Target $18.72, page-2841

There is a big crisis brewing in terms of skilled personnel in coal, particularly geoscientists and engineers. Historically in the boom-bust cycle there has been a big influx of new blood each boom, and then during the busts a lot of people leave the industry as they can't find work, and those retiring are not replaced. When the next boom comes along there is a big shortage so there is another big influx, but there is a bare bones of skilled personnel there to help ramp up skills. Then the next bust comes and the cycle repeats.

But this time the new blood is not coming in. Partly because it's not seen as an attractive field for graduates - those coming out of uni with 40 year careers ahead of them quite rightly are wary of getting into coal. But even worse than that, the universities which have been infested with green-left activists are actively defunding courses related to mining like geoscience so even if the students want to study it they are going to find it difficult. Topics like coal geology that used to be standard university courses now have to be offered as special extra-curricular short courses by external providers. Some universities have removed geology as a study option altogether and others are removing funding from industry participants due to green pressure.