Critical period for mining skills

Rejuvenating mining education in the UK.

The revival of the undergraduate Mining Engineering degree at the UK’s Camborne School of Mines and its launch of a Degree Apprenticeship are headtorches of light against a gloomy backdrop of reported dwindling recruits to the industry worldwide. Indeed, the new apprenticeship course even garnered a mention in the UK Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy in 2022.

To support the government’s strategy, IOM3 consulted 50 key stakeholders to assess the skills landscape further. The talent gap: critical skills for critical materials report confirmed a lack of access to skilled workers as a significant and growing risk facing the sector and the UK economy.

Enrolment in relevant education and training is decreasing in the UK and countries like Australia and the US, with some courses being cancelled, as seen at Camborne and elsewhere.

And so, the report shares how the future talent pipeline is unlikely to meet the demand for skilled individuals across the value chain to, in turn, fulfil the booming demand for minerals and metals amid the green transition.

The UK Mining Education Forum launched in 2022 to develop mining education nationally. It found the UK needs more than 60 new mining engineering and minerals processing graduates every year to sustain the domestic mining sector, and at the time there had been no new undergraduates since 2019.

But there is now some light at the end of the tunnel. The growing interest and attention from government on critical minerals and materials for the energy transition is an opportunity to relight enthusiasm for mining and its role in society.

Professor Patrick Foster FIMMM, Head of Camborne School of Mines and Professor in Mine Safety, certainly feels the time is ripe for a comeback in the public discourse.

Renewed appetite

In 2023, Camborne School of Mines celebrated its 135th anniversary since its inception in 1888 and also marked 30 years at the University of Exeter. Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal opened the school’s new Degree Apprenticeship to mark the occasion. The four-year course offers part-time study alongside employment at a mine.

This was an important development after the undergraduate course in Mining Engineering was stopped due to a low number of applicants. It was the last in a line of similar course closures since 2000 ‒ with Leeds and Nottingham universities and the Royal School of Mines in London all halting their own similar programmes.

In response, the UK mining industry, through the Mining Association of the UK (MAUK), decided to develop a Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship.

And, after a five-year hiatus, Camborne School of Mines will also be welcoming its first cohort of undergraduate full-time Mining Engineering students in 2025. The degree forms part of the University’s Engineering 2030 Strategy to increase the portfolio of engineering programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

It follows a distinguished pedigree of achievement by previous cohorts. Foster says Camborne graduates have one of the highest employability rates at the University of Exeter. 'All those students get a job relevant to their degree, be it geology or mining engineering.'

Most of them go overseas, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Canada and East Asia, with the majority ending up in Western Australia over the last 10-12 years.

A cohort of alumni there organised a gala dinner in June at Perth’s Optus Stadium, at which Vice Chancellor Lisa Roberts announced the undergraduate course’s reinstatement, much to their surprise.

With 16 participants at the first open day, Foster is really pleased with the interest, as formal promotion has yet to start.It will be the only UK institution to currently offer Mining Engineering for undergraduates.

So, where did the renewed appetite for this course come from? 'The biggest change is the critical metals push. That’s really been the catalyst. I’ve been at Camborne 20 years and not seen anything like it before,' says Foster. He praises the Vice Chancellor, who understands the potential of critical metals for research and education. 'I think we are well equipped to do both,' says Foster.

Galvanising the industry

Foster also acknowledges the efforts of Andrew Fulton FIMMM, President of MAUK, as instrumental in developing the apprenticeship after the undergraduate degree stopped in August 2020.

The school had already been talking to the Mines Qualifications Committee – which comprises members from UK mining companies – about the possibility before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The undergraduate degree faltering galvanised consensus. 'We were thrown this bone of an apprenticeship degree just after COVID and initially it was just a pipe dream.'

Fulton adds, 'The shock cessation in the undergraduate course [was] a call to arms to replace or bridge the gap between no mining education in the UK and a future form of tertiary mining education.'

Initially, it would have offered a vocational route to upskill existing employees, bridging middle to senior management and helping them achieve a mining qualification to demonstrate competence. Previously, the only way to move to senior management was through tertiary education, which is not always accessible to those who have spent 10-15 years in the industry and might have come straight from school.

The UK Government’s Apprenticeship Levy provided a route for a degree apprenticeship to develop industry leaders from both early-career recruits and existing employees.

'This was an ideal opportunity to bring the sector together around a common need…And we delivered through the collaboration and efforts of the operators,' describes Fulton.

The mining industry drew experience from its existing emergency response scheme, where emergency mining teams support or stage rescues at other mines, by applying the same ‘mutual aid’ principle to education.

A MAUK declaration now lists education and competency in mines as a common need and benefit, with no barriers to common education schemes, meaning students can access different mines to learn.

Fulton says this scheme works as the UK industry is unique, with 12 different minerals being excavated across only 28 underground mines, creating limited direct competition.

'The [apprenticeship] cohort will go to a UK operation that demonstrates a certain issue, challenge, or piece of excellence so that all learners will learn from it simultaneously, disregarding whether it’s a potash gypsum or a salt mine, whether it’s British Gypsum, Anglo American or Energy Coal, it doesn’t matter,' notes Fulton.

