World Rankings
Australia’s EDR of gold, iron ore, lead, rutile, tantalum, uranium, zinc and zircon were the world’s largest in 2018 (Table 8). Another 16 commodities ranked in the top five for world economic resources: antimony, bauxite, black coal, brown coal, cobalt, copper, diamond, ilmenite, lithium, manganese ore, nickel, niobium, silver, tin, tungsten and vanadium (Table 8). Australia’s ranking for economic resources of lithium went from third in the world in 2017 to second in 2018, but Australia’s rankings for nickel, magnesite and silver resources fell one position each in 2018 to second, sixth and third, respectively. In addition, it should be noted that Australia’s high rankings for niobium and tantalum are based on published estimates of economic resources and, therefore, do not consider the large, but undocumented, resources of the Congo.
In 2018, Australia was the top global producer for bauxite, iron ore and rutile (all bulk commodities), as well as lithium, which is becoming increasingly important for battery storage technologies. Australia was the second largest producer of gold, lead, rare earths and zircon; the third largest producer of cobalt, diamond, ilmenite, manganese ore and zinc; and the fourth largest producer of antimony, black coal and uranium in 2018 (Table 8).
Table 8. World ranking for Australia’s mineral resources (EDR) and production as at December 2018
| Commodity | World Ranking for Resources | Share of World Resources | World Ranking for Production | Share of World Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antimony | 4 | 9% | 4 | 3% |
| Bauxite | 2 | 17% | 1 | 30% |
| Black Coal (recoverable) | 4 | 10% | 4 | 8% |
| Brown Coal (recoverable) | 2 | 24% | 6 | 6% |
| Chromium | n.a. | n.a. | 0 | 0% |
| Cobalt | 2 | 19% | 3 | 5% |
| Copper | 2 | 11% | 6 | 4% |
| Diamond | 5 | 2% | 3 | 23% |
| Fluorine | minor | minor | 0 | 0% |
| Gold | 1 | 19% | 2 | 10% |
| Graphite | 8 | 2% | 0 | 0% |
| Ilmenite | 2 | 19% | 3 | 15% |
| Iron Ore | 1 | 29% | 1 | 36% |
| Lead | 1 | 38% | 2 | 11% |
| Lithium | 2 | 30% | 1 | 63% |
| Magnesite | 6 | 4% | minor | minor |
| Manganese Ore | 5 | 13% | 3 | 15% |
| Molybdenum | 8 | 1% | 0 | 0% |
| Nickel | 2 | 23% | 6 | 6% |
| Niobium | 3 | 4% | unknown | unknown |
| Oil Shale | n.a. | n.a. | 0 | 0% |
| Phosphate | 9 | 2% | minor | minor |
| PGE | minor | minor | minor | minor |
| Potash | 11 | 1% | 0 | 0% |
| Rare Earths | 6 | 3% | 2 | 11% |
| Rutile | 1 | 50% | 1 | 27% |
| Scandium | unknown | unknown | 0 | 0% |
| Silver | 3 | 16% | 6 | 5% |
| Tantalum | 1 | 67% | 7 | 3% |
| Thorium | n.a. | n.a. | 0 | 0% |
| Tin | 4 | 9% | 8 | 2% |
| Tungsten | 2 | 11% | minor | minor |
| Uranium | 1 | 34% | 3 | 12% |
| Vanadium | 3 | 20% | 0 | 0% |
| Zinc | 1 | 29% | 3 | 9% |
| Zircon | 1 | 63% | 2 | 25% |
Abbreviations
n.a. = not applicable because Australia has no Economic Demonstrated Resources of that particular commodity.
Notes
Minor = <1% of global economic resources and/or production, therefore Australia’s ranking unable to be determined.
Unknown = production is likely to have occurred during the year but quantities are not publically available.
World rankings determined by comparing Australia's EDR and production to economic resources and production reported for other countries, see sources below.
Sources
USGS (Mineral Commodity Summaries 2019), OECD Nuclear Energy Agency/International Atomic Energy Agency (The Red Book 2018), World Nuclear Association (World Uranium Mining Production, August 2019 update), BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2019, International Energy Agency (Coal Information 2019 Overview), BGR Energy Study 2018 and Geoscience Australia.
