Inside the Bowen Basin Mining Club's Mission to Unite and Celebrate Mining

Main image: Amal Khoury, Digital Manager for Coal, BHP accepting the Innovation Miner Award in 2022.

The Bowen Basin Mining Club (BBMC) serves as a vital connector in the Queensland mining sector, fostering open communication across the resource industry, particularly in the Bowen Basin region. Its mission is to build strong relationships with key procurement executives, CEOs, and industry influencers to promote healthy business growth.

BBMC membership offers regular access to valuable networking opportunities, sparking new leads and innovative business ideas. Membership is free, and the club’s luncheons, with a relaxed, media-free atmosphere, encourage open discussions among peers.

Mine Australia spoke with BBMC Director, Jodie Currie all about the BBMC, the mining industry and the prestigious Queensland Mining Awards.

Jodie Currie: The BBMC was set up to bring C-suite executives and procurement managers into the regions as opposed to contractors and suppliers having to go to a conference in a major city: changing the entire way that traditionally suppliers have engaged with a mining resources company. The idea was to bring them to the region, get them to network, get them to talk directly to the community, and to provide a safe space to talk about what their business needs – because we don't allow media in the room. At our events, executives really embrace networking, understanding the supply chain and solving their challenges by engaging regional business.

Jodie Currie: A lot of mining companies would go to a big conference, in Brisbane for example, they give their standard ASX-level presentation and then off they go with no time for networking or meeting the small businesses at the back of the room. I’ve always believed that executives need to be in the region to network and to build relationships. There is a whole ecosystem of regional businesses that support mining through challenging times that they really need to connect with. As a big miner said at a recent event - in a crunch, it’s often a regional supplier who has the part or person they need, already close to site.

Jodie Currie: We are a boom-bust cycle industry, but what we have always had is a strong pipeline of projects behind the scenes. You could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Where we're sitting now, we’ve seen a boom for such a long time, and there's a lot of businesses that have started that haven't been through a bust. That’s going to be a concern when it happens - and it will happen. Also, what’s going to be in the pipeline then? Yes, there's critical minerals, but they're still yet to be cost effective to get up and running. There are plenty of coal expansions, but new projects are certainly drying up, which is a concern.

Jodie Currie: We just really provide a platform for them to network, and it's not even necessarily about the speaker, it's about everyone else in the room. I say to people that they may not necessarily be interested in the speaker of the day, but they could be sitting next to someone who has worked with the business you've been trying to get into for years – we know what this industry is like, everyone crosses over somewhere – so, it's all about the network in the room. I also feel like we're bringing speakers that they traditionally wouldn't know about. We bring the big players – BHP, Anglo American, Glencore – but we try and bring in some of the smaller miners, or the up-and-coming miners like M Resources, Bowen Coking Coal and Stanmore. So, there's still plenty of things that people can focus on and give them some positivity. They think, “Well, I’m not getting much business out of company ‘A’, but look at all these other things that are going on in the industry that I didn't know about. I really need to refocus my business plan to look outside the square.”. We try to give them that big picture.

Jodie Currie: We started the Awards in a bust. Mining companies were looking to contractors to save them money, save them time, or to be innovative. In times like that, the pressure is put back on the mining contractors and suppliers. We started the Awards originally as the Queensland Mining Contractor Awards, purely to celebrate all the great work the industry does. That's morphed now into the Queensland Mining Awards, which run in conjunction with QME, and where we now include the actual resources companies. Now it’s not just about innovation, time saving, cost saving – we’re now talking about innovative environmental projects, innovation in safety, or community engagement as well. We're trying to tell the great story of the mining industry and show people we're not just about digging dirt. We are about amazing programs for communities, staff, and the environment. I read all 70 applications in this year's Awards, and I can confirm that our industry is doing exciting things! I’ve said for years that we need to get louder about celebrating the wins to change some of the messaging around our industry.  

Membership to the BBMC is free, so claim yours today at www.bbminingclub.com.