Exploration budgets in the Australian mining industry rose by 15% to a seven-year high last year, with the search for new copper and gold finds leading the jump.
The S&P Global Market Intelligence report showed the budget increased for the 3rd consecutive year from 2018 to 2019 by almost $US200M (AUD$306M) to $US1.53B.
Gold and copper were the big winners. Copper exploration jumped by 37% year on year to $US272M in 2019-the biggest rise-while gold maintained its biggest share with 56% of Australia’s total budgets to hit $US853M in 2019.
The buoyancy of Australia’s exploration was in contrast to the rest of the world which has seen investment decline, and Australia’s 16% share of the global budget was a 17-year high.
Western Australia dominated with a 63% share of Australia’s total budget year on year, and a 15% (or $US122M) climb on 2018. Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory took second place with an exploration budget of $US100M to $199.9M.
“It’s very encouraging to see how much energy and investment is going into exploration here”, John Fennell, CEO of the International Copper Association Australia, said.
“Mine site explorations still dominate, but the largest increases in dollar terms and share of country total were grassroots exploration and that speaks to the vibrancy of the industry here”.
“It also speaks to the rise of new technologies and innovation sweeping across the exploration industry here”, Mr Fennell added.
More detail: https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/blog/australian-exploration-budget-trends-2019