productive employees, and only spend a portion of
their time in off-the-job training activities. We have assumed that 20% of apprentice and trainee wages
are directly attributed to training activities. The remaining 80% of their wages are counted as ordinary
employee expenses. The reduced productivity from apprentice and trainees is reflected in the lower
wages they receive whilst undertaking their apprentice or traineeship.
We also collected information on how often respondents provide supernumeraries or relief staff to replace
workers who are released to undertake training. However, this will not be included in the estimates of
training expenditure because the wage cost is already accounted for in the wages paid to staff while
attending training.
12

Some of the components of gross direct training expenditure are now described in more detail.

11
Apprentices and trainees do make some productive contribution to the enterprise, so a reasonable fraction was applied to
apprentice and trainee wages based on the amount of time spent in training (20%).
12
There could be additional costs if the replacement workers are paid at a higher rate. However this was not able to be
accounted for, as there was no access to individual wage costs. Thus an estimate of the wage cost of training was derived
based on average payroll and the number of hours spent in training per employee.

NCVER 39
Course fees
Expenditure on course fees includes:
fees paid to consultants, agencies etc for conducting and evaluating in-house training
fees paid for attendance at external training (for example TAFE, university, private RTO)
payments for the development of computer-assisted training and other training materials
studies assistance paid to employees for attending external courses (for example payments for
Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS), book allowances, reimbursement of fees etc.
Does not include:
study leave
non-training-specific conferences or workshops.
Wages and salaries
In reporting gross wages and salaries, respondents were instructed to include:
severances, terminations and redundancies
salaries and fees of directors and executives
retainers and commissions of persons who received a retainer
bonuses
recreation and other types of leave
tool allowances, and any other allowances, if applicable.
Does not include:
salary sacrifice
payments to self-employed persons such as consultants, contractors and persons paid solely by
commission without a retainer
workers compensation premiums/costs
payroll and fringe benefits tax
employer contributions to superannuation.
Capital (training facilities and equipment)
Training facilities
Includes:
facilities for which the primary purpose is training employees and other workers at your operation
rent/lease and purchase of training facilities
hiring costs of training venues
grants and donations to public training facilities.

Does not include:
facilities for which the primary purpose is not training
depreciation on training rooms.
Training equipment
Includes:
equipment for which the primary purpose is training employees and other workers of this
organisation (for example simulators). Even if the simulator/equipment is rented.
repair and maintenance costs
grants and donations of equipment to public training institutions (including TAFE institutes and
universities).
Does not include:
equipment for which the primary purpose is not training
depreciation on training equipment.
Other expenditure on training
Includes:
expenditure on travel, accommodation, and meals for participation in structured training courses
expenditure on membership fees of training organisations, donations to training organisations not
already included, and levies for training
expenditure on computer assisted training
any other expenditure on structured training not already counted.
Government support for training (subsidies)
The survey collected information on whether organisations received subsidies or other payments from
government programs designed to promote apprenticeships and traineeships, and other forms of training
and skill development, and the total monetary amount of assistance received. This information is needed
to calculate the net contribution of mining organisations to employee training.
Apprentice and trainee subsidies include:
incentive payments for Australian apprenticeships
additional payments for apprentices in rural and remote areas
support for adult apprentices
assistance for apprentices with a disability.

NCVER 41
Subsidies and government payments for other training and skills development programs includes:
Indigenous Employment Programs
Productivity Places Program
Workforce Development Fund
Workplace English Language & Literacy Program
training fund rebates.
Excludes:
payroll tax rebates.
Net training expenditure
Net training expenditure is simply the amount of gross training expenditure minus the total amount of
subsidies received for that training.
Net training expenditure is also converted to a percentage of total payroll by dividing the net training
expenditure by the size of the total payroll.
It must be remembered that this study was a self-reporting exercise based on a survey instrument. As
such, the figures should be treated as approximations only, and could well understate the actual gross
training expenditure and total subsidies.
Current minimum standards for training expenditure
Currently, there are minimum standards for training expenditure in relation to the employment of workers
holding 457 visas. Companies are required to meet a training expenditure benchmark of 1 per cent of
payroll in order to employ 457 visa workers. This also applies to 457 visa workers entering Australia under
Enterprise Migration Agreements.
Businesses who take on 457 visa workers are required to show they have contributed to the training of
Australian workers by meeting one of the following two benchmarks:
a. recent expenditure to the equivalent of at least 2 per cent of the payroll of the business, in
payments allocated to an industry training fund that operates in the same industry as the
business
b. recent expenditure to the equivalent of at least 1 per cent of the payroll of the business, in
the provision of training to employees of the business who are Australian citizens and
Australian permanent residents (your Australian employees).
(Source: www.immi.gov.au/skilled/skilled-workers/sbs/eligibility-employer.htm)
This level of expenditure must be maintained in each fiscal year for the term of approval as a sponsor.
Historically, the Training Guarantee
13
required companies to spend a minimum of 1% of their payroll on
training.

13
The Training Guarantee legislation, introduced in 1990 and later abolished in July 1996, required employers above a
specified payroll threshold to spend a minimum percentage of their payroll on eligible training. Minimum expenditure was
set at 1 per cent (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1999).

