Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2023 Summary of Reserve and Resource Life

Last updated:1 March 2024

Home > AIMR 2023 > Summary of Reserve and Resource Life Summary of Reserve and Resource Life

Summary of Reserve and Resource Life

Australia has vast resources of many of the 36 major and minor mineral commodities covered in this report, as well as unquantified resources of many other minerals, some of which are considered critical or strategic for modern and emerging technologies, and by trading partners.

It is not possible to state with any certainty how long Australia’s resources will last because production rates vary, the economic viability of deposits may change in the future and the rate of new resource delineation rarely matches resource depletion. However, a general impression of the range of possibilities can be gained by deriving the ratio of the various 2022 reserve and resource estimates to 2022 production figures (Table 6). Operating mines have provided the production rates for each commodity and the resulting ratios are an average mine life that assumes the unlikely scenario that no new mines are ever developed, no mines are closed or, if so, other mines make up the shortfall in production.

The reserve and resource life estimations for ‘all deposits’ (Table 6) indicate the potential for longer-term mineral supply in Australia. Using the AEDR/production ratio as the best proxy for a long-term outlook, it is only bauxite, gold and zinc that have resource lives of 50 years or less.

Table 6. Average reserve life and resource life (years) for selected commodities as at December 2022.

Commodity Operating Mines1 All Deposits
Ore Reserves2 Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources3 All Resources4 Ore Reserves5 AEDR6 All Resources7
Bauxite 16 28 49 16 35 80
Black Coal 19 57 93 29 140 300
Cobalt 24 44 49 106 300 530
Copper 26 102 135 33 125 180
Gold 11 26 35 15 40 60
Ilmenite 13 66 75 98 395 755
Iron Ore 12 30 75 24 60 165
Lead 18 59 78 23 80 135
Lithium 50 64 83 64 85 120
Manganese Ore 24 50 66 24 110 250
Nickel 24 50 66 54 150 280
Rutile 6 23 27 75 230 465
Silver 18 60 79 23 80 120
Tin 26 42 47 33 70 120
Uranium 66 220 298 70 270 425
Zinc 15 43 60 17 50 90
Zircon 6 22 25 65 185 325

Notes
Reserve and resource life for each mineral commodity are calculated by dividing the inventory by production. The resulting ratio is a snapshot in time that can only be used for general impressions because it is an average and it assumes (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 and (3) that depleted resources are never replaced.

  1. Operating mines includes all mines that operated during 2022 and thus contributed to production (see Table 1).
  2. Ore Reserves for operating mines, as reported with the JORC Code, plus non-JORC Code equivalents (see Table 1).
  3. Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources for operating mines inclusive of Ore Reserves, as reported with the JORC Code, plus non-JORC Code-equivalents (see Table 1).
  4. All Resources for Operating Mines includes Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources, inclusive of Ore Reserves, as reported with the JORC Code, plus non-JORC Code-equivalents (see Table 1).
  5. Ore Reserves for all deposits as reported with the JORC Code, plus non-JORC Code equivalents (see Table 2).
  6. AEDR for all deposits = Accessible Economic Demonstrated Resources (see Table 3). Figures rounded to nearest five years.
  7. All Resources for all deposits includes Economic Demonstrated Resources, Subeconomic Demonstrated Resources and Inferred Resources (see Table 3). Figures rounded to nearest five years