In the detail

The apprenticeship required an industry specification and approval by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, before sign-off from government.

An Occupational Standard details the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to perform an occupation competently, and an independent End Point Assessment Plan is required for the programme.

The trailblazer group developing the specification consisted of Foster, Fulton and Mines Rescue Service Limited CEO Stuart Hoult FIMMM, led by Neil Battison FIMMM – Principal Inspector of Electrical Engineering in Mines at the Health and Safety Executive. They considered the future of mines and their management domestically and internationally, consulting with MAUK members and operators.

After a wider consultation with the UK’s Mines Qualifications Committee, the specification was signed off in October 2022, with the process taking a record 18 months.

The group identified 28 knowledge requirements, 20 skills and eight behaviours (KSBs) in the standard, upon which Camborne built a programme and syllabus. 

Given the distance to Exeter University, industry called for a blended learning model with online delivery, along with two-week Camborne residentials and site visits.

Foster reflects, 'What we’ve got there in concept is a modern, future-facing, mining syllabus. And that’s good, because we are now using that syllabus in developing the new full-time undergraduate course.'

Topics include digital automation; environmental, social and governance; as well as business skills. The programme developers believe the site-based activities are a unique aspect of the apprenticeship, using UK mines as classrooms, with all the apprentices undertaking their assessments through vocational activity. This provides an opportunity for them to see and work in other operations.

The apprentices also carry out a Mine Challenge Project, by studying the reopening of a small fluorspar mine in a national park. There are bi-yearly meetings with employers and an experienced academic mentor visits the apprentices every couple of months.

'We wanted people to go and see the industry, what everything else was all about, and share experiences and get together as a group. And I think that’s worked really well,' Foster reflects.

'The Degree Apprenticeship is the pinnacle of the industry’s well-formed and well-rounded vocational route to qualifications and competence. Ready built for those wishing to take the lead in an exciting sector managing hazards and technical challenges in an innovative and responsible manner. The operators mutually support it, public perceptions are changing, careers are available… There is no reason not to be positive.'

The first 14 students on the Degree Apprenticeship, who started in September 2023, bring a range of experiences – from mine surveyor, rockbolt coordinator, shift supervisor to a mine manager from a small bathstone mine.

Their backgrounds vary as some may not have studied Maths, for example, for a long time. 'We’ve had to learn ourselves as deliverers because these are not the typical students that we’re used to at the [university],” admits Foster. “We’ve adapted to that. But they do have to put a shift in.'

In the shadow of your headgear

With the size of the UK industry, Foster says the course would run two-or-three times if it only trained experienced mining professionals.

'You’ve got to be responsible for your own talent pipeline,” Foster tells industry. “You can’t rely on Camborne. You’ve got to recruit in the shadow of your headgear, look for local talent, 18-year-old school leavers, and then if you like them, send them on the Degree Apprenticeship.'

There are two 18-year-olds in this year’s cohort, one from Cornish Metals and another from British Gypsum. 'And if this course is going to sustain in the long term, I need those companies to carry on identifying and recruiting talent themselves and sending them to Camborne.'

Foster also has three international students on an equivalent pathway run in parallel to the apprenticeship, a benefit of the blended learning model.

Paul Mitchell, EY Global and Asia-Pacific Mining & Metals Leader, recently referenced the alarming number of mining recruits in his review of risks for 2025. He is on the board of Colorado School of Mines.

McKinsey and PwC have also raised the flag for decreasing numbers entering the mining industry.

Foster says the skill shortage and the very high age profile of the mining industry is worrying people, and companies have been aware of it for a while, although the boom-bust nature of the sector has exacerbated the problem.

Perception problem

Foster adds, 'I don’t think people know enough about the industry and where the critical metals that make up their phone, computers and Xboxes come from.'

'We need to move away from mining being imaged by flat caps and whippets to artificial intelligence and drones, or virtual reality and automation,” says Fulton. “The mining industry is hugely different in the UK to what it was 20 years ago when we were built around the coal industry.'

It can be difficult trying to change minds though, as Foster says, 'There are literally hundreds of different mining companies. And the industry is only as good as its worst performer.' He acknowledges the negative impact of high-profile environmental issues, especially if there is a PR vacuum of good news stories.

A working group, involving IOM3, the Mineral Products Association, the Critical Minerals Association (UK), MAUK, Mineral Products Qualifications and the Institute of Quarrying, wrote an open letter to UK university leaders setting out the essential role of materials, minerals and mining in modern society. This was after some universities blocked mining companies from attending their careers fairs. The letter signatories 'collectively aim to combat misinformation and decision-making that is inconsistent with the need to increase sustainability and address the climate crisis'.

Meanwhile, the UK Mining Education Forum wants to equip museums with a future perspective of mining and minerals, as well as a historical one. (See box-out on outreach below).

Showcasing the possibilities

Also, mining can be a gateway into lots of other industries, notes Foster, with many employees historically ending up in oil and gas, but also banking, the food sector and teaching.

