Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2023 Australia’s Estimated Ore Reserves

Last updated:1 March 2024

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Australia’s Estimated Ore Reserves

As part of the Australian Government's annual assessment of the national minerals inventory, Geoscience Australia compiles all known estimates of Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources reported publicly by mining companies in accordance with the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Code, or JORC-equivalent codes. In addition, reserve and resource estimates from private companies and foreign companies operating in Australia are also included in the annual compilation wherever possible.

Determining how much of a particular mineral commodity is in the ground and how much is extractable is not an exact science, hence Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources are always referred to as estimates, never calculations. Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources are categorised by confidence in both the geology of the deposit and the economic viability of production. Of all the different categories under the JORC Code (see Appendix 1), an Ore Reserve is the category of highest confidence. From a commercial point of view, this category is the most applicable to understanding the state of Australia's minerals industry now and in the near future (say, the next five years).

Geoscience Australia began publishing amalgamated national totals for Ore Reserves in 2002. Prior to this, these estimates were included within the national inventory of EDR (and continue to be included) but were not specifically noted.

The JORC Code

In December 2022, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed 2,000 companies. Of these, approximately 47% were categorised as belonging to the energy and materials sectors, which includes mining and exploration companies. Recognising that confidence in such a large part of the Australian economy is paramount, the JORC (the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and the Minerals Council of Australia) have developed the JORC Code for reporting exploration results and estimates of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves to the public.

The JORC Code has been adopted by the ASX as part of its listing rules and its use is mandatory for all mining companies listed on the ASX and New Zealand Stock Exchange. Variations of the JORC Code have been adopted in many other parts of the world and the code is compatible with the international CRIRSCO10 and United Nations Framework Classification for Resources templates.

In commencing the most recent periodic review of the JORC Code, the Committee noted that while the key focus of the Code remains to provide principles-based disclosure transparency, there are a number of areas where industry, regulator and public expectations have evolved since the last update in 201211. In July 2021, the Committee released its JORC Summary Paper of Key Issues and Work Plan in which it noted the strong support to update the Competent Person framework and to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations in the JORC Code where appropriate12. The proposed update was still under consideration as of January 2024.

Operating mines

In 2022, Australia had over 330 operating mines producing 27 major and minor mineral commodities. In addition, there were a large number of excavations for a range of industrial materials and gemstones (not covered in this publication). In determining the outlook for the industry in Australia, it is useful to look at the Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources associated with operating mines (Table 1) as it is usually easier and cheaper to expand current mines than to start new ones. While some of the mines that operated in 2022 have since closed or been placed on care and maintenance, subject to favourable economic, environmental and regulatory conditions, most will continue mining for the foreseeable future.

One way of gaining an impression of future viability of a mine or resource is to calculate the ratio of reserves or resources to production, thus establishing a reserve or resource 'life' (Table 1). The resulting reserve or resource life must be treated with caution as it is an average and it assumes three things:

  1. that production rates in the future will remain the same as those used in the calculation.
  2. deposits deemed economic/uneconomic remain so in the future.
  3. that depleted resources are never replaced.

In reality, production rates vary from year to year, mining companies continually reassess the economic viability of their deposits and companies typically do upgrade resources or discover new resources to replace ore depletion.

Nonetheless, this ratio provides a potentially useful 'snapshot in time' that can help reveal trends in Australia's ability to supply a range of mineral resources into the future.

Table 1. Australia's Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources of selected commodities at operating mines in 2022.

