australia's identified mineral resources 2004 - Geoscience Australia

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AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2004 Introduction Geoscience Australia (and its predecessors) has prepared annual assessments of Australia’s mineral resources since 1975. The resource data and related information from Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources are used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and provide input into Government policy decisions relating to the minerals sector and sustainable development of mineral resources. Data on Australia’s resources of coal and other energy minerals were used in preparation of the Government’s White Paper on energy entitled ‘Securing Australia’s Energy Future’, which was released in June 2004. In Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources 2004, estimates of Australia’s mineral resources of all major and several minor mineral commodities are reported for 2003 (Table 1). The estimates are based on published and unpublished data available to Geoscience Australia up to the end of December 2003. These resource estimates are compared with national totals of ore reserves for these commodities, as collated by Geoscience Australia from company reports. Mine production data are based on ABARE figures. World ranking of Australia’s mineral resources have been calculated mainly from information in publications of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). A summary of significant industry developments is also presented. Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources 2004 also provides information and analysis on mineral exploration expenditures in Australia for 2002–03, and puts these into perspective by comparisons with exploration expenditures (in real terms) over the preceding 32 years. The mineral resource classification scheme used for Australia’s national inventory is based on two general criteria: i) the geological certainty of existence of the mineral resource, and ii) the economic feasibility of its extraction over the long term (see Appendix 2 ‘National classification system for identified mineral resources’). The classification category, economic demonstrated resources (EDR), is used instead of ‘reserves’ for national totals of economic resources. This is because the term ‘reserves’ has a specific meaning for individual mineral deposits under the criteria of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (known as the JORC Code) used by industry for reporting ore reserves and mineral resources. EDR provide a basis for meaningful comparisons of Australia’s economic resources with those of other nations. Ore is generally mined from resources in the EDR category. Geoscience Australia has estimated the amount of resources within EDR that are currently accessible for development and mining. Some mineral deposits are currently inaccessible for mining because of Government policies, or various environmental and land-use restrictions that prevent mining such as: location within National/State parks and conservation zones, environmental protection issues, and location within military training areas. Accessible economic demonstrated resources (AEDR) as shown in Table 1 represent the resources within EDR that are currently accessible for mining. It should be noted that the factors which restrict access for mining could change or be abolished in future years. As the national ore reserves (OR) figures included in Table 1 are from estimates prepared by companies for mine planning and marketing purposes, they generally have a shorter term outlook than EDR. 8 Long-term trends in EDR for bauxite, black coal, iron ore, gold, copper, nickel, lead, zinc, mineral sands and uranium are presented and the reasons for significant changes in resource trends are discussed. EDR/production, AEDR/production and OR/production ratios provide information on the resource life of Australia’s mineral commodities based on production rates at the time of assessment. Each of these has deficiencies as an indicator of resource life: OR/production is a more conservative (and for some commodities very much more conservative) indicator than EDR/production. The ratios can change quite rapidly, for example as a result of major changes in production rates, changes in metal prices, and other factors.
AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2004 TABLE 1. Australia’s resources of major minerals and world figures as at December 2003. COMMODITY UNITS AUSTRALIA WORLD Demonstrated Resources Economic (EDR) Subeconomic Paramarginal Submarginal Inferred Accessible Resources EDR(b) (a) (AEDR) JORC Reserves(c) (% of AEDR) Mine Production(d) 2003 Economic Demonstrated Resources(e) Mine Production(f) 2003 Antimony kt Sb 85 31 51 56 85 50.8 (60%) – 1800 142 Asbestos Chrysotile ore Crocidolite fibre es kt kt es – – es 46.2 0.4 es – – Bauxite Gt 5.5 0.4 1.7 0.6 5.2 2.1 (40%) 0.056 23 0.14 (e) Black coal in situ recoverable Brown coal in situ recoverable B Gt Gt B Gt Gt B 54.6 38.3 B 41.7 37.5 B 8.1 4.6 43.4 39.0 B 12.7 9.3 B 18.1 16.3 es 75 2 84.7 52.3 B 112 100.8 es – – B 38.2 B 30.0 es – – B es – – es large large es 2.1 (g) 14.2 (h) (37%) 0.358 (i) 776 (j) 3.9 (j)(k) B 2.1 (h) (7%) B 0.068 B 186 (j) 0.9 (j) Cadmium kt Cd 84.4 8.5 23.8 22.5 84.4 68 (81%) 0.38 579 15.0 Cobalt kt Co 1449 164 169 1169 1449 571 (39%) 5.12 6949 46.9 Copper Mt Cu 40.1 3.1 1.2 22.1 40.1 20.1 (50%) 0.829 490 13.9 Diamond gem & near gem industrial D Mc Mc D 72.2 75.1 D 201.4 209.6 D 0.2 0.3 D 20.8 21.6 D 72.2 75.1 D 71.1 (98%) 74 (99%) Fluorine Mt F – 0.2 23.4 18.7 – – – 112 (l) 2.2 (m) Gold t Au 5382 1437 107 2933 5370 3432 (64%) 282 43000 2619 Iron ore Gt 12.4 1.2 1.9 16.7 12.4 4.3 (35%) 0.213 143.0 1.14 Lead Mt Pb 19.3 1.9 9.2 24.9 19.3 10.5 (54%) 0.688 71 2.8 Lithium kt Li 167 54 26 7 167 145 (87%) 3.5 4107 14.5 (m) Magnesite Mt MgCO 3 344 22 35 931 344 37 (11%) 0.473 (n) 7629 11.6 Manganese ore Mt 124.0 23.1 167.0 197.3 124.0 89 (72%) 2.55 967.0 21.0 D 15.2 15.8 D – 580 D 75.8 65.5 Mineral sands Ilmenite Rutile Zircon M Mt Mt Mt M 208.8 21.3 32.2 M 51 12 19 M 0.1 0.1 0.2 M 107 25 26 M 172.4 15.6 24.0 M 40.1 (23%) 3.2 (21%) 5.1 (21%) M 2.01 0.173 0.462 627 49 77 M 8.11 0.42 (m) 0.89 Molybdenum kt Mo 0.4 6.3 3.7 411 0.4 0 – 8600 127 Nickel Mt Ni 22.8 2.3 1.6 16.4 22.8 7 (31%) 0.192 62.8 1.4 Niobium kt Nb 194 115 0 1838 194 21 (11%) (o) 4604 29.8 Phosphate rock Mt 91 981 – 1126 9 91 (100%) 0.922 (p) 0.586 (q) 18000 138 PGM (Pt,Pd,Os,Ir,Ru,Rh) t metal 18.5 153.9 5.4 64.4 14.2 0.1 (1%) 0.61 71000 358 (r) Rare earths (REO & Y 2 O 3 ) Mt 0.2 2.3 11.6 7 0.1 0 (–) – 89 0.10 Shale oil GL 4.6 202 3719 41425 4.6 4.6 (100%) 0.1 95885 (s) 0.47 (t) 9 Silver kt Ag 42.9 9.8 11.8 42.7 42.9 26.8 (62%) 1.868 284 18.8 Tantalum kt Ta 41 34 0.2 78 41 40.3 (98%) 1.02 (u) 43.6 1.24 Tin kt Sn 146 103 135 317 146 129 (88%) 3.818 6100 265 Tungsten kt W 8.6 31.8 27.6 56.7 8.6 0 (–) 0 2900 59.5 Uranium kt U 675 14 33 332 601 435 (72%) 7.57 1716 (v) 35.84 (w) Vanadium kt V 0 779 1807 2475 0 0 (–) 0.389 13000 60 Zinc Mt Zn 34.8 6.3 16.0 31.8 34.9 22.6 (65%) 1.479 222 8.3 See notes on following page.
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