That's according to resources veteran Jim Pollock, who said compared to other rural industries such as farming, mining was considered "dirtier".
"A lot of young people would not consider going into the mining industry because of all the bad things they've heard about it," he said. These days the South African is focused on gold as the head of Evolution Mining, which has mines across the country. "The image mining has of being dirty and not being contemporary, that image is in the control of the mining industry," she said.
At this year's Diggers and Dealers forum in WA's historic mining town of Kalgoorlie, the Gold Industry Group hosted a panel to address the issues.