Table 32 Training expenditure ($) contractors and total mining
Expenditure type Contractors
3
Total mining
Mining w/out
contractors
Salary expenditure on training:

Total salary of staff whose main role is training 44 629 435 477 862 457 433 300 908
Salary cost of training for all staff
1
12 012
4
602 164 629 852
Salary cost of training for apprentices and trainees
2
26 952 820 97 638 692 70 685 872
Total salary expenditure on training activities 71 594 267 576 103 312 504 616 631

Other training expenditure:

Course fees 41 341 236 442 757 094 401 415 858
Infrastructure (training facilities and equipment) 5 676 658 52 585 477 46 908 819
Other expenditure on training 7 040 480 76 391 239 69 350 759
Total expenditure on other training activity 54 058 374 571 733 810 517 675 436

Gross training expenditure 125 652 641 1 147 837 122 1 022 292 067

Subsidies and offsets:

Subsidies received for apprentices and trainees 2 134 844 17 378 541 15 243 697
Subsidies received for other training activity 545 429 9 209 419 8 663 990
Total subsidies 2 680 273 26 587 960 23 907 687

Net training expenditure (Gross training subsidies) 122 972 368 1 121 249 162 998 384 380

Total salary expenditure
5
1 639 689 357 20 840 870 741 19 201 181 384
1
Derived using hours spent in training by each employee multiplied by the average hourly wage.
2
Estimated as 20% of total apprentice and trainee salary expense.
3
The contractors figure reported is unweighted, and represents only the expenditure of those who responded to the survey. It does not
represent the population of contractors. As such, the expenditure reported is markedly lower than those reported by the weighted mining
company data.
4
The average hourly wage for contractors is approximately half that of mining companies (see table A1 in appendix A), which results in
the salary cost of training for all staff appearing disproportionately low in comparison to that for total mining.
5
Total salary expenditure includes salary estimates for those companies who provided staff numbers but didn't provide salaries. The total
salary expenditure reported in this table is higher than those reported in table A1. See appendix C for further details on the salary
estimation procedure.

NCVER 43
Table 33 Training expenditure ($) commodity type
Expenditure type Coal Gold Iron ore
All other
minerals

Total salary of staff whose main role is training 163 175 419 44 206 680 125 276 722 97 434 698
1
123 922 102 892 9 147 355 000
2
14 149 426 7 547 702 17 229 695 31 759 049
Total salary expenditure on training activities 177 448 767 51 857 274 142 515 564 129 548 747


Course fees 70 370 619 23 537 169 188 068 061 119 440 009
Infrastructure (training facilities and equipment) 15 524 210 870 774 9 525 249 20 988 586
Other expenditure on training 4 622 360 4 660 365 16 047 998 44 020 036
Total expenditure on other training activity 90 517 189 29 068 308 213 641 308 184 448 631

Gross training expenditure 267 965 956 80 925 582 356 156 872 313 997 378


Subsidies received for apprentices and trainees 795 159 723 732 2 748 523 10 976 283
Subsidies received for other training activity 356 287 134 729 5 845 007 2 327 967
Total subsidies 1 151 446 858 461 8 593 530 13 304 250

Net training expenditure (Gross training
subsidies)
266 814 510 80 067 121 347 563 342 300 693 128

3
4 214 140 390 1 995 797 019 4 771 737 555 7 755 136 909
1
Derived using hours spent in training by each employee multiplied by the average hourly wage
2
3
Total salary expenditure includes salary estimates for those companies who provided staff numbers but didn't provide salaries. The total salary
expenditure reported in this table is higher than those reported in table A2. See appendix C for further details on the salary estimation procedure.

Table 34 Training expenditure ($) state
Expenditure type WA Qld
3
NSW Other states

Total salary of staff whose main role is training 248 823 710 35 803 191 186 339 338 19 220 297
1
79 273 119 528 125 729 189 630
Salary cost of training for apprentices and
trainees
2

34 894 012 16 405 611 11 404 124 9 047 219
Total salary expenditure on training
activities
283 796 995 52 328 330 197 869 191 28 457 147


Course fees 314 093 445 70 839 385 67 542 829 16 206 893
Infrastructure (training facilities and equipment) 16 248 949 16 984 308 11 090 670 2 073 640
Other expenditure on training 32 482 281 16 586 617 4 203 896 9 273 105
Total expenditure on other training
activity
362 824 675 104 410 310 82 837 395 27 553 638

Gross training expenditure 646 621 670 156 738 640 280 706 586 56 010 785


Subsidies received for apprentices and trainees 4 940 722 1 973 710 1 008 883 5 383 183
Subsidies received for other training activity 9 101 714 1 464 875 107 063 236 963
Total subsidies 14 042 436 3 438 585 1 115 946 5 620 146

subsidies)
632 579 234 153 300 055 279 590 640 50 390 639

4
10 467 674 380 3 198 559 065 3 830 709 802 2 051 841 465
1
2
3
The figures for Qld appear lower than the other states due to the level of missing data in salary cost of staff whose main role is training
(question S8B).
4
Total salary expenditure includes salary estimates for those companies who provided staff numbers but didn't provide salaries. The total
salary expenditure reported in this table is higher than those reported in table A3. See appendix C for further details on the salary
estimation procedure.

