Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King debuted the 2023 ‘Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources’ report at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention.
King is currently visiting Canada and the US to engage in complex discussions surrounding critical minerals.
The annual ‘Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources’ report is published by Geoscience Australia and draws on more than 45 years of data to track Australia’s known mineral resources. It also details important trends in mine production, and reserve and resource estimates.
The report revealed Australia produces 27 minerals, with 15 of them ranking in the top five for global supply.
Australia was crowned number one globally for economic resources of gold, iron ore, lead, nickel, rutile, uranium, zinc and zircon.
The country is also the world’s largest producer of bauxite, iron ore, rutile, and lithium, with the latter’s production up 36 per cent to a record 75,000 tonnes in 2022.
Australia is also a top five producer of zircon, cobalt, manganese, rare earths, nickel and tantalum.
“Australia’s resources are mined and processed to the highest standards – making them the cleanest and greenest in the world,” King said.
“Our geology means that we are home to globally significant deposits of minerals, these minerals will be crucial as the world turns to renewable technologies to decarbonise.”
Australia’s investment in mineral exploration increased by 13 per cent to $4 billion during 2022.
“Government investment in precompetitive geoscience is critical to understanding quite literally what Australia is made of and to maintaining a pipeline of new critical mineral investment opportunities into the future,” King said.
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