He himself only became interested in the sector after a Royal School of Mines representative came to his school. 'I didn’t think about it at all until that. [For me] mining takes the best bits of every type of engineering degree – of civil, mechanical and electrical.'

Competence in all those engineering aspects opens up possibilities. Many graduates working at mines may become mine managers or company executives, while others might be in service companies and consultancies.

Indeed, the revamped Mining Engineering undergraduate course involves first-year students studying engineering with undergraduates on other degree programmes. Foster is then hoping an inspiring group of friendly CEOs and others from the industry will promote mining careers.

He is also 'trying to raise a massive scholarship war chest at the moment', so that all graduates could be offered scholarships and guaranteed mentoring.

What’s on Foster’s wish list for boosting uptake of students? “In an ideal world, somebody like IOM3 should be taking the lead in coordinating industry, academia, alumni and professional associations to try and promote our industry. We can’t all compete against each other. We’ve got to work together and try and promote our industry better. That’s my wish.

'It’s also not just about mining engineering because, there is a space for any graduate in the mining sector. So if you’re a humanities graduate, there are career opportunities for you. Social sciences, there’s opportunities. If you are an environmental studies graduate and you think mining is a dirty, horrible industry, come and join us. Help us make it right.'

Foster says that while the focus on critical minerals might irk some of those in the industry that sees all mining as crucial, he notes the topic is well-defined in highlighting supply issues. 'We have just got to get on the back of it if it helps sell our industry and helps us all do better.'

The time is now he asserts. 'We work for the world’s most essential industry that has probably never been as essential as it is now with the green transition. We now have a once-in-a-generational opportunity to try and make mining attractive to young people. If we can’t do it now, we never will – use the energy transition as a motivator.'

Reaching out

The Mining Association of the UK is working with Minerals Matter to promote mining as a career choice.

It is funding a part-time role at Minerals Matter to establish materials for STEM ambassadors with a mining bias.

Hannah Higley of Minerals Matter says ones of the main challenges of persuading young people into a mining career is visibility of the industry. Mines and quarries are inherently outside the public view, and so they are also out of mind. This low visibility can give rise to speculation and perception, rather than a 'true understanding of its value to societal needs'.

She thinks operators can boost understanding of the career opportunities via more frequent interactions and the “onus is on the sector” to improve controlled access and deliver outreach messages.

She suggests a change in language to focus more on environment, economy and sustainability is also valuable, such as explaining the critical contribution of geoscience to the energy transition.

Pete Loader, Geoscience Educator, was a teacher for 40 years at secondary level in Geology and says the issue is that people don’t actually know what geoscience is. They don’t do Geology at school as the curriculum is now so pared down, right from primary level.

This is against a backdrop of political changes in education, points out Higley, which go back decades, and have been 'built in by successive government policies'.

As a consequence, schools have little ambition to offer minority subjects, and so students are less likely to be offered a Geology GCSE and can also no longer take a fourth subject as an AS-level. The numbers of A-Level Geology students have fallen from 4,000 in the early 1980s to 1,100 in 2024, with only two exam boards offering the subjects. And the reduction at A-level inevitably dominos into applicants at university level.

Like Higley, Loader sees an issue with the AS-levels being removed in 2014. Previously, students could take Geology as an extra option and find a passion or interest in it that way. That opportunity for exposure is now lost.

Loader says he hardly ever lost people from his class once they started Geology, but there are now only about 90 schools in the country that offer Geology, mostly at A level. He quotes data from the Joint Council for Qualifications he gathered with a colleague, that there were more than 3,500 people taking AS Geology in 2014, which has fallen to just over 200 since.

There is a national review of the curriculum ongoing at the moment, and Loader says geoscientists need to be at the table. 'And unless the mining community is not there, it won’t get included.' He can understand why young people don’t see the connection between geoscience and the energy transition. 'Where is it in their curriculum?'

Another challenge is the limited time available for careers advice, in Higley’s opinion.

'Earth Sciences therefore need to be visible in the curriculum,' she says. 'Too often geology is randomly integrated into different subjects – it is occasionally found in a Geography class, and sometimes in Chemistry or Physics. Consequently, Geology is often an afterthought in the classroom, with many teachers feeling uncomfortable with teaching the content and others frustrated by the lack of substantial Earth Science.'

Loader helps to produce geoscience materials with two other educators for a website called Earth Learning Idea, which has had seven million downloads since 2007.

He spends a lot of time showing Geography PGCE teachers how to teach Physical Geography in a more dynamic way, with workshops sponsored by the European Geosciences Union.

Moreover, geology is not the only relevant subject that can lead to working in the mining sector – a clearer understanding of different career pathways is important.

Young people are actually closely allied to work in the mining sector, notes Higley, but may be unaware how good a fit it is. 'We need to tap into their climate change concerns, their desire to work with responsible companies, their determination to make a difference in the world.'

If it cannot be grown it has to be mined, Higley reiterates, and so getting young people to understand the connections between minerals and technology is key. 'The hard truth is that the everyday society they enjoy will deteriorate without mining and quarrying. Extraction is not the enemy – it is the opportunity.'