Australia a leader in critical minerals: report

Australia is a leading supplier of the minerals the world needs to reach net zero, according to the latest ‘Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources’ (AIMR) report.

Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Madeleine King recently launched the report, published by Geoscience Australia, at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention in Toronto, Ontario.

King said Australia has the resources needed for the global energy transition and is producing them to the highest environmental, social and governance standards.

“The road through net zero runs through Australia’s resources sector,” she said. “Australia’s resources are mined and processed to the highest standards — making them the cleanest and greenest in the world. Our geology means that we are home to globally significant deposits of minerals, and these minerals will be crucial as the world turns to renewable technologies to decarbonise.

“Government investment in precompetitive geoscience is critical to understanding quite literally what Australia is made of and to maintaining a pipeline of new critical mineral investment opportunities into the future.”

In 2022, Australia produced 27 minerals, 15 of which ranked in the top five for global supply. Of these 15, Australia ranked number one in the world for economic resources of gold, iron ore, lead, nickel, rutile, uranium, zinc and zircon.

Other key highlights from the AIMR 2023 report include:

• Investment in mineral exploration increased by 13% to $4 billion.
• Australia remained the world’s largest producer of lithium (52% of the global total), with lithium production up 36% to a record 75,000 tonnes.
• Australia also ranked as the world’s largest producer of bauxite, iron ore and rutile.
• Uranium production was up 20%.
   

Additionally, 13 critical minerals saw their Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR) increase significantly during 2022. This included manganese ore (up by 79%), platinum group elements (up by 45%) and rare earth elements (up by 34%). In addition, the EDR of tin, a strategic material, was up by 6%.

Drawing on over 45 years of data, AIMR 2023 identifies important trends in reserves, resources and mine production, and provides a snapshot of potential resource life and future supply capability.

The AIMR digital publication is available here.

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