Key takeaways from Mining into the Future 2025

The mining industry is undergoing seismic shifts — and technological innovation, workforce development and ambitious sustainability goals are reshaping operations.

At the 2025 Mining into the Future event in Elko, NV, some of the industry’s most influential thinkers came together to discuss what’s next. From innovation and workforce development to accelerating low-carbon mining solutions, this year’s speakers took a deep dive into the issues defining the next era of mining.

1) Building skills for a productive and compliant future

Evolving regulations are reshaping workforce expectations across the mining sector. New rules are driving companies to build stronger competencies in areas like safety management, technology adoption, and environmental stewardship. In turn, these skills are raising the bar for training programs and operational standards.

“From critical minerals exploration to operations automation, the next chapter of mining will be written by skilled, adaptable people. Workforce development isn’t just a challenge to solve — it’s our greatest opportunity to shape a safer, smarter, and more sustainable industry, said Jason Bubba, COO at NORCAT. “The mining industry is evolving faster than ever — and it’s the people behind the technology who are driving that change.”

Certifications tied to these competencies are becoming increasingly popular, not just as compliance tools but as pathways to improved productivity and performance. As the workforce gains new capabilities, the industry is seeing clear benefits: safer sites, more efficient operations, and teams better equipped to deliver a high-quality experience for customers.

2) Collaborative policy design for accelerating low-carbon solutions

Sustainability remains a priority for mines — and companies, legislators and communities are finding innovative ways to work together to shape smarter, more adaptive regulations.

As new technologies emerge, regulators are better learning how they function so that they can effectively implement regulations that move us toward emission targets without unnecessarily hampering productivity — but more work can be done. Education, early exposure and ongoing dialogue are key to crafting policies that reflect the realities of modern mining. One of the biggest obstacles in moving toward low-carbon mining solutions is low adoption due to infrastructure gaps, cost barriers and hesitation around incorporating unfamiliar technologies. To encourage adoption, it’s essential for OEMs to support regulators and operators in understanding how to safely implement new equipment. Success depends on regulation that’s flexible enough to accommodate innovation without creating ambiguity and is informed by metrics that reflect diverse operational and regional needs.

3) Out-plan your challenges

Ever since COVID-19 shutdowns, supply chain disruptions have continued to reverberate across the industry. With rising costs, shrinking supplier pools and long lead times for proprietary parts, it’s never been more essential for maintenance teams and procurement professionals to work more closely to forecast failures, plan repairs and secure critical inventory.

“Supply chain resilience in mining isn’t just about weathering disruptions — it’s about creating added value at every stage,” said Amanda Christensen, President of Women in Mining Nevada. “At the Elko Conference, we demonstrated how collaboration with partners transforms resilience into measurable impact, ensuring that supply chains don’t just survive challenges, but drive innovation and long-term success.”

With improved communication, predictive maintenance, better forecasting and emerging AI tools, mines can reduce unplanned shutdowns and keep operations running more efficiently — even as the sector continues to navigate uncertainty.

4) Industry and education: working together to develop an innovative workforce

From automation and autonomous vehicles to AI and AR/VR, evolving technologies are transforming the mining industry’s demand for skills. Meeting this moment will require deep, ongoing collaboration between educators and industry.

“Right now, our main goal as educators is to hopefully unite education and industry to be partners in innovation. We need to work together to meet the training needs in a modern work environment,” said Dave Stoddard, Dean of Industrial Technology and Workforce Development, Great Basin College. "If education does not evolve with the trends of industry, we will find ourselves to be obsolete. That's why it is critical to come to the table together to have real conversations about what is happening and what's coming in the industry.”

By sharing subject matter expertise, investing in employee upskilling and embracing new instructional models, colleges and companies can jointly build a workforce prepared for rapid technological change.