NCVER 45
Table 35 Training expenditure ($) selected states and commodities
Expenditure type WA gold WA iron ore NSW coal Qld coal
3

Other states
and
commodities
Salary expenditure on
training:

Total salary of staff whose main
role is training
35 728 484 107 700 023 148 673 649 8 132 930 109 217 673
1
16 015 7 851 70 779 45 657 477 593
Salary cost of training for
apprentices and trainees
2

4 317 916 14 812 317 8 094 370 5 149 124 35 589 988
Total salary expenditure on
training activities
40 062 415 122 520 192 156 838 798 13 327 712 145 285 254

Course fees 15 456 864 161 681 550 47 853 953 18 904 265 125 011 876
Infrastructure (training facilities
and equipment)
356 595 8 188 828 9 181 073 5 497 261 20 083 105
Other expenditure on training 1 798 824 13 796 416 1 032 920 3 201 434 45 784 786
Total expenditure on other
training activity
17 612 283 183 666 794 58 067 946 27 602 960 190 879 767

Gross training expenditure 57 674 698 306 186 986 214 906 744 40 930 672 336 165 021

Subsidies received for apprentices
and trainees
148 465 2 362 897 578 935 175 758 11 116 228
Subsidies received for other
training activity
5 024 935 38 526 289 534 2 381 280
Total subsidies 148 465 7 387 832 617 461 465 292 13 497 508

Net training expenditure
(Gross training subsidies)
57 526 233 298 799 154 214 289 283 40 465 380 322 667 513

4
1 386 507 125 4 102 248 513 2 781 849 523 1 189 461 624 8 753 873 780
1
2
3
The figures for Qld appear lower than the other states due to the level of missing data in salary cost of staff whose main role is training
(question S8B).
4
Total salary expenditure includes salary estimates for those companies who provided staff numbers but didn't provide salaries. The total salary
expenditure reported in this table is higher than those reported in table A4. See appendix C for further details on the salary estimation
procedure
Tables 32 to 35 show the amount spent on the various training activities for each of the different strata
types. However, given that each stratum has a different value and size of sector, a more appropriate (and
more directly comparable) measure is the measure of total training expenditure as a percentage of total
payroll expenditure.
In determining the percentage training expenditure, it is worth noting that not all respondents provided
both training expenditure and salary cost. For the respondents that only provided total employee
numbers, total payroll was estimated by multiplying the average salary by the total number of employees.
This was done for 27% of respondents. Missing apprentice and trainee wage information was also derived
using this technique for those companies who provided apprentice numbers but not apprentice salary
costs. This was done for around 10% of respondents. For the respondents who provided the number of staff
whose main role is training, but did not provide the corresponding salary figure, total wages of staff whose
main role is training was estimated by multiplying the average salary of employees by the total number of

trainers reported. This was done for around 10% of respondents. Further explanation of the estimation
procedure is given in appendix C.
In the derivation of training expenditure as a percentage of total employee expense, we only included
companies for whom we had (i) total salary information (either estimated or actual) and (ii) at least one
of (a) apprentice and trainee salary costs (estimated or actual) (b) salary cost for staff whose main role is
training (estimated or actual). This ensured that companies contributed to both the top and bottom lines.
Table 36 shows the total percent of training expenditure of total salary for each of the different strata
types.
Table 36 Training expenditure as a percentage of total salary expense
Percent training expenditure
% of total payroll
expenditure

Contractors 7.5
Total mining 5.4
Mining w/out contractors 5.2

Commodity type

Coal 6.3
Gold 4.0
Iron ore 7.3
All other minerals 3.9

State

WA 6.0
Qld 4.8
NSW 7.3
Other states 2.5

Selected states and commodities

WA gold 4.1
WA iron ore 7.3
NSW coal 7.7
Qld coal 3.4
Other states and commodities 3.7
Results
Total mining reported spending around 5% of total payroll on training expenditure. This equates to
an amount in excess of $1.1 billion spent on training activity for the financial year ending 30 June
2012.
$570 million of this was related to salary expenditure of trainers, apprentice and trainees and for
staff attending training.
The remaining expenditure resulted from the payment of course fees ($440 million), infrastructure
and other training costs ($130 million).

NCVER 47
In terms of government training subsidies, total mining received in total around $26 million, this
represents around 2% of total training expenditure
14
.
Contractors spend 7.5% of total payroll on training activity.
Unfortunately there is little available data with which to compare the MCA surveys training expenditure
results. One of the few available sources is the ABSs Employer Training Expenditure and Practices survey
(TEPS) (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003), which collected information on levels of direct training
expenditure in the financial year ending June 2002. The TEPS has not been repeated since, so despite
being over ten years old, this is the most up-to-date data available. Because of the large period between
the TEPS and the current MCA survey, TEPS results have not been presented for comparison.

14
Companies commented on the difficulty of accessing government funding and subsidies offered to provide support for
training activity. Some of these comments are included in the Other support for training section.

Other support for training
As part of the survey, companies had an opportunity to provide additional details about the types of
training activities they support (see question S10B, in the survey instrument given in appendix E.1). For
example, these might include scholarships, professorial chairs, awards and other training initiatives. It is
important to point out that some of this expenditure has already been captured in the dollar figures
reported previously. The purpose of this section is to highlight the diverse range of activities that are
included under the other expenditure on training item in the expenditure tables (for example Table 32).
In addition, an audit of websites and annual reports of MCA members was conducted. The audit aimed to
capture the following activity:
scholarships where the student is not an employee of the organisation
work experience programs (including VET in Schools)
internships
graduate employment programs
Indigenous employment programs
professorial chairs.
The intention of the audit was not to produce a reliable estimate of activity, but rather to provide an
indication of the breadth of these other skills development activities.
Results
Some of the other support for training that was reported via the survey responses, or identified through
the website audit, is reported below.
Offering a foundation which provides financial assistance to apprentices and trainees who are
struggling
Off-site apprenticeship induction programs
Apprentice of the Year Award
An away-from-home allowance paid to apprentices if they have to travel for training.
General support
Mentoring programs
Schooling subsidy for children of employees in remote areas.
Professional development
Leadership programs
Senior management are offered the opportunity to attend five day residential programs
Executive management are offered the opportunity to attend international residential programs
Professional memberships.