CommodityUnit No. of Operating Mines1 Ore Reserves2 Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources3 Inferred Mineral Resources4 Mine Production5 Reserve Life (years) Resource Life 1 (years) Resource Life 2 (years)
Antimony kt Sb 1 19.5 39.6 6.9 2.36 8 17 20
Bauxite Mt 9 1,629 2,815 2,216 102.3 16 28 49
Black Coal Mt 93 10,133 29,8487 18,320 5208 19 57 93
Cobalt kt Co 6 140 257 27 5.89 24 44 49
Copper Mt Cu 36 21.04 83.81 26.64 0.82 26 102 135
Gold t Au 160 3,495 7,859 2,789 306 11 26 35
Iron Ore Mt 41 11,346 28,062 42,605 945 12 30 75
Lead Mt Pb 15 7.98 25.92 8.21 0.44 18 59 78
Lithium kt Li 7 3,714 4,767 1,440 7510 50 64 83
Manganese Ore Mt 3 107 225 73 4.511 24 50 66
Mineral Sands12
Ilmenite Mt 11 9.5 48.6 7.0 0.712 13 66 75
Rutile Mt 8 0.9 3.6 0.6 0.212 6 23 27
Zircon Mt 10 2.8 10.4 1.4 0.512 6 22 25
Nickel Mt Ni 16 3.8 8.0 2.5 0.16 24 50 66
Rare Earths13 Mt oxide 2 1.99 1.39 1.35 0.01614 124 87 172
Silver15 kt Ag 26 20.98 69.90 22.09 1.17 18 60 79
Tin kt Sn 1 234 377 48 9.016 26 42 47
Tungsten kt W 2 18 46 29 0.2317 78 200 325
Uranium kt U 2 302 1,003 353 4.55518 66 220 298
Zinc Mt Zn 17 18.21 53.87 20.92 1.24 15 43 60

Abbreviations
t = tonne; kt = kilotonne (1,000 t); Mt = million tonne (1,000,000 t).
Where an element symbol follows the unit it refers to contained metal content.

Notes
Reserve Life = Ore Reserves ÷ Production.
Resource Life 1 = Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources ÷ Production.
Resource Life 2 = (Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources + Inferred Mineral Resources) ÷ Production.

  1. The number of operating mines counts individual mines that operated during 2022 and thus contributed to production. Some of these mines may belong to larger, multi-mine operations and some may have closed during or since 2022.
  2. The majority of Australian Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources are reported in compliance with the JORC Code, however there are a number of companies that report to foreign stock exchanges using other reporting codes, which are largely equivalent. In addition, Geoscience Australia may hold confidential information for some commodities. Ore Reserves are as at 31 December 2022. NB: Not all operating mines report Ore Reserves.
  3. Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources are inclusive of the Ore Reserves. Mineral Resources are as at 31 December 2022. NB: Not all operating mines report Mineral Resources.
  4. Inferred Mineral Resources are as at 31 December 2022. NB: Not all operating mines report Mineral Resources.
  5. Mining production from Office of the Chief Economist, Department of Industry, Science and Resources (Resources and Energy Quarterly, September 2023), unless otherwise stated. Production data often have a higher level of certainty than reserve and resource estimates and, thus, may be presented with more significant figures.
  6. Antimony production from company reports (Mandalay Resources Ltd).
  7. Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources for black coal are presented on a recoverable basis. These are Geoscience Australia estimates unless provided by the company.
  8. Mine production refers to raw coal.
  9. Cobalt production data from Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Western Australian Government (2022 Major Commodities Resource Data File) and company reports (Mallee Resources Ltd).
  10. Lithium production data from Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Western Australian Government (2022 Major Commodities Resource Data File), production of lithium estimated assuming 6% Li2O in spodumene concentrates. Core Lithium Ltd reported production from Finniss in the Northern Territory of 15,000 dry metric tonnes of 1.4% Li2O direct shipping ore.
  11. Australian manganese production from Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Western Australian Government (2022 Major Commodities Resource Data File) and company reports (OM Holdings Ltd and South 32 Ltd).
  12. Australian mineral sands production data based on estimates from New South Wales Government Department of Regional New South Wales (pers. comm.), Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety Western Australian Government (2022 Major Commodities Resource Data File), South Australia Department for Energy and Mining (Report Book 2023/00034), and Northern Territory Department of Industry Tourism and Trade (2022 Northern Territory Mining Production).
  13. Rare earths comprise rare earth oxides (REO) and yttrium oxide (Y2O3).
  14. Rare earths production is based on Western Australian production of concentrates from Mount Weld (15,616 t) and estimated from heavy mineral concentrate produced at Coburn, assuming 10% of concentrate is monazite and 60% of monazite is REO (600 t).
  15. Major silver producing mines only; many gold and copper mines also produce silver as a by-product but these are not counted here.
  16. The Office of the Chief Economist reports tin production of 9.0 kt in 2022. Renison, Australia’s only significant tin mine, reports 8.4 kt. Additional production is as by-product from other operations such as Greenbushes.
  17. Tungsten production is Geoscience Australia estimate based on company correspondence (Tasmania Mines Pty Ltd) and company reports (EQ Resources Ltd).
  18. Uranium production from company reports (BHP Ltd and Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd).

