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Lily Dickson was hurrying across the University of Leeds campus when a student campaigner handed her a flier that called for a ban on campus recruiting by mining and oil-and-gas companies.

The 24-year old doctoral student in geology was taken aback. She had recently returned from a trip to Finland, having worked with Vancouver-based miner Mawson Gold, exploring new places to mine cobalt in Europe.

The ban wasnt an empty threat or an isolated incident. Last year, four U.K. universitiesbut not Leedsbanned mining firms from recruiting on campus and attending careers fairs, part of a broader trend of college graduates and young workers turning their backs on extractive industries that they fear harm the planet.

Companies that mine copper, lithium and other metalsviewed as a critical part of the supply chain to produce green energysay they are struggling to find enoughyoung workers to support the transition.Most mining companies in the U.S., Australia and Europe say their expansion and growth plans could come under pressure if current hiring trends continue, especially for high-skilled roles such as engineers, exploration geologists and data analysts.

Changing societal expectations place pressure on our brand as an employer, and require us to become better at communicating who we are and what we stand for, said Rio Tinto in its latest annual report.

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Despite their part in the energy transition, mining companies face a perception of being in a dirty industry thanks to a legacy of mining disasters and accusations of worker exploitation and sexual assault. It is among the worst ranked professions for young people to enter: A global survey by consulting firm McKinsey found 70% of its 15- to 30-year-old respondents said that they definitely wouldnt or probably wouldnt work in mining.

In the U.S., the number of 2020 geology and earth-sciences graduates was nearly 25% less than in 2015, according to the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics. During that period, the total number of students graduating overall increased 8%.

Canada and Australia, countries where mining is a significant economic contributor, also saw student enrollment to related courses drop. In Australia, the total number of mining graduates fell 63% in 2020 from 2014, according to McKinsey. Canadas mining and mineral-engineering enrollment was down 10% in 2020 compared with 2016, according to Canadas Mining Industry Human Resources Council.

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The declines are raising concerns of a future knowledge gap that could affect extraction as companies are having to mine deposits with lower density of metals.

People have left before, but now we dont have the talent pipeline coming in, and we are also losing experience through retirees, said Alex Gorman, mining research analyst at Peel Hunt.

More than half the mine workers in the U.S. are aged 45 years or older, according to Rohitesh Dhawan, chief executive of industry group, International Council on Mining and Metals. The people we have in the industry now are typically older and closer to retirement, he said, adding that the recruiting challenges means the industry is being squeezed on both sides.

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According to a McKinsey survey, 86% of industry leaders found recruiting and retaining the talent they needed harder. And, nearly three-quarters of those executives said the talent shortage is holding them back from delivering on production targets and strategic objectives. Rio Tinto has warned the shortfall could mean business delays or underperformance.

In the U.S., the job vacancy rate for mining and logging was 5.1% in March, up from 3.6% five years ago, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Canadas mining job vacancy rates have been trending upward since 2015 to a peak last summer of around 4% in mining and quarrying jobs and slightly over 6% for mining support activities. Likewise, in Australia, mining vacancies rose to 10,600 jobs in February, up from 2,500 in May 2016, the lowest level since 2009, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The sector also struggles to attract women. Mining is among the few industries that continue to be male dominated and has a reputation as being unsafe for women. Rio Tinto found 28% of women working in mining experienced sexual harassment while 21 women reported cases of actual or attempted rape or sexual assault in the past five years, according to a 2022 report based on its survey of 10,000 employees.

It can be intimidating being the only woman in the room, said mining analyst Gorman, who also worked in copper mining projects in Botswana earlier in her career. Its hard to have a family and be a geologist on site, she said.

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An EY study last year found that women made up 12% of the global mining and metals workforce, a gender imbalance second only to the construction sector. The lack of women in leadership positions also is proving to be a hurdle when it comes to attracting a younger, diverse workforce.

Mining companies also face accusations of exploitation of local workforces.