NCVER 49
Health
Health advice provided to employees
Health and wellness training
Cultural awareness training.
Students and graduates
Work experience programs
Young trainee program for school leavers who are interest in entering the mining industry
University scholarships (for example $10 000 scholarships)
Vacation employment for students (casual roles for current students)
Graduate development programs
Partnerships with schools and universities
School-based traineeships.
Study assistance
Study assistance provisions
Meal expenses paid when attending training off-site or lunches during courses
Paying employee expenses relating to study/training.
Training equipment/delivery
Personal protective clothing and equipment used during training
Hire of equipment for use in training (for example cranes, forklifts)
Printing and stationery for use during training
Hiring of training venues
Hiring consultants to review and audit training processes and documentation
Software for training records management.
Indigenous programs
Indigenous pre-employment programs
Indigenous employee training program.
Selected comments relating to some of the above types of training support and activities are reproduced
below (these were received via the survey responses).
Selected comments
Training support
[Our company] provides access to health and wellness training to all of its employees (for
example fatigue management). We also provide skills training across our work sites, like general
computer skills training, vehicle and plant operations, inductions, project management, first aid
training and high risk qualifications training.

Professional development
We created new positions for a number of employees who had expressed interest in working in
another area (who were enrolled to study in the new discipline) and initiated mentoring programs
using specialist consultants to provide new skills to senior technical employees where no formal
course of program was available.
Study assistance
There is an Education Assistance Policy and the purpose of this is to assist employees who
undertake approved courses of study, which are relevant to [Company Xs] objectives and the
employee's current or future position within the company. This policy provides guidelines for the
management and provision of education assistance, and seeks to:
- facilitate continuous improvement through increased knowledge and skill
- encourage ownership for individual development
- develop employees to meet the future requirements of [Company X]
- assist [Company X] to attract and retain valuable employees
- provide employees with an equal opportunity to training and development programs which are
necessary to their work requirements and [Company Xs] overall business objectives
- ensure appropriate records and documentation are maintained
Employees are reimbursed for course costs and compulsory text books upon successful passing of
the course units and time off provisions apply for compulsory residential schools, examination
blocks and study leave.
Indigenous programs
We have an Indigenous pre-employment program where we prepare Indigenous people for
working life. This includes accommodation where we rent a house and place an aunty and uncle in
the house to look after the welfare of the young people when they are away from the community.
It includes finance, culture, working on site, hand and power tools, mechanical knowledge to
prepare them for a position within the organisation. We do not access any funding for this work
and [it] is very successful with over 70 people going through the program; we have a 95% retention
rate.
Vacation work
We support students nearing the completion of their uni studies with 3 months work onsite.
There is a project that they need to establish while onsite and deliver back to senior leadership
team on completion. [...] Nearly 100% of the vacation students are then retained.
One company noted that to undertake training for their apprenticeship program, apprentices were
brought from all over Australia at the companys expense to a central location to deliver the
training. The company paid for all transport, supervision, accommodation (26 weeks in hotels for
the term of the apprenticeship) and allowances.

NCVER 51
Access to government funding
Companies commented on the difficulty in accessing government funding and subsidies offered to provide
support for training activity. (These comments were in response to question S11 of the survey.) Some of
these comments are reproduced below:
We generally dont seek or receive any subsidies due to the complex bureaucratic application
process involved.
We have, many years ago, sought State Government funding for apprenticeships. But the hoops
and red tape [proved] too much to be bothered [with], especially in contrast with the amount of
support received.
It would be great to have a central point of contact for the industry to support us in navigating
the massive mess that is government support! There are obviously many funding avenues, but
getting paperwork together to meet the requirements, working out which approach would best
suit the business and tapping into the different organisations out there that could help is like a
maze. It is often too hard to know where to start, and time/operational pressures mean people
need to be trained immediately in a specific area (which means we dont have time to investigate
more cost effective ways of training our people or tapping into government funding).

References
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006, Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC)
2006 (Revision 1.0), cat. no. 1292.0, ABS, viewed 20 February 2013, <www.abs.gov.au/>.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Employer training expenditure and practices: Australia 200102, cat. no.
6362.0, ABS, viewed 18 February 2013, <www.abs.gov.au/>.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 1999, Training Australias workers, in Australian Economic Indicators, cat. no.
1350.0, ABS, viewed 18 February 2013, <http://www.abs.gov.au/>.
Australian Government 2013, Temporary work (skilled) standard business sponsorship (Subclass 457),
Department of Immigration and Sponsorship, viewed 15 February 2013, <www.immi.gov.au/skilled/skilled -
workers/sbs/eligibility-employer.htm>.
Australian Securities Exchange 2010, S&P/ASX Metals and Mining and Gold Indices fact sheet, viewed 23 Jan
2013, <www.asx.com.au/products/pdf/mining_indices_fact_sheet.pdf>.
Financial Review Smart Investor 2013, Share tables, viewed 24 January 2013,
<www.afrsmartinvestor.com.au/share_table/>.
Gemici, S, Bednarz, A & Lim, P 2011, Getting tough on missing data: a boot camp for social science researchers,
NCVER, Adelaide, viewed 21 January 2013, <www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2421.html>.
NCVER 2011, Australian vocational education and training statistics: Employers use and views of the VET
system, NCVER, viewed <www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2409.html>.
NCVER, Flinders University National Institute of Labour Studies & Chamber of Minerals and Energy Western
Australia 2005, Prospecting for skills: the current and future skill needs in the minerals sector, Minerals
Council of Australia, Canberra, viewed 21 January 2013,
<www.minerals.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/9040/Prospecting_for_Skillsfull.pdf>.
Register of Australian Mining 2012/13, Resource Information Unit (RIU), ed R Louthean.
S&P Dow Jones 2013, S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold (AUD) constituent list, viewed 13 Jan 2013,
<www.au.spindices.com/indices/equity/all-ordinaries-gold-sub-industry>.

