ETS will add to thousands of jobs already lost - Miners

19/03/2009 - Over 10,000 Australian mining jobs have been lost in the last three months, and more will be cut under the federal government's emissions trading scheme (ETS), an industry leader says.

Ian Smith, Chairman of the Minerals Council of Australia and chief executive of Australia's biggest gold company Newcrest Mining Ltd, said on Wednesday the global economic crisis had severely impacted Australia's mining sector.

The number of people directly employed in the industry doubled to 142,000 from 2004 during the resources boom, but 10,500 mining jobs have gone since November last year, he said.