The mining industry is facing a technological shift with Industry 4.0 creating new conditions for mining. This is often referred to as Mining 4.0. To succeed through the technological shift, the industry need to handle several challenges wisely, such as how to utilise the new digital technology to promote sustainable work environments, how to recruit skilled workers to the industry, and how to manage organisational challenges as a result of the technological shift. This scoping literature review examines a large field of literature on how Mining 4.0 might affect the mining industry in areas such as work environment, competences, organisation and society, and what can be done to promote sustainability going forward. The paper also identifies several areas that have not been explored in previous research. These include empirical studies on the effects of the technological shift brought about by Mining 4.0 on work environments, and how to attract younger generations to mining to ensure sustainability in the industry going forward.

Denna artikel baseras på en enkätstudie om hur teknik- och organisationsexperter inom gruvsektorn i EU och Australien föreställer sig att den gröna omställningen kommer att påverka framtidens gruvarbete, kompetensbehov och gruvföretagens rekrytering av gruvarbetare. Resultatet visar att de främsta utmaningarna vid nyrekrytering externaliseras genom att peka på allmänhetens negativa attityder gentemot gruvdrift. Vidare betonas att den gröna omställningen och teknikutvecklingen kommer att förändra gruvarbetares arbetsuppgifter och skapa nya kompetensbehov. Detta indikerar att anställda gruvarbetares behov av kompetensutveckling kommer att öka liksom gruvföretagens behov av att utveckla lärande organisationer. Detta är ett intressant perspektiv som inte tidigare varit framträdande inom gruvindustrin.

Mining, like other industries, has progressed through a series of industrial revolutions, transitioning from disconnected, manually operated mines to operations dominated by safe, sustainable, semi-automated, and automated operations, driven by technological advancements such as digitalisation and automation. These changes have resulted in enhanced safety measures, cost reductions, and increased efciency, while simultaneously altering the nature of mining work. This paper presents a study to assess the impacts, challenges, and opportunities of automation and digitalisation in the mining industry from an end-user’s perspective. The study is based on the overall combined results from two previous studies, one surveying the opinions of LHD operators and the other the opinions of mining production workers, extracted through two workshops. The fndings indicate digitalisation and automation are predominantly perceived positively, but there are some negative attitudes. End-users have diverse opinions about the impact of digitalisation and automation on their work and the skill sets that will be required in the future, but they agree computer skills and understanding of the mining processes will continue to be crucial competencies in the future. Another common opinion is that machine maintenance is the most challenging aspect of the work to automate. The results highlight an increased need for further education enabling workers to manage new technologies as they are implemented.

Purpose

This study aims to examine workplace learning and competence development in the Swedish mining industry amid the green transition and ongoing technical development, the dual transition. It explores how miners’ learning expectations are experienced, negotiated and enacted in everyday work.

Design/methodology/approach

Two qualitative studies were conducted at three mines operated by two companies, involving 14 interviews, six workshops and two focus group discussions with mining personnel.

Findings

Miners demonstrate a strong willingness to learn, driven by professional pride and a desire to contribute to both the collective and the green transition. Collective workplace learning enables adaptation, yet may also normalize uneven organizational conditions and mask structural limits to competence development. While collective workplace learning remains vital, emerging competence demands under the dual transition may exceed what informal, peer-based learning alone can sustain.

Practical implications

Clearer alignment between competence demands and organizational arrangements is essential to support miners’ long-term learning and competence development as mining work evolves under the dual transition.

Originality/value

This study empirically shows how macro-level transformations, meso-level organizational arrangements and micro-level collective practices interact to shape workplace learning under the dual transition. Furthermore, by engaging sociocultural perspectives, this study examines how collective participation and shared norms mediate the dual transition, illustrating how continuity and transformation coexist and are negotiated in everyday work practices.