NCVER 53
Appendix A: Employment
information
The questionnaire asked all respondents about the size of their staff and payroll as at 30 June 2012.
Respondents were also asked for the number of employees 12 months earlier, as at 30 June 2011. Finally,
all respondents were asked to provide projections of employee numbers on 30 June 2014 and 30 June
2016. Response rates for the actual number of employees in 2011 and 2012 were very good, with a
majority of respondents providing these figures. However, a number of companies stated that they could
not provide projected employee numbers at the time of the survey (due to volatility in the sector, or for
other reasons such as workforce planning for the next few years having not yet commenced).
Figures A1 to A3 provide the actual employee numbers and projected employee numbers by commodity,
state and selected states and commodities. The employee numbers are presented as the average number
of employees per company. Notice that the sample size decreases considerably for the projected
employee numbers. For example, in the gold sector, 30 respondents provided employee numbers for 2011
and 2012, but only ten respondents were able to provide projected employee numbers for 2016.

Figure A1: Average employee numbers per company (including projections for 2014 and 2016), 2011 2016, by commodity

0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
30/06/2011 30/06/2012 30/06/2014 30/06/2016
E
m
p
l
o
y
e
e
s

p
e
r

c
o
m
p
a
n
y
Year
Coal
Gold
Iron Ore
All other Minerals
National

NCVER 55
Figure A2: Average employee numbers per company (including projections for 2014 and 2016), 2011 2016, by state

0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
30/06/2011 30/06/2012 30/06/2014 30/06/2016
E
m
p
l
o
y
e
e
s

p
e
r

c
o
m
p
a
n
y
Year
WA
Qld
NSW
Other States
National

Figure A3: Average employee numbers per company (including projections for 2014 and 2016), 2011 2016, by selected states and commodities

0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
30/06/2011 30/06/2012 30/06/2014 30/06/2016
E
m
p
l
o
y
e
e
s

p
e
r

c
o
m
p
a
n
y
Year
WA Gold
WA Iron Ore
NSW Coal
Qld Coal
Other states and commodities
National

NCVER
Table A1 Salary expenditure contractors and total mining
Salary expenditure measure
Contractors ($) Total mining ($) Mining w/out
Contractors
Total reported salary expenditure
3
1 477 318 038 15 590 406 393 14 113 088 355
Average gross salary expenditure per company 184 664 755 197 346 916 198 775 892
Nominal average wage per employee 63 651 110 515 119 744
Nominal average hourly wage (total/52/37.5) 32.64 56.67 61.41
1
Excludes workers compensation costs, payroll, FBT and employer contributions to superannuation.

Table A2 Salary expenditure sector
Salary expenditure
measure
Coal ($) Gold ($) Iron ore ($) All other minerals ($)
Total reported salary
expenditure
1

4 437 187 326 1 083 210 603 3 318 686 562 5 274 003 864
Average gross salary 277 324 208 51 581 457 553 114 427 188 357 281
Nominal average salary
per employee
136 216 144 448 134 108 99 433
Nominal average hourly
wage
69.85 74.08 68.77 50.99
1
Table A3 Salary expenditure state
Salary expenditure
measure
WA ($) Qld ($) NSW ($) Other states ($)
expenditure
1

6 383 733 105 3 484 503 335 3 777 125 361 1 110 027 682
Average gross salary 375 513 712 232 300 222 236 070 335 48 262 073
per employee
131 002 119 223 134 414 100 320
wage
67.18 61.14 68.93 51.45
1
Table A4 Salary expenditure selected states and commodities
Salary expenditure
measure
WA iron ore ($) WA gold ($) NSW coal ($) Qld coal ($) Other states and
commodities ($)
expenditure
1

510 026 926 2 813 770 872 2 781 849 523 1 349 464 684 6 205 808 175
Average gross salary 102 005 385 562 754 174 309 094 391 269 892 937 132 038 472
per employee
120 112 134 301 135 446 145 003 107 491
wage
61.60 68.87 69.46 74.36 55.12
1

Results
The total mining average salary expense per employee is approximately $110 000.
Contractors, on average, have a lower average salary expense of around $63 000 per employee
when compared to the national average.
Gold, iron ore and coal producers have similar average salary expenses.
All other minerals have an average salary expense of around $40 000 per year less than the other
commodities.
Western Australia and New South Wales have slightly higher salary expenses than Queensland and
the remaining states. However, this is likely to be related to the types of commodities mined in
the different jurisdictions.
Queensland coal producers have the highest average salary expenditure of around $145 000 per
employee.
In terms of future employee growth, all producers predict fairly stable employment figures in the
two to four years from June 2012, with the exception of iron ore producers who forecasted
substantial growth in employment numbers. Iron ore employment was reported to grow from
around 3 000 employees per company to around 10 000. However, some caution is required with
this figure as it is based on a relatively small response rate.
Across the states, employment numbers are remaining stable and nationally, employment growth
was reported to be modest but in a positive direction.

