THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON EMPLOYMENT IN MINING

The document examines how COVID-19 disrupted mining employment through lockdowns, supply chain failures, and commodity price volatility. It highlights the vulnerability of contractual and migrant workers, the risk of insolvency for local SMEs, and the potential for accelerated automation. The author argues that recovery requires shifting from blanket stimulus to targeted support, redesigning workplaces for health safety, and diversifying local industrial bases to reduce dependency on mining jobs.

• COVID-19 created a 'perfect storm' for the mining sector by combining supply-side shocks, such as lockdown-driven factory closures and transport suspensions, with demand-side shocks including reduced consumption and collapsing commodity prices.
• While large-scale mining typically only accounts for 1%–2% of a country's total employment, it is often the primary job creator and provider of essential services like health care and education in remote areas.
• Employment risks vary by mine life cycle and worker type; the construction phase is more labour-intensive, and underground mining faces higher virus spread risks due to workers using packed elevators.
• Vulnerable worker groups, including contractual, fly-in fly-out (FIFO), drive-in drive-out (DIDO), and cross-border migrant workers, face the highest risk of income loss due to a lack of social safety nets and the prevalence of 'no work, no pay' principles.
• The pandemic may accelerate the adoption of labour-saving technologies and automation to reduce future operational risks, although full automation remains unlikely in the near term due to high costs and technical complexity.
• Major mining companies significantly reduced their 2020 capital expenditure (CAPEX); for example, Glencore planned to cut spending from USD 5.5 billion to between USD 4 and 4.5 billion, while Rio Tinto and Anglo American each cut at least USD 1 billion.
• Local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the mining supply chain face high risks of bankruptcy due to limited financial cushions and reduced orders from mines under care and maintenance.
• To build future resilience, the document recommends that governments and companies move toward targeted support, including making financial aid conditional on job retention and retraining workers for other economic sectors.

APA

Ramdoo, I. (2020). THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON EMPLOYMENT IN MINING. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/covid-19-employment-mining-en.pdf

Chicago

Ramdoo, Isabelle. THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON EMPLOYMENT IN MINING. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2020. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/covid-19-employment-mining-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ramdoo |first1=Isabelle |title=THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON EMPLOYMENT IN MINING |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=June 2020 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/covid-19-employment-mining-en.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ramdoo2020impact, author = {Ramdoo, Isabelle}, title = {{THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON EMPLOYMENT IN MINING}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/covid-19-employment-mining-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }