Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 17—Mining 679
17.4 MINERAL PRODUCTION, Selected Minerals, Australia
Units 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97(a) 1997–98
Metallic minerals
Bauxite ’000 t 43 306 45 384 50 724 46 874 50 418
Copper concentrate(b) ’000 t (c)1338 (c)9423 (c)1316 1 769 1 665
Gold bullion (dore)(d) kg 274 687 298 697 291 965 296 398 330 095
Iron ore(e) ’000 t 123 631 137 525 137 267 162 480 169 568
Lead concentrate ’000 t 873 766 774 782 943
Mineral sands(f) ’000 t 2 252 2 375 2 491 3 044 3 198
Uranium oxide (U3O8)(g) t 2 751 2 631 5 105 5 996 5 797
Zinc concentrate(h) ’000 t 1 890 1 699 1 295 2 070 2 029
Total value of metallic minerals $m (i)10 861 (i)11 715 12 708 13 617 14 895
Coal
Black coal ’000 t 177 874 191 903 194 492 206 169 225 181
Brown coal ’000 t 49 684 50 679 54 281 58 886 68 638
Total value of coal $m
(j)(k)7
418
(j)(k)7
340 (k)8 006 (k)9 089 (k)9 918
Oil and gas
Crude oil(l) ML 29 583 31 301 30 763 29 556 32 310
Natural gas(m) GL 15 959 17 486 19 169 n.a. n.a.
Ethane GL 202 208 199 n.a. n.a.
Propane(n) GL 2 115 1 999 2 092 2 142 2 421
Butane(n) GL 1 622 1 480 1 544 1 584 1 883
Liquefied natural gas ’000 t 5 732 6 888 7 346 n.a. n.a.
Total value of oil and gas $m 7 423 7 683 8 070 8 823 9 303
Total value of metallic minerals,
coal, oil and gas $m 25 702 26 738 28 784 31 529 34 116
(a) Break in series—data for 1996–97 derived solely from information supplied through the ABS mining collection. Data for prior
years derived from information supplied by State mines departments or directly to the ABS, supplemented in some cases by data
from other sources. (b) Includes copper precipitate. (c) Excludes South Australia. (d) Includes alluvial gold. (e) Includes iron ore
pellets. (f) Includes ilmenite, beneficiated ilmenite, leucoxene, monazite, rutile, synthetic rutile and zircon. (g) Uranium figures
supplied from Australian Commodity Statistics, 1999 (ABARE). (h) Includes zinc-lead concentrate and lead-zinc concentrate.
(i) Includes Tasmanian coal production. (j) Excludes Tasmania. (k) Excludes briquettes. (l) Stabilised. Includes condensate.
(m) Includes field and plant usage. (n) Excludes refinery production.
Source: Mining Operations, Australia (8415.0); Australian Commodity Statistics, 1999 (ABARE).
Major commodities
The information in this section has been largely
drawn from the publication Australia’s Identified
Mineral Resources, 1999 published by the
Australian Geological Survey Organisation.
Bauxite and alumina
Australia is the world’s largest producer and
second largest exporter of bauxite, the largest
producer and exporter of alumina, and the fifth
largest producer and third largest exporter of
aluminium.
Generally Australian bauxite ore is not sold, but
is processed to alumina for sale or for conversion
to aluminium. In 1997–98 Australia produced
44.9 million tonnes (Mt) of bauxite, 13.5 Mt
of alumina and 1.6 Mt of primary aluminium.
In 1998–99 some of the major commodity exports
were aluminium with 1.5 Mt valued at $3.3b and
representing 4% of total merchandise exports,
and alumina with 11 Mt, valued at $2.8b or 3% of
total merchandise exports. Japan was the major
market for aluminium, taking 33% of exports.
Bauxite mining employed 1,662 people nationally
at the end of June 1998.
Coal
In 1998 Australia produced 285 Mt of raw coal
which yielded 225 Mt of saleable coal, increases
of 5.1% and 3.6% respectively over 1998. About
71% of Australia’s raw coal production came from
open-cut mines. In 1998 Australia accounted for
about 7% of the world’s recoverable Economic
Demonstrated Resources (EDR) of black coal and
produced about 6% of the world’s saleable black
coal output.