There is normally not enough responsibility taken, especially with regard to sub-Saharan Africa in terms of exploitation of countries, said Haydon Mort, CEO of Geologize Ltd., a communications firm that helps mining companies with their public image.

The current recruitment challenge is built upon the perception that mining companies didnt take ownership of previous disasters and accusations of exploitation of local workforces are contributing to the bad reputation, experts say.

Companies are taking steps to counter the perception and hiring challenges. Miners are expanding their recruiting to include business and data-science majors. They also are hiring closer to mining locations where potential recruits are more familiar with the companies.

Rio Tinto saw a 30% uptick in the number of enrollments into its graduate-trainee program globally last year. This was our biggest cohort to date with 265 graduate roles, a spokesman for the company said, adding that it was hoping to recruit 300 college graduates this year.

BHP expects to hire 3,500 people through a new program recruiting apprentices and trainees rather than just college graduates.

Job-focused nonprofits also are jumping into the fray, eager to help build a talent pipeline for what they see as a fast-growing industry.

Women in Mining U.K., a nonprofit group, is working with schools to introduce more courses related to environmental and geological sciences into the U.K. curriculum, especially for those aged between 8 and 13. Everyone learns a bit of geology when they learn about volcanoes and this can be complimented further, said Stacy Hope, managing director of the group.

Hope also is aiming to introduce internships and scholarships to build a career path for young women interested in the field. She hopes that younger workers will help mining companies evolve, taking on more social responsibility and improving their mining practices.

Recruiting closer to the mines worked for Codelco, the state-owned copper mining company in Chile. In a recent survey, Codelco was the company that Chilean college graduates most wanted to work for, despite the recent disciplinary action from the environmental regulator. Other companies in the top 10 included Nestl and Walmart, according to Merco, a rankings agency.

Egyptian gold miner Centamin is also hiring more local labor than expatriates from Europe and Australia. Recruiting workers from within Africa keeps them relatively local and brings people with relevant knowledge from places such as Congo, Ghana and Zimbabwe that have more recent experience of mining compared with places like Europe, said Martin Horgan, CEO of Centamin.

Mort of Geologize said social-media apps such as Instagram are also a good tool to reach young people, but notes that the industry also needs to take ownership of previous issues such as environmental degradation.

You need authenticity, he said. Be transparent about the environmental impact and community of what you are doing.

However, not everyone agrees that mining is essential to the energy transition.

A certain amount of mining is necessary but the current profit-driven industry is responsible for wide-scale environmental and ecological devastation as well as countless acts of human rights abuses, said Jamie Kelsey Fry, a spokesman for U.K.-based environmental pressure group Extinction Rebellion.

Dickson was one of eight women in her 25-strong mining geology masters course last year. Most of her classmates have taken up jobs in the industry. She is continuing her studies, but she does plan to work in the industry eventually.

For Dickson, mining offers the chance to travel, work outdoors and research into sustainability, along with feeding her fascination with how the world works. As soon as you realize mining is essential, the most important thing is to get involved, said Dickson. Its excitingworking on things like a European source of cobalt, thats something which could actually be beneficial to society.

Write to Yusuf Khan at yusuf.khan@wsj.com

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A Dirty Job That Few Want: Mining Companies Struggle to Hire for the Energy Transition - The Wall Street Journal

In a surprising twist in the crypto-sphere, BIT Mining (BTCM), once a leading Ethereum miner, has altered its crypto treasury strategy drastically. Following Ethereums monumental transition from proof of work to proof of stake, the Ohio-based miner, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has shifted its focus to Dogecoin and Litecoin.

The company reported a revenue of $72.9 million for the last quarter, marking a near 20% increase from the previous quarter but witnessing a 75% plunge year on year. BIT Minings revenue is primarily split across three sectors: mining cryptocurrencies independently, mining as part of a pool, and hosting services within its data centers.

In the previous quarter, BIT Minings revenue from its mining pool reached $60 million, accounting for 82% of its total income. Meanwhile, self-mining and data centers each contributed approximately $6 million.

Prior to Ethereums transformation in September last year, known as the Merge, Ethereum mining made up over three-quarters of BIT Minings self-mining revenue. This pivotal shift in Ethereums consensus mechanism, which eradicated the necessity for crypto miners, predictably plunged BIT Minings self-mining income from $7.1 million in Q3 2022 to a mere $1.9 million in the subsequent period.

As Ethereum mining waned, the firm garnered $6.2 million from mining cryptocurrencies in Q1 2023, predominantly Litecoin (LTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE), post the shutdown of certain Bitcoin mining rigs. Notably, Dogecoin and Litecoin witnessed skyrocketing hash rates around the time of the Merge, despite their differing hashing algorithms from Ethereum.

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Amid these changes, Analyst Mike Fay (via Seeking Alpha) has expressed bafflement over BIT Minings decision to sell off one-third of its Ethereum holdings, amounting to 1,602 ETH ($3 million at current prices). In contrast, the firm boosted its Dogecoin holdings by 62% quarter on quarter, escalating from 42.8 million DOGE ($3.1 million) to 69.5 million DOGE ($5 million). Its Bitcoin holdings remained steady at 289 BTC, worth $7.8 million.

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With this shift, BIT Minings crypto treasury was almost 28% Dogecoin at the end of Q1 2023. The companys total assets stood at $40.2 million, with liabilities amounting to $39 million, including lease obligations.

Fay argued against BIT Minings strategy, questioning why the firm would hold onto meme coins instead of leveraging Ethereums staking potential at virtually no cost. Despite rising Ethereum prices, BIT Minings decision has sparked speculation and criticism, further fueling the debate on effective digital asset management strategies.

Crypto News Flash does not endorse and is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products, or other materials on this page. Readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to cryptocurrencies. Crypto News Flash is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods, or services mentioned.

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Ethereum Miner Turns to Dogecoin: BIT Mining Dumps ETH After ... - Crypto News Flash

By Thomas J. Healey

Conservatives determined to defund the IRS should reexamine their stand on the basis of one inescapable fact: every dollar of unchecked tax fraud is a dollar more on the shoulders of taxpayers who dont try to cheat the government. In 2021, the U.S. Treasury estimated that the tax gap the difference between taxes owed and those collected was almost $600 billion.

The good news is that artificial intelligence (AI) now holds the promise of transformative change for this countrys sprawling and antiquated tax system. A portion of the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Biden in August 2022 plows some $80 billion in funding over the next 10 years into the IRS for upgrading computer systems, strengthening enforcement, and bolstering its staff, which dwindled from nearly 95,000 in 2010 to around 79,000.

Even with the lower IRS funding in the debt limit package passed by the Senate Thursday night, there is still more than adequate money to take full advantage of the power of AI.

The potential benefits to the nations tax agency have never been more apparent. Consider the fact that each filing error by taxpayers creates an extra step for IRS personnel, resulting in enormous backlogs when compounded millions of times over. As of 2020, there were 20 million unexamined tax returns.

An AI algorithm, however, could be trained on the agencys massive data sets to pick up on the most commonly made mistakes, then proactively reach out to taxpayers with information and instructions on how to correctly fill out the most error-prone IRS forms.

Thats just the tip of the AI iceberg. By automating routine tasks, identifying patterns of non-compliance and fraud, and providing better customer service, the IRS might finally be able to propel itself into the 21st century.

Many European governments have already, adopted sophisticated fraud-detection technologies with impressive results. In Denmark, for example, tax officials now identify an estimated 60% of fraud cases through machine learning applications.

In the critical field of predictive modeling, automation could allow the IRS to forecast the likelihood of non-compliance or nonpayment by individual taxpayers by analyzing tax returns, financial statements, and other historical data. Problematic taxpayers could then be assigned risk scores, allowing tax authorities to take steps to encourage compliance, rather than react after a problem has occurred.