NCVER 59
Appendix B: Coverage estimation
and weighting
Our coverage estimates are calculated in terms of market capitalisation. To calculate the coverage of a
particular sector (for example Qld), we consider the total market capitalisation of respondents from that
sector, compared to the market capitalisation of all operators in that sector. Market capitalisation data is
publicly available via the ASX. However, some operators are not listed on the ASX (for example private
companies or those who are listed on foreign stock exchanges) and hence have no market capitalisation
available. In these cases, we impute the market capitalisation based on other available information, such
as the number of active mine sites, number of employees, and total salaries and wages. In summary, the
steps followed are:
1. Obtain the market capitalisation data for as many operators in the minerals sector as possible,
from the AFR Smart Investor website, www.afrsmartinvestor.com.au/share_table/. From this
page, download the Securities spreadsheet, which gives the market capitalisation of all ASX-
listed companies. Also download the Sectors spreadsheet, and take the following GICS SUB IND
GROUPs: Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, Oil, Aluminium, Diversified Metals & Mining, Gold, and
Steel. Merge data from the two spreadsheets to obtain a dataset of market capitalisations for all
ASX-listed operators in the minerals sector.
2. Merge the dataset of ASX-listed companies with the dataset of respondents. Note that some
respondents will not have a market capitalisation, as they are not on the ASX.
3. Obtain the number of active mines for each operator, and the stratum/strata associated with
each operator, from the Register of Australian Mining 2012/13.
4. Create a master data set containing the number of active mines for each operator, along with
their market capitalisation, where known, and their survey responses, where applicable. Remove
any companies with zero active mines and a missing market capitalisation (as these companies are
likely to be very small and not of interest).
5. For large companies with several subsidiaries, in cases where the subsidiaries responded to the
survey, distribute the parent companys active mines among its subsidiaries, according to the
mining register. Also, distribute the parents market capitalisation among its subsidiaries
according to the number of active mines. For example, suppose Company X has five active mines
and a market capitalisation of $500 000. Suppose Company X has two subsidiaries, and three
active mines are associated with Subsidiary Y, and 2 associated with Subsidiary Z. We assign
Subsidiary Y a market capitalisation of (3/5)*500 000 = $300 000 and Subsidiary Z a market
capitalisation of $200 000. This is done to assist with the imputation step. Company X is then
removed from the dataset to avoid double-counting of its market capitalisations and active mines
(since they are fully accounted for by its subsidiaries).
6. Where an operator/subsidiarys market capitalisation is unknown, it is imputed using a multiple
imputation procedure (PROC MI) within the statistical package SAS. The imputation undertaken
considers the following attributes of the operator:
a. the number of active mines

b. number of employees as at 30

June 2012
c. total wages for the financial year ending 30

June 2012.
The procedure will use as many predictors from this set as are available for each operator. At the
end of this step, every operator will have a market capitalisation, either imputed or actual.
Approximately 16% of operators in the minerals sector had their market capitalisation values
imputed.
7. For companies that span multiple strata, their total market capitalisation is distributed across the
strata according to the number of assets held within each strata. The exact method used differs
depending on whether a company is a survey respondent or not. For example, a company who
responded to the survey might report 60% of its operations as being in WA iron ore, and the
remaining 40% in WA gold. In this case, apportion 60% of its market capitalisation to WA iron ore,
and the remaining 40% to WA gold. The company thus has two entries in the dataset. Each entry
corresponds to one respondent. In this way, a single company can produce several respondents.
For companies that didnt respond to the survey, we estimated the proportion of operations in
each strata using the number of active mines as a guide. So if the company had ten active mines
altogether and had three in strata 1 and seven in strata 2, we would apportion 30% of the market
capitalisation to strata 1 and 70% to strata 2. Again, the company would have two entries in the
dataset. For cases where it wasnt possible to use the number of active mines (due to some strata
having 0 active mines), the market capitalisation was distributed equally amongst the strata.

8. The formula for the coverage of sector i is:

Coverage
Market cap of respondents in sector

Market cap of all members of sector

NCVER 61
Coverage estimates
The tables below provide the market capitalisation and coverage estimates for each of the strata used in
the survey.
Table B1 Size of sector and coverage measured by market capitalisation for contractors and mining
w/out contractors
Measure
Contractors Mining w/out
contractors
Market capitalisation of respondents ($) NA 228 597 905
Market capitalisation of entire sector ($) NA 571 766 286
Coverage of respondents (%)
1
NA 40
1
Coverage = (Market capitalisation of respondents in the sector/Market capitalisation
of entire sector) x 100
Table B2 presents the coverage estimates in terms of commodity. The iron ore sector has the highest
coverage, at 67%, followed by gold (51%), coal (46%) and all other commodities (23%).
Table B2 Size of sector and coverage measured by market capitalisation, by commodity
Measure Coal Gold Iron ore Other
Commodities
Market capitalisation of respondents ($) 87 007 611 42 215 344 45 358 488 54 016 462
Market capitalisation of entire sector ($) 187 747 319 82 909 790 67 385 341 233 723 836
1
46 51 67 23
1
Coverage = (Market capitalisation of respondents in the sector/Market capitalisation of entire sector) x 100
When we consider coverage by state, in table B3, Western Australia has the highest coverage (44%),
followed by New South Wales (41%), Queensland (38%) and all other states (33%).
Table B3 Size of sector and coverage measured by market capitalisation, by state
Measure WA Qld NSW Other states
Market capitalisation of respondents ($) 85 752 573 58 550 755 53 132 658 31 161 920
Market capitalisation of entire sector ($) 194 094 228 152 231 839 130 770 807 94 669 413
1
44 38 41 33
1
Table B4 shows the coverage estimates in terms of selected strata. WA iron ore has the highest coverage
(78%), followed by NSW coal, WA gold and Qld coal, which all have around 50% coverage, and all other
state-commodity combinations, at 25% coverage.
Table B4 Size of sector and coverage measured by market capitalisation, by selected states and
commodities
Measure WA iron
ore
WA gold Qld coal NSW coal Other states and
commodities
Market capitalisation of respondents ($) 45 358 488 22 992 481 45 986 855 38 554 528 75 705 552
Market capitalisation of entire sector ($) 57 930 976 45 550 039 90 815 205 80 289 778 297 180 288
1
78 50 51 48 25
1

