The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has found that Australia’s mineral exploration has hit a new high.
During the September 2023 quarter, $1.079 billion was spent on exploration in comparison to the $1.039 billion spent during the June 2023 quarter.
Nationally, total mineral exploration equalled to approximately $1.1 billion, representing a 6.1 per cent increase from the June quarter’s $1.069 billion spend.
New mineral deposits have increased by 11.6 per cent, totalling to $367.6 million from $318.3 million, and existing mineral deposits have risen by 3.8 per cent to $789.4 million from the previously recorded $751.6 million.
Gold was the mineral that recorded the largest increase, moving up by 7.7 per cent to $334.3 million from $315.2 million, whereas mineral sands recorded the biggest decrease, falling by 13.3 per cent to $17 million.
Australia’s massive mineral exploration boost had a positive impact on South Australia, where the mining sector contributed more than $6 billion to the state’s economic growth during the 2022–23 financial year.
Figures from the ABS found that the South Australian mining sector’s gross value added was up 13.9 per cent to $6.17 billion.
“The results are attributed to significant increases in mining production volumes, including copper. Copper is now considered a global necessity, essential to the electrification needed to drive the energy transition,” the South Australian Government said.
To support the necessity of copper, the South Australian Government added copper to its critical minerals list in August, and established a Copper Taskforce, fortifying South Australia’s place at the forefront of copper exploration.
“The strong mining performance was also underpinned by significant increases in output from our uranium, gold and iron ore miners,” the South Australian Government said.
Australia’s mineral exploration has also had a profound impact on other states.
The Tasmanian Government credited its exploration drilling grant initiative as an important and consistent economic stimulator for the state last week, with six mineral exploration projects seeing success in round nine.
The latest round of the Queensland Government’s collaborative exploration initiative grants also opened two weeks ago, with a particular focus on critical minerals. The state is also set to become home to Australia’s first critical minerals processing centre.
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