Ore Reserves at other mines and deposits

Australia's Identified Mineral Resources covers 36 mineral commodities, of which 31 have estimated Ore Reserves and 27 were actually in production in 2022 (Table 2). For some commodities (e.g. antimony, magnesite and bauxite) all of the Ore Reserves are associated with operating mines (Figure 1). For most commodities (e.g. lithium, gold and rare earths), Ore Reserves are also attributable to mines on care and maintenance, mines under development and, in some cases, undeveloped deposits. Australia's graphite, scandium and vanadium sectors, for example, did not have operating mines in 2022 so Ore Reserves are predominantly attributable to developing mines.

This figure is a bar chart showing the percentage of Ore Reserves attributable to operating mines as a percentage of total Australian Ore Reserves 2022.

Figure 1. Ore Reserves attributable to operating mines as a percentage of total Australian Ore Reserves, 2022.

Table 2. Australia's Estimated Ore Reserves1 as at December 2022.

CommodityUnit Proved Ore Reserves Probable Ore Reserves Proven & Probable Ore Reserves2 Total Ore Reserves Mine Production3 Reserve Life (years)
Antimony kt Sb 13.1 6.4 0 19.5 2.34 8
Bauxite Mt 753 882 0 1,634 102.3 16
Black Coal Mt 6,977 6,759 1,386 15,121 5205 29
Brown Coal Mt n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a 39.16 n.a.
Chromium kt Cr 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cobalt kt Co 193 421 0 614 5.87 106
Copper Mt Cu 9.28 18.14 0 27.43 0.82 33
Diamond Mc 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fluorine kt F 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gold t Au 1,029 3,619 0 4,648 306 15
Graphite Mt 1.4 3.6 0 5.0 0 n.a.
HPA Ore8 Mt 0.2 1.0 0.0 1.2 0 n.a.
Iron
Iron ore Mt 7,822 14,907 0 22,729 945 24
Contained iron Mt Fe 3,758 6,649 0 10,407 584 18
Lead Mt Pb 5.86 4.36 0 10.22 0.44 23
Lithium kt Li 548 4,246 0 4,794 759 64
Magnesite Mt MgCO3 10 3 24 37 0.510 44
Manganese Ore Mt 47 45 17 109 4.511 24
Mineral Sands
Ilmenite Mt 34.3 37.8 0 72.1 0.712 98
Rutile Mt 6.8 5.2 0 12.1 0.212 76
Zircon Mt 15.2 15.4 0 30.6 0.512 65
Molybdenum kt Mo 0 253 0 253 0.27713 900
Nickel Mt Ni 3.0 5.6 0 8.6 0.16 54
Niobium kt Nb 58 0 0 58 n.a.14 n.a.
PGE t metal 0 51.3 0 51.3 0.49215 104
Phosphate
Phosphate rock16 Mt 15 28 81 124 >0.417 <310
Contained Mt P2O5 Mt P2O5 4 9 20 33 n.a. n.a.
Potash Mt K2O 2.8 15.4 0 18.3 <0.0118 n.a.
Rare Earths19 Mt oxide 1.80 1.48 0 3.27 0.01620 205
Scandium kt Sc 6.02 5.63 0 11.65 0 n.a.
Silver kt Ag 13.97 12.65 0 26.62 1.17 23
Tantalum kt Ta 6.8 21.3 0 28.0 0.121 280
Thorium kt Th 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tin kt Sn 39 278 0 317 9.0 35
Tungsten kt W 21 194 0 215 0.2322 900
Uranium kt U 169 150 0 319 4.55523 70
Vanadium kt V 714 2,257 0 2,971 0 n.a.
Zinc Mt Zn 12.47 8.65 0 21.12 1.24 17

Abbreviations
t = tonne; kt = kilotonnes (1,000 t); Mt = million tonnes (1,000,000 t); Mc = million carats (1,000,000 carats); n.a. = not available; HPA = High Purity Alumina; PGE = platinum group elements (Pt, Pd, Os, Ir, Ru, Rh).
Where an element symbol follows the unit it refers to contained metal content.

