This is a discussion about mining companies and productivity....

This is a discussion about mining companies and productivity. BHP and RIO are currently bankrupting small iron ore miners around the world, most of them in China. Now Chinese miners are poorly paid, they work 7 days a week and there is hardly any OSH or regulation. Labour costs are a fraction of ours and yet we are putting them out of business. The explanation for this is that our miners are investing in technology and skills and the Chinese are not. The key to productivity in mining is not to drive down wages, it is to research and innovate and train, and pay highly productive workers well.