Welcome to the new edition of MINE Australia. 

We've put together a new look for the magazine, with a new structure that should hopefully enhance your reading experience. What's not changing is our commitment to bringing you top quality coverage of the mining industry, along with new analysis and insight from GlobalData.

In this issue, the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia recently raised concerns that an additional 8,000 skilled workers will be needed over the next 12-18 months. We ask how the state will meet these demands, and whether it can be done locally.

Also, a recent report from the University of Sydney has shown that Australian copper mining operations could reduce their carbon emissions to zero within the next 30 years. While copper as a commodity is essential to much of green energy tech, the production of the mineral itself is carbon intensive and could prove to be a barrier to countries achieving the terms of the Paris Agreement if not addressed.

Elsewhere, figures from the Australian Government’s Resources Energy Quarterly report show that iron ore recently became the first commodity to exceed A$100bn in export value. Always an important commodity due to its application in steel, iron ore has exploded in value over recent years, thanks in no small part to rapid growth in China's economy. We map the key developments in iron ore's value.

For all this and more, read on.

Callum Tyndall, editor