Notes
Reserve Life = Ore Reserves ÷ Production.
Figures are rounded so Proved, Probable and Proven & Probable Ore Reserves may not add up to Total Ore Reserves exactly.

  1. The majority of Australian Ore Reserves are reported in compliance with the JORC Code, however there are a number of companies that report to foreign stock exchanges using other reporting codes, which are largely equivalent. In addition, Geoscience Australia may hold confidential information for some commodities.
  2. ‘Proven & Probable Ore Reserves’ is a reporting category distinct from 'Proved Reserves' and 'Probable Reserves'. It is no longer supported by the JORC Code but because some overseas reporting codes still use this category, and some historical resources fall into this category, it is included in this table.
  3. Mining production from Office of the Chief Economist, Department of Industry, Science and Resources (Resources and Energy Quarterly, September 2023), unless otherwise stated. Production data often have a higher level of certainty than reserve and resource estimates and, thus, may be presented with more significant figures.
  4. Antimony production from company reports (Mandalay Resources Ltd).
  5. Black coal production refers to raw coal.
  6. Australian production of brown coal is sourced from the Victorian State Government, Earth Resources Regulation, Annual Statistical Report FY 2022.
  7. Cobalt production data from Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Western Australian Government (2022 Major Commodities Resource Data File) and company reports (Mallee Resources Ltd).
  8. Australia's high purity alumina ore is primarly kaolin, but other ore types are also possible.
  9. Lithium production data from Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Western Australian Government (2022 Major Commodities Resource Data File), production of lithium estimated assuming 6% Li2O in spodumene concentrates. Core Lithium Ltd reported production from Finniss in the Northern Territory of 15,000 dry metric tonnes of 1.4% Li2O direct shipping ore.
  10. Australian magnesite production from South Australia Department for Energy and Mining (Report Book 2023/00034), confidential data from the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines, and assumed minor production from New South Wales.
  11. Australian manganese production from Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Western Australian Government (2022 Major Commodities Resource Data File) and company reports (OM Holdings Ltd and South 32 Ltd).
  12. Australian mineral sands production data based on estimates from New South Wales Government Department of Regional NSW (pers. comm.), Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety Western Australian Government (2022 Major Commodities Resource Data File), South Australia Department for Energy and Mining (Report Book 2023/00034), and Northern Territory Department of Industry Tourism and Trade (2022 Northern Territory Mining Production).
  13. Australian molybdenum production for 2021-22 from company reports (Newcrest Mining Ltd).
  14. There are no mines producing niobium as a primary product in Australia but it is likely produced in concentrate or as a by-product at some lithium/tantalum operations, but these data have not been reported.
  15. Platinum and palladium production data from Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Western Australian Government (2022 Major Commodities Resource Data File).
  16. Phosphate rock is reported as being economic at grades ranging from 8.7% to 30.2% P2O5.
  17. Phosphate production based on company correspondence (413,763 t from Christmas Island; Phosphate Resources Ltd), 663 t recorded by the South Australia Department for Energy and Mining (Report Book 2023/00034) and confidential data from the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines.
  18. Australian potash production (2,696 tonnes) from company reports (Kalium Lakes Ltd).
  19. Rare earths comprise rare earth oxides (REO) and yttrium oxide (Y2O3).
  20. Rare earths production is based on Western Australian production of concentrates from Mount Weld (15,616 t) and estimated from heavy mineral concentrate produced at Coburn, assuming 10% of concentrate is monazite and 60% of monazite is REO (600 t).
  21. Tantalum production data from Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Western Australian Government (2022 Major Commodities Resource Data File). Production represents a maximum as no correction has been made for actual tantalite concentration in reported concentrates.
  22. Tungsten production is Geoscience Australia estimate based on company correspondence (Tasmania Mines Pty Ltd) and company reports (EQ Resources Ltd).
  23. Uranium production from company reports (BHP Ltd and Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd).

10 CRIRSCO is the Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards.

11 Australian Institute of Geoscientists. JORC Code Update.

12 Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee, JORC Summary Paper of Key Issues and Work Plan.