Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 17—Mining 681
Iron ore
Resources of iron ore occur in all Australian States
and the Northern Territory. In 1998 virtually all of
Australia’s EDR were in Western Australia. Small
tonnages occur in South Australia, Tasmania, and
New South Wales. Australian iron ore production
in 1998 is reported by ABARE as 155.7 Mt. Of the
total, 148.9 Mt (95.6%) was won in Western
Australia, 2.5% in Tasmania, and 1.9% in South
Australia. Minor production of iron ore for
non-steel industry use occurred in New South
Wales and Queensland. The depressed state of
the Asian steel sector hindered development
within the Australian iron ore industry during
1998.
Iron ore accounted for $3.8b or 5% of total
merchandise exports in 1998–99. Japan was
Australia’s largest market, taking 46% of exports
in dollar terms. Iron ore mining employed
5,073 people at the end of June 1998.
Manganese ore
Australia’s resources of manganese ore are the
basis of a major mineral export industry as well
as a significant domestic ferromanganese,
silicomanganese and manganese dioxide
processing industry.
With the closure of the mining and processing
operations at Woodie Woodie in the east Pilbara
district in October 1997, Australia’s only
operating manganese mine is on Groote Eylandt.
Lower production from Groote Eylandt, coupled
with the absence of manganese ore production
from the east Pilbara district (WA), resulted in
manganese ore production falling by about
35% to 1.5 Mt in 1998. Australia is now the
world’s sixth largest producer of manganese ore.
In 1998, Australia produced an estimated 10% of
world output.
The value of exports of manganese ore decreased
by about 20% in 1998 to around $166m.
Mineral sands
The principal components of mineral sands are
rutile, ilmenite and zircon. Australia is the world’s
leading producer and largest exporter of all three
minerals. Rutile and ilmenite are titanium
minerals used mainly in the production of
titanium dioxide pigment. Zircon is used as an
opacifier for glazes on ceramic tiles, in
refractories and in the foundry industry.
Australia’s resources of ilmenite increased
substantially during 1998, up from 143.5 Mt in
1997 to 164.3 Mt, an increase of 14.5%. Following
successful initial exploration for coarse-grained
heavy mineral strandlines, most of the Murray
Basin area in New South Wales, Victoria, and
South Australia is now under active exploration.
Production from the first mines in the Murray
Basin was expected to commence in early 2000.
In 1998 Australia produced 2.4 Mt of ilmenite,
240,000 t of rutile and 400,000 t of zircon. The
bulk of Australia’s rutile and zircon production is
exported, and about 55% of the ilmenite output
is exported. The remaining ilmenite production
is upgraded to synthetic rutile containing
92–93% titanium dioxide (TiO2).
In 1998 Australia had the world’s largest EDR
of ilmenite, rutile and zircon with 26%, 39% and
36% respectively, and produced about
36%, 50% and 50% respectively of world output
of these minerals.
The mineral sand mining industry employed
2,147 persons at the end of June 1998.
Nickel
In 1998 Australia’s EDR of nickel increased by
33.7% over 1997, from 6.72 Mt to a record
8.97 Mt, as a result of company reassessments
at either existing mines or new projects nearing
production. Australia is the world’s largest holder
of EDR of nickel.
In 1998 Australian production increased by
15%, to a record level of 933,000 t of nickel
concentrates containing an estimated
142,000 t of nickel. All the production was from
Western Australia. Australia accounted for about
12% of the estimated world nickel output of
1.17 Mt in 1998 and was the third largest
producer after Russia and Canada. Australian
exports of nickel in 1997–98 totalled $1.1b.
Tantalum
Australia is the world’s largest producer of
tantalum (Ta) in the form of tantalum
concentrates, with an output of about 330 t of
contained tantalum in 1998. This was about
75% of the total world output of 438 t. The main
use of tantalum is in the electronics industry,
particularly in the manufacture of tantalum
capacitors. Rapid worldwide growth in the use
of portable electronic devices—such as mobile
phones, computers, and video cameras—has
generated strong growth in demand for tantalum
capacitors in recent years.