Introduction

Australia’s rich and varied minerals endowment has attracted explorers for many thousands of years and today we walk in the footsteps of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders—Australia’s original mappers and miners. Our modern nation faces the challenge of resourcing the technologies needed to address climate change and the rapid transition to a net-zero economy. Deploying low-emissions technologies at scale provides Australia with the opportunity to strategically expand our world-class mining sector beyond traditional mineral commodities such as iron, coal and gold, so we can supply the nation, and our global partners, with the critical mineral commodities needed for modern economies.

Australia is well-placed to supply many of the critical minerals¹ used in modern technologies such as electric vehicles, battery storage, solar energy and wind farms. In 2021, Australia’s critical minerals sector gained momentum as shown by strong growth in lithium production (up 38%), a massive increase to the economic inventory of platinum group elements (up 131%) and significant increases (up 5% or more) to the scandium, vanadium, cobalt, antimony and tantalum inventories.

In 2021, Australia’s world-leading mining industry remained strong; Australia was a top five global producer for 18 mineral commodities including bauxite, cobalt, gold, lithium, iron ore, nickel, manganese, mineral sands, rare earths and zinc. Australia remained world number one for lithium production, providing 53% of global supply to meet rising demand in the electric vehicle sector. In 2021, Australia also retained its number one production ranking for the bulk commodities of bauxite, iron ore and rutile with the addition of zircon.

During this period, Australia’s mining exports (excluding petroleum products) were worth $295 billion², the sector accounted for 14% of gross domestic product³ and employed some 272,000 people⁴ with many more employed by related industries. Mineral exploration spending of $3.6 billion was the highest seen since 2012 with gold, iron ore and copper leading the way. Indeed, in 2021, Australia hosted the world’s largest economic resources of gold, iron ore, lead, nickel, rutile, uranium, zinc and zircon.

Notable trends in 2021

Iron ore continued to be the lead mineral export commodity for Australia in 2021, worth nearly $155 billion, up from $117 billion in 2020, and comprising more than 52% of total mineral export earnings⁵. In 2021, Australia was also the world’s largest producer of iron ore, providing 36% of world supply and with the largest share of global resources, accounting for 31% of the world’s economic inventory.

Black coal also continued to be an important contributor (nearly 22%) to Australia’s mineral export earnings, contributing more than $63 billion, up from $43 billion in 2020. Metallurgical coal, which is essential to steel production, made up the bulk (58%; $37 billion) of coal earnings.

Falling copper demand during the initial phases of the pandemic was partially offset by a supply squeeze from major producers. In 2021, as the global economy started to recover, demand for the red metal returned and prices reached $12,413/t, up from $8,902/t in 2020. Significant quantities of copper are needed for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. Copper is also needed to build and connect renewable energy assets such as wind turbines and solar panels in order to reduce carbon emissions and support the delivery of a net-zero economy.

This renewed interest in copper flowed through to copper exploration, which increased by 65% from 2020 to a new expenditure high of $550 million⁶, accounting for 15% of all Australian mineral exploration expenditure. As a result, Australia’s national copper inventory increased to more than 100 Mt in 2021, the second largest in the world behind Chile and comprising 11% of global economic resources. Copper accounted for 4% of Australian mineral and metal export earnings in 2021 with an export value of more than $12 billion.

Growing demand for rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and portable devices continued to stimulate lithium production in Australia. In 2021, Australia was the source of more than 50% of global lithium supply and mine expansions (e.g., higher production from Greenbushes, Western Australia) were driven by surging prices. In 2021, the price of spodumene concentrate more than doubled to $1295/t from $626/t in 2020.

In November 2021, Chalice Mining Ltd released a maiden resource for the world-class Gonneville nickel-copper-platinum group element discovery in Western Australia, resulting in Australia’s platinum group element resources increasing by 131%. This discovery was supported by government geoscience and demonstrates that Australia is highly prospective for additional critical mineral opportunities. Flagship programs such as Exploring for the Future⁷, led by Geoscience Australia, are supporting industry to find new discoveries that will help ensure the pipeline of projects needed to meet world demand.

Also of note in 2021, Australia started producing sulphate of potash, an essential fertiliser mineral, at Beyondie in Western Australia. Australia’s potash industry continued to develop with a number of additional projects under advanced development in Western Australia and recoverable, economically viable resources of potash increasing slightly (4%) to 44.2 Mt. Geoscience Australia’s 2013 salt lake study⁸ stimulated potash exploration in Australia and domestic production will reduce reliance on imports and strengthen national food security.

About this publication

Geoscience Australia and its predecessors have prepared the annual assessment of Australia’s mineral resources since 1975. Thus, this publication—Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources (AIMR)—is able to draw on over 40 years of data to reveal trends in reserve estimates, resource estimates and mine production over a range of periods. This assessment also provides useful long-term indicators of potential resource life and future supply capability, including for many critical minerals. AIMR is designed to assist government decision-making on policy, enable mineral-sector program planning, and contribute to the sustainable development of Australia’s mineral resources.

AIMR presents Australia’s Ore Reserves at operating mines (Table 1) and all deposits (Table 2), also longer-term estimates of the nation’s Identified Mineral Resources (Table 3) and changes in resource estimates and production from the previous year (Table 4). It is also of interest to note Australia’s ranking as a global source of minerals (Table 5) as many countries are dependent on reliable supply from Australia for their own economies.

The estimates in AIMR 2022 of Australia’s Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources are as at 31 December 2021, reflecting the status of the national inventory as the pandemic continued for a second year with the emergence of new COVID-19 variants, the vaccine roll-out and ongoing movement restrictions. The data in this and future reports will, therefore, inform government and industry going forward when assessing the short and long-term effects of this health and economic emergency on Australia’s mining sector.

The data in the national minerals inventory is sourced primarily from published company reports but includes some confidential and historical data. The category of highest geological and economic confidence in the national inventory is Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR) which, in essence, combines the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Code categories of Proved and Probable Ore Reserves and most of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources.

Mine production figures are sourced from the Office of the Chief Economist at the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, state government publications and company reports. World rankings of Australia’s mineral resources have been calculated mainly using information published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).