A changing global landscape
Australia's Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) sector has an important role to play in the continued success of Australia's mining industry. However, the mining industry's increasing dependence on specialist technologies, combined with global mining megatrends is creating new opportunities and threats for the future of Australia's METS sector.
The sector's comparative advantages could be lost if not nurtured, while its current disadvantages could become advantages if prioritised. A changing business environment and evolving market also creates support for a range of new business models.
A vision for Australia's METS sector
The Australian METS industry is an aligned, efficient and agile industry ecosystem with a high degree of collaboration, global leadership in innovation, and a growing share of the global market.
Enabling the vision
The Australian METS sector could be a key driver and facilitator of change in the mining sector, harnessing the deep mining domain knowledge and expertise that have been established in both Australia's METS and mining sectors, and the research sector over the past few decades.
Businesses must take action to unlock opportunities, investing in business transformation and new science and technology capabilities. Five new growth opportunities have been identified where Australian METS companies can clearly be internationally competitive, these are:
- Data driven mining decisions
- Social and environmental sustainability
- Exploration under cover
- Advanced extraction
- Mining automation and robotics
Long term success will be achieved by increasing collaboration across the entire Australian mining and METS innovation ecosystem.
Working together, the Australian METS sector is well placed to succeed. METS businesses will need to take calculated risks and invest in the future, can use this Roadmap and METS Ignited's Sector Competitiveness Plan as a tool for sustained competitive advantage.