Weighting
The information in this study has been collected using a survey. Given that not all operators in the
minerals sector contributed information, it is important that the results are weighted to ensure that they
represent the underlying population of interest (the entire set of operators in the minerals sector). A post-
sampling weighting scheme was used, rather than a weighting scheme based on the probability of
selection of a mining company.
The population benchmark used was the total market capitalisation of operators in the minerals sector
broken down into different strata (commodity type, state, and state by commodity), so that the total
market capitalisations of each strata provided the populations of interest. The market capitalisation data
was obtained from publically available data from the Financial Review Smart Investor website
15
. However,
not all mining companies are publicly listed companies or they are listed on exchanges other than the
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). In order to overcome this missing data, an imputation methodology
was applied (see Gemici, Bednarz and Lim, 2011) in which information regarding the number of active
mine sites, number of employees, the size of the payroll and other data was utilised to impute an
estimated market capitalisation for missing data. This process ensured that every company in each strata
had a market capitalisation, either imputed or actual. For companies that span multiple strata, their total
market capitalisation was distributed across the strata according to the number of assets held within each
strata. A more detailed explanation of the market capitalisation imputation process is given in the
previous section on Coverage Estimates.
Stratum weights are created by considering the total size of the stratum and the market capitalisation
totals for the respondents in that stratum. Weights for respondents are derived as:

where
is the market capitalisation for company i, N is the total number of companies in the stratum and
k is the number of respondent companies in the stratum. The weight is simply the total market
capitalisation divided by the sum of the market capitalisation of the respondents in the stratum. Each
company in the same stratum receives the same weight.
For example, imagine that the total market capitalisation in a stratum is 100. Further assume that the
sum of the market capitalisations of companies from that stratum that respond to the survey is 20. Then
each company in that stratum will receive a weight of 100/20 = 5, such that each companys response
represents five other companies. Note that weighted figures appear in this report, unless otherwise
indicated.

15
www.afrsmartinvestor.com.au/share_table/. From this page, download the Securities spreadsheet. Also download the
Sectors spreadsheet, and take the following GICS SUB IND GROUPs: Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, Oil, Aluminium,
Diversified Metals & Mining, Gold, Steel.

NCVER 63
Appendix C: Derived fields
Converting proportions to numbers
For some questions, respondents provided either a percentage, or the actual number, of employees
undertaking various forms of training. In order to provide numerical estimates, the companys total
employee numbers were multiplied by the midpoint of the proportion of the ranges as follows:
Table C1 Proportion mid-points
Proportion Mid-point Multiplication factor Relevant questions
Blank or missing 0 0 Q4 (a) to (d) and Q5
Up to 10% 5% 0.05 Q4 (a) to (d) and Q5
11% 25% 18% 0.18 Q4 (a) to (d) and Q5
26% 50% 38% 0.38 Q4 (a) to (d) and Q5
51% 75% 63% 0.63 Q4 (a) to (d) and Q5
76% 100% 88% 0.88 Q4 (a) to (d) and Q5
For example, if a company had 1000 employees, and they said that 1125% of employees undertook
structured training, then this approach would provide an approximate number of employees as 1000*0.18
= 180.
Support for any nationally recognised training
Companies were recorded as providing support for any nationally recognised training if they provided an
answer in any of the questions asked in Section 4 (a) to (d).
Table C2 Derivation of support for nationally recognised training
Support provided Question numbers Condition
Any nationally recognised training S4A_P, S4A_N, S4B_P, S4B_N, S4C_P,
S4C_N, S4D_P, S4D_N
where _P represents those that
provided a proportion and _N
represents those that provided a
number
Any one of these variables has a valid
response (coded using an OR condition
statement)
Lower Vocational Qualifications S4A_P, S4A_N Any of these two variables has a valid
response (OR)
Skill Sets S4B_P, S4B_N Any of these two variables has a valid
response (OR)
Higher Vocational Qualifications S4C_P, S4C_N Any of these two variables has a valid
response (OR)
Undergraduate and postgraduate
Qualifications
S4D_P, S4D_N Any of these two variables has a valid
response (OR)

Estimated salary information
Some respondents failed to provide total salary information for their companies; however, the majority
provided employee numbers. In order to provide accurate total salary expenditure for use in estimating
training expenditure as a percentage of total salary, it was important that the total salary expenditure
accurately reflected the number of employees. In order to estimate this, complete data was used to
estimate an average total salary expenditure per employee (noting that complete data means that the
respondent provided both number of employees and total salary expenditure). Using the average spend,
for those companies who only provided the number of employees, total salary expenditure was derived by
multiplying the number of employees by average salary expenditure. For respondents who did not provide
either figure, they were excluded from the reporting of both salary and training expenditure.
In a similar way, the total salary expenditure of apprentices and trainees was derived for those companies
who did not provide apprentice and trainee salary expenditure. Again, only complete data was used to
derive the average salary expenditure for apprentice and trainees. As well, the total salary expenditure of
staff whose main role is training was derived using the same approach.
The actual derivations for the salary expenditures, and associated question numbers used, are given in
table C3.
Table C3 Estimating salary expenditures
Salary to be estimated Condition that must hold Estimated salary is given by
Total salary expenditure Employee totals provided (i.e. question
S1D not missing)
S1D * average wage of an employee
Total salary cost of apprentices and
trainees
Total number of apprentices/trainees
provided (i.e. at least one of questions
S3A(a) and S3B(b) is not missing)
Total apprentices/trainees* average
salary expense of an
apprentice/trainee
Total salary cost for those staff whose
main role is training
Total number of staff whose main role
is training is provided (i.e. question
S8A is not missing)
S8A * average wage of an employee

