He said one area was automation and how it evolved in relation to the skills of the workforce.

"Another thing is that the move to underground mining is inescapable," he said in Mining Journal's Global Leadership Report.

He said for Newmont, particularly in light of this year's Goldcorp acquisition, the company's percentage of underground production was increasing.

"That's good in a lot of ways because it reduces your environmental footprint, your carbon emissions - that's something the industry is going to have to shift gears on and I think for our own sakes we should be looking at it and acting on it now."

He said another point had to be attracting the talent to help support these changes.

"We need to set some aspirational targets around all these things, particularly the social and environmental aspects of our impact," Goldberg said.

"We need to look at eliminating tailings completely and there are some in the industry already shooting for that.

"I'm sure that's currently not practical but it's the direction we have to be looking and, more than that, we have to move in time with stakeholder expectations."

Goldberg is stepping down as CEO later this year after about seven years with the company and will serve as an executive advisor from October 1 to March 31.

This article was based on the answer to one of four questions Newmont Goldcorp CEO Gary Goldberg was asked as part of his interview for Mining Journal's Global Leadership Report. The report focus this year was ‘The Workplace of the Future'. The research included open interviews with some 20 major mining executives and a survey of more than 500 industry professionals. The results will be released in late August.