Closer cooperation between the government, the resource industry and community is crucial in sealing a better prospect for future mining activities in New South Wales, according to the NSW Minerals Council.

Council chief executive Dr Nikki Williams said on Monday that a total of $6.8 billion in royalty payments from the mining sector is projected to enter the NSW coffers over the next four years.

Along that line, Dr Williams said that the NSW community is also expecting that transparency in communicating the effects of mining in the state's health, environment and heritage must be observed by the industry.

Speaking at the NSW Minerals Council conference in Wollongong, Dr Williams told her fellow miners that despite the growth and opportunities being delivered by the mining sector to states and mining regions, "we also have to look at the cumulative impacts of what we do."

The council head emphasised that previous practices by the industry must be ditched in order to better meet the challenges that lie ahead, citing that the Upper Hunter Air Quality Monitoring Network, which was funded by the mining sector, pointed to a glaring example that miners could make initiatives that foster collaborative solutions.

Dr Williams reminded her colleagues that communities directly affected by mining activities were expecting better flow of information on mining issues, which he said prompted the NSW Minerals Council to convene "an ongoing industry wide dialogue about the role of mining, the future of regional NSW and the challenges that need to be addressed."