australia's identified mineral resources 2005 - Geoscience Australia
australia's identified mineral resources 2005 - Geoscience Australia
australia's identified mineral resources 2005 - Geoscience Australia
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AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES <strong>2005</strong><br />
Summary<br />
<strong>Australia</strong>’s economic demonstrated <strong>resources</strong> (EDR) of the following <strong>mineral</strong> commodities increased<br />
during 2004 – bauxite, black coal, copper, gold, iron ore, ilmenite, lead, manganese, rare earth<br />
elements, tantalum, tin, uranium and zinc. EDR of cobalt, diamonds (both gem and industrial),<br />
lithium, phosphate, rutile, silver, tungsten and zircon decreased during the year. EDR for brown coal,<br />
magnesite, molybdenum, nickel, niobium, platinum group metals, shale oil, and vanadium remained<br />
at levels similar to those reported in 2003.<br />
Increases in EDR were due to on-going drilling and evaluation of known deposits resulting in<br />
the transfer (re-assessment) of <strong>resources</strong> from inferred or sub-economic categories into EDR,<br />
and discoveries of new deposits or extensions of known deposits. Newly delineated <strong>resources</strong> of<br />
1 256 t added to gold’s total national inventory, with growth in all east coast mainland states and<br />
South <strong>Australia</strong>. A few mining companies re-estimated ore reserves and <strong>mineral</strong> <strong>resources</strong> more<br />
conservatively for some commodities to comply with the requirements of the Australasian Code<br />
for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code).<br />
World ranking: <strong>Australia</strong>’s EDR of zinc, lead, nickel, <strong>mineral</strong> sands (rutile and zircon), tantalum and<br />
uranium remain the world’s largest, while bauxite, black coal, brown coal, copper, gold, iron ore,<br />
ilmenite, lithium, manganese ore, niobium, silver and industrial diamond rank in the top six worldwide.<br />
Accessible economic demonstrated <strong>resources</strong> (AEDR): A relatively small number of <strong>mineral</strong> deposits<br />
are inaccessible for mining because of government policies or environmental and land-use restrictions<br />
that prevent mining. In particular, this is the case for some <strong>mineral</strong> sands and uranium deposits.<br />
Resources and current rates of mine production: Ratios of AEDR to current mine production provide<br />
rough estimates for the resource life. AEDR of most major commodities can sustain current rates of<br />
mine production for many decades. While this is the longer term assessment, resource life based on<br />
ore reserves is shorter in duration reflecting a shorter term commercial outlook<br />
The resource lives for gold (an average of 22 years at current rates of production), lead (around 35<br />
years) and zinc (around 30 years) are amongst the lowest. There is a need for ongoing successful<br />
exploration in the short and medium terms to maintain gold as one of <strong>Australia</strong>’s main export<br />
commodities. Similarly, new discoveries of large lead and zinc deposits are needed in the not too<br />
distant future to sustain production of these commodities at current levels, given that almost all<br />
existing base metal mines will have closed, and also that there is typically a period of about 10 years<br />
between initial discovery of a deposit and commencement of production for large base metal mines.<br />
Mineral exploration: Mineral exploration expenditures in <strong>Australia</strong> rose by 7.4% to $786.7 million<br />
in 2003–04. Spending for calendar year 2004 rose strongly by 24% to $920.6 million with expenditure<br />
of $511.9 million in the second half of 2004 contrasting with $384.6 million in the equivalent period<br />
in 2003.<br />
6<br />
While gold remained the predominant target in calendar year 2004, its share of total spending fell<br />
below 50% to $414 million. The base metal group increased its share of total spending to 22.5% –<br />
$207.4 million, an increase of $72.7 million.<br />
ABS, for the first time, reported statistics on spending on exploration for new deposits and for the<br />
further delineation and/or extension of known <strong>mineral</strong>isation that has <strong>resources</strong> delineated. Spending is<br />
classified as being for the search for new deposits until there has been a JORC compliant resource<br />
estimate of any classification prepared. Thereafter spending on exploring that <strong>mineral</strong>isation is classified<br />
as further delineation or extension of a deposit. Nationally 39% of exploration spending was directed at<br />
the search for new deposits. Tasmania had the highest proportion of exploration in this category of any<br />
jurisdiction with 54.7% of its spending whereas the Northern Territory had the lowest at 31.3%.<br />
Both world and domestic <strong>mineral</strong> exploration levels grew strongly in 2004. Higher metal prices,<br />
particularly for the base metals, and sustained higher price levels for gold are conducive to greater<br />
exploration activity in <strong>2005</strong>. Demand from China is expected to continue to influence trends in both<br />
prices and exploration, particularly for base metals, iron ore, coal and uranium.