NCVER 65
Appendix D: Gold results based on
production figures
This appendix presents an alternative set of results for the gold sector, based on a different weighting
criterion. For the gold results in the main body of the report, the weights were derived using market
capitalisation. That is, respondents were weighted so that the market capitalisation of the weighted
sample equalled the market capitalisation of the population.
As an alternative to market capitalisation, weights can be derived instead based on production share.
Production share data for gold companies was provided to us by the Minerals Council of Australia. The
production shares relate to the year 201011 and the data was collected by the MCA in the first half of
2012.
The companies who provided data accounted for around 7880% of total production. For the remaining
companies for which production share data was absent, the remaining production share was distributed
evenly between them.
To calculate the new estimate of coverage, the production share of respondents was divided by the
production share of the entire gold sector (100% by definition). This gave a coverage estimate of 66%, as
shown in table D1.
Table D1 Coverage measures based on share of annual production, year ending June 2011, data
collected first half of 2012
Measure
Production share of respondents (%) 65.6
Production share of entire sector (%) 100.0
Coverage 65.6%
Table D2 Actual and projected gold employee numbers based on annual production weights
Measure 30-Jun-11 30-Jun-12 30-Jun-14 30-Jun-16
Estimated total number of employees reported 9 971 11 494 6 465 4 065
Number of respondents (n)
1
30 30 15 10
Average number of employees per respondent 332 383 431 407
1
Note: not all respondents provided employee numbers and projections.
Table D3 Salary expenditure gold based on annual production weights
Measure $ at June 30 2012
Total reported salary expenditure
2
$ 840,901,993.00
Average gross salary expenditure per respondent $ 40,042,952.07
Average wage per employee $ 144,448.13
Average hourly wage (total/52/37.5) $ 74.08
2
Excludes workers compensation costs, payroll and FBT and employer contributions to superannuation.

Table D4 Types of apprentices and trainees employed gold based on annual production weights
Type of apprentice/trainee % of all ATs
Indigenous 5.2
Female 10.2
Schools-based 1.0
Mature-aged (> 21 years old) 17.1
Total apprentice/trainees (N) 579
Table D5 Percentage employment of apprentices and trainees and how employed gold based on
annual production weights
Group training usage
% of all
employees
Company employed 5.0
Employed through Group Training Organisation 0.1
Total
4
5.0

Table D6 Utilisation of apprentices and trainees gold based on annual production weights
Type of apprentice/trainee % of all companies
Apprentice/trainees overall 59.5

Indigenous 40.0
Female 64.0
Schools-based 20.0
Mature-aged (> 21 years old) 64.0

Directly 92.0
Through Group Training Organisation 20.0

Table D7 Number of employees undertaking nationally recognised training or other structured training
gold based on annual production weights
Type of training
% of all
employees
Lower Vocational Education Qualifications 1.1
Higher Vocational Education Qualifications 9.1
Skill Sets 20.3
Undergraduate/Postgraduate Studies 1.9

Other structured training 38.0

NCVER 67
Table D8 Percentage of companies offering support for nationally recognised and other structured
training gold based on annual production weights
Type of support provided
Estimated number of
companies
% of all companies
Support for nationally recognised qualifications:

Lower Vocational Education Qualifications 25 59.5
Higher Vocational Education Qualifications 26 61.9
Skill Sets 28 66.7
Undergraduate/Postgraduate Studies 28 66.7
At least one of the above 28 66.7

Other support for structured training:

Employed staff specifically as trainers, coaches or
mentors
19 45.2
Provided pre-employment of other work-related
programs
16 38.1
Engaged consultants to provide training to workers,
either onsite or offsite
28 66.7
Paid employees wages and salaries while attending
training
28 66.7
Paid wages and salaries of relief employees so that
employees could attend training
13 31.0
Paid employees' structured training fees 28 66.7
Paid employees' travel/accommodation expenses
associated with structured training
26 61.9
Paid for employees' training materials 26 61.9
Provided apprentices with tools or paid apprentices a
tool allowance
19 45.2
Other training support 4 9.5
Any support for structured training 28 66.7

Table D9 Training expenditure ($) gold based on annual production weights
Expenditure Measure $
Salary expenditure on training
Total salary of staff whose main role is training 34 317 874
1
79 854
2
5 859 320
Total salary expenditure on training activities 40 257 048

Other training expenditure

Course fees 18 272 026
Infrastructure (training facilities and equipment) 675 987
Other expenditure on training 3 617 865
Total expenditure on other training activity 22 565 878

Gross training expenditure 62 822 926

Subsidies and offsets

Subsidies received for apprentices and trainees 561 837
Subsidies received for other training activity 104 590
Total subsidies 666 427

subsidies)
62 156 499

Table D10 Training expenditure as a percent of salary expenditure gold based on annual production
weights
Net training expenditure $ 62,156,499.09
3
$ 1,549,347,548.00
Percent of salary expenditure spent on training 4.0

NCVER 69
Appendix E: Survey instruments

E.1 Mining company survey

NCVER 71


NCVER 73


NCVER 75


NCVER 77


NCVER 79


NCVER 81


NCVER 83

E.2 Contractor survey

NCVER 85


Note: remaining questions for the Contractor Survey are the same as
sections 3-12 of the Mining Company Survey.

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