Through continuous data mining, AI tools could also help to identify broad patterns of behavior that indicate the potential for non-compliance or other irregularities and prioritize individuals who fit these templates for audits or other enforcement action. Likewise, being able to predict which taxpayers are likely to be delinquent in their tax payments could help the IRS allocate resources needed for collection and improve the overall collection rate.

IRS special agents in particular could benefit from these automated capabilities. Currently, they must look for hidden assets, money laundering, identity theft and much more with the naked eye. As experience has shown, this can be extremely time-consuming and vulnerable to errors. The audit rate of individual income tax refunds fell from 0.90% in 2010 to 0.25% in 2019.

In a webcast hosted by the American Bar Association, IRS officials revealed that research and investigative techniques that used to take weeks or months could be done in minutes with new technology the agency said it plans to roll out to detect taxpayer noncompliance.

In terms of customer service, automation could also portend desperately needed change. An AI-powered phone response system built on natural language processing could allow the IRS to respond to the most common taxpayer inquiries, freeing agents to resolve more complex issues and, in the process, address the fact that only 11% of the 282 million phone calls from taxpayers seeking help or guidance during the 2022 filing season actually reached an agent.

Taxpayers seeking to reach customer service agents on the telephone are waiting on hold for an average of 29 minutes. Through predictive dialing, AI could also analyze past interactions with taxpayers in order to determine the best times and methods to reach them, increasing the chance of a successful contact and thus improving collections.

Everyone, even Republicans, should be loudly applauding this landmark $80 billion commitment to strengthen, over the long run, the IRS, knowing that enhanced enforcement alone would pay for the investment many times over.

Thomas Healey is a senior fellow at Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government. He was an assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury under President Ronald Reagan.

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Treasury expert: AI could help the IRS recover $600B in taxes that should have been paid | Opinion - NJ.com

Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt

Markets finally began to grow a little this week after four weeks of stagnation. There wasnt a whole lot of news to drive prices either way. In the U.S., regulators continued to hold the line on their assertion that existing rules are sufficient for the industry. Meanwhile, another domestic crypto exchangeGeminicontinued expanding offshore.

The most politically important tweet from Crypto Twitter this week came from Congressman Warren Davidson, who confirmed on Monday that the new U.S. debt ceiling agreement blocked an unpopular White House proposal for a 30% excise tax to be applied to crypto mining firms based on how much electricity they consume.

Also that day, Bitcoin NFT project Ordinals hit a new milestone.

On Tuesday, El Salvadors National Bitcoin Officean official institution set up to promulgate Bitcoin as legal tender in the countryannounced that the countrys authoritarian president Nayib Bukele had hired a new Bitcoin consultant.

Alex Svanevik, the CEO of blockchain data and research company Nansen, announced that the company was letting go of 30% of its staff in order to streamline the company. He also mentioned the bear market as a factor.

Blockchain gumshoe ZachXBT exposed a particularly callous scam on Thursday.

Imagine earning a million in twenty-four hours for doing nothing except opening your wallet. Well, it has already happened. Welcome to the blockchain.

Its easy to get worried about AI these days with so many tech industry leaders labeling it a potential extinction threat. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman offered a more mundane prediction about the advent of artificial general intelligence: maybe things will keep on keeping on.

NFT theft is declining but the Blur marketplace is becoming popular for stolen digital goods, according to PeckShieldAlert.

Messari analyst Ally Zach on Thursday did a deep dive on Solanas newest users and how the blockchain caters to consumer applications.

Finally, crypto wallet provider Atomic on Saturday warned that several wallets have been compromised. Crypto sleuth ZachXBT revealed the eye-watering amounts of crypto at stake.

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This Week on Crypto Twitter: White House Mining Tax Scrapped, Bukele Hires Bitcoin Expert - Decrypt