November 8, 2016
The South Burnett is the mining capital of the Wide Bay-Burnett, according to the Queensland Resources Council (QRC).
In new figures released this week, the QRC provided a region-by-region breakdown of the contribution the resources industry made to the state in 2015-16.
The QRC say the resources industry directly employed 678 people in the South Burnett and paid them $100 million last financial year.
It also spent an extra $121 million on goods, services and community contributions, which was spread between 629 local businesses and 29 community organisations.
This, in turn, helped support an extra 2182 local full-time jobs and value-added a further $228 million to the South Burnett’s economy.
All up, the QRC says, the South Burnett’s resources industry injected $449 million into the region’s Gross Regional Product (GRP), accounting for 26 per cent of total GRP.
And the 2861 full time jobs it directly and indirectly supported accounted for 23 per cent of the South Burnett’s total employment.
This is between three to nine times more than in neighbouring Wide Bay-Burnett regions, where the resource industry’s contribution to GRP in 2015-16 ranged between 3 per cent and 7 per cent, and where the average number of people who depended on the resources sector for a job ranged between two and five per cent.
The QRC is a not-for-profit peak industry association representing the commercial developers of Queensland’s minerals and energy resources.
It was formed in November 2003, succeeding the Queensland Mining Council, and represents explorers, miners, mineral processors, contractors, oil and gas producers and electricity generators.
- External link: Queensland Resources Council
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