Officials at Austmine, Australia’s leading association of the Australian Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS), have welcomed the announcement by the country’s Labor Government to establish the Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) Innovation Partnership, one of 12 partnerships with federal support.
Alan Broome AM, chairman of Austmine, called the development “timely given the critical state of the mining sector with increasing costs pressures and falling productivity coupled with diminishing ore grades threatening Australia’s global competitive edge.”
Operating nationally with Brisbane headquarters, the METS Innovation Partnership will provide a collaborative platform to coordinate productivity enhancing technologies involving Australian SMEs and Global Tier 1 suppliers along with mining companies.
By consolidating key mining chain players, the partnership will also help increase the adoption of Australian innovation into global supply chains while building a highly collaborative business environment, fostering employment growth and global competitiveness.
Austmine lead the bid for the partnership with key industry partners including the Queensland University of Technology and Brisbane Marketing. Austmine promotes global advancement of technology and innovation in mining while working to increase the sector’s profile in Australia and overseas.