AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2007 AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2007 Australian Government Geoscience Australia Industry, Tourism and Resources Portfolio Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources: The Hon. Ian Macfarlane, MP Parliamentary Secretary: The Hon. Bob Baldwin, MP Geoscience Australia* Chief Executive Officer: Dr Neil Williams © Commonwealth of Australia, 2007 This work is copyright. Apart from any fair dealings for the purposes of study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Copyright is the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer, Geoscience Australia. Requests and enquiries should be directed to the Chief Executive Officer, Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378, Canberra ACT 2601. ABN: 80 091 799 039 Geoscience Australia has tried to make the information in this product as accurate as possible. However, it does not guarantee that the information is totally accurate or complete. Therefore, you should not rely solely on this information when making a commercial decision. ISSN 1327-1466 Bibliographic reference: Geoscience Australia 2007. Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources 2007. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. FRONT COVER: Nelson Point iron ore port facilities, Western Australia (BHP Billiton Ltd) DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Lindy Gratton, Geospatial Applications and Visualisation (GAV), Geoscience Australia AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2007 Foreword Geoscience Australia provides important information on Australia’s future capacity to produce mineral resources. Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources is an annual nation-wide assessment of Australia’s ore reserves and mineral resources, which takes a long term view of what is potentially economic. Data on mining company estimates of ore reserves (JORC Code), which are generally based on short- to medium-term commercial considerations, are included for comparison. The assessment also includes evaluations of long-term trends in mineral resources, international rankings, summaries of significant exploration results, brief reviews of mining industry developments, and an analysis of mineral exploration expenditure across Australia. Comparable information on petroleum resources is published in another Geoscience Australia publication: Oil and Gas Resources of Australia. Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources provides technical information on mineral and energy resources, which is used in formulating Australian Government policies and reproduced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It also provides government, industry, the investment sector and general community with an informed understanding of Australia’s known mineral endowment and levels of exploration activity. Australia’s resource stocks remain healthy overall, although there has been a levelling off of resource trends for several major commodities, eg. nickel and copper. Reflecting strong world demand for mineral resources, expansions in mine production of thermal coal, iron ore and other commodities continued in 2006 and the mineral resources sector overall contributed substantively to Australia’s prosperity – economically, environmentally and socially. The ‘minerals boom’ in the Australian economy continued during 2006. Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics reported that in 2006–07, the value of Australia’s exports of mineral and energy commodities (excluding petroleum and gas) was $90.8 billion which represented about 42% of the value of total exports of goods and services from Australia. The ability of Australia’s minerals sector to sustain its strong recent growth remains dependent on effective exploration, leading to discovery and development of new ore deposits. Successful exploration outcomes rely heavily upon continuing updates of pre-competitive geoscience data by government agencies. In particular, there is a need for state-of-the-art geoscientific synthesis and integrated research to reduce risks in identifying exploration targets in prospective frontier regions. In 2006–07, Geoscience Australia embarked on a major program, extending over five years, to better understand the geological potential of onshore Australia for both minerals and petroleum. The research will apply the latest developments in geophysical imaging and mapping technologies, including seismic, airborne electromagnetics and radiometrics. These will assist in defining the potential for new mineral energy sources and also highlight the potential for geothermal energy from heat producing terrains under blankets of sedimentary cover. Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources provides fundamental data in support of this work and industry exploration programs. Much of the data can be accessed in a spatial context through the online Atlas of Australia’s Mineral Resources, Mines and Processing Centres. The atlas, at www.australianminesatlas.gov.au, has a web-based GIS (geographic information system) format and shows the location of mineral and energy resources, mines and production/processing centres. i Neil Williams Chief Executive Officer Geoscience Australia AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2007 ii AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2007 Contents Foreword . i Summary . 1 Introduction . 2 Trends in Australia’s Economic Demonstrated Resources of major mineral commodities . 5 COMMODITY REVIEWS Bauxite . 12 Black coal . 13 Brown coal . 21 Coal bed methane . 23 Copper. 24 Diamond . 28 Gold . 29 Iron ore . 36 Lithium. 44 Magnesite. 44 Manganese ore . 46 Mineral sands . 48 Molybdenum . 52 Nickel . 53 Niobium. 58 Phosphate . 58 Shale oil. 60 Tantalum . 61 Thorium. 62 Tin. 64 Tungsten . 66 Uranium. 67 Vanadium. 73 Zinc, lead, silver. 74 PRODUCTION AND RESOURCE LIFE Production and resource life . 80 EXPLORATION Exploration. 84 Exploration outcomes . 86 Outlook for exploration . 87 Exploration stage . 87 Exploration drilling. 87 World exploration. 87 Offshore mineral exploration in Commonwealth waters. 88 iii APPENDICES Appendix 1: Abbreviations and acronyms . 89 Appendix 2: National classification system for identified mineral resources. 90 Appendix 3: Staff – Resources and Advice, Minerals Exploration Promotion Projects . 95 AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2007 TABLES Table 1: Australia’s resources of major minerals and world figures as at December 2006 Table 2: Australian gold production 2002 to 2006 Table 3: Estimated thorium resources by country Table 4: Correlation of resource classification schemes for uranium Table 5: Uranium resources in States and Northern Territory at December 2006 Table 6: Australian production and exports of selected mineral products 2006 Table 7: Years of Accessible Economic Demonstrated Resources (AEDR) at the production levels for the year (rounded to nearest 5 years) Table 8: Australian mineral exploration expenditure by commodity, 2005 and 2006 (Source: ABS) Table 9: Australian mineral exploration expenditure by State, 2005 and 2006 (Source: ABS) FIGURES Figure 1: Trends in Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR) for major commodities since 1975 Figure 2: Australian mineral exploration expenditures by commodity in constant 2005–06 dollars (Based on ABS data deflated by Consumer Price Index series). Figure 3: Australian mineral exploration expenditures, excluding gold and base metals, in constant 2005–06 dollars (Based on ABS data deflated by Consumer Price Index series). Figure 4: Australian mineral exploration spending by commodity (Source: ABS) Figure 5: Australian mineral exploration spending by State (Source: ABS) Figure 6: Distribution of world non-ferrous mineral exploration budgets, 2006 (Source: Metals Economics Group) PHOTOGRAPHS Photo 1: Nelson Point iron ore port facilities, Western Australia (BHP Billiton Ltd) Photo 2: Loading manganese ore at Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory (Groote Eylandt Mining Company) Photo 3: Loading coal at the Poitrel mine, Queensland (BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance) Photo 4: Isaac Plains coal handling and preparation plant, Queensland (Aquila Resources Ltd) Photo 5: Kalgoorlie Super Pit, Western Australia (Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines Ltd) Photo 6: The Koolan Island iron ore mine, Western Australia (Mount Gibson Iron Ltd) Photo 7: Loading iron ore at the Port of Geraldton, Western Australia (Midwest Corporation Ltd) Photo 8: Bootu Creek manganese ore mine, Northern Territory (OM Holdings Ltd) Photo 9: Concentration plant at Collingwood tin mine, Queensland (MetalsX Ltd) Photo 10: Hydrated uranium oxide (‘yellowcake’) in 200 litre drums ready for shipment, Beverley in-situ leach uranium operation, South Australia (Heathgate Resources Ltd) Photo 11: Dragline removing overburden at the Blackwater Mine, Queensland (BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance) Photo 12: Iron ore exploration at Mount Weld, Western Australia (Midwest Corporation Ltd) iv AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2007 Summary Australia’s economic demonstrated resources (EDR) of the following mineral commodities increased during 2006 – black coal, copper, gold, iron ore, rutile, zircon, platinum group metals, silver, tin, tungsten and vanadium. EDR of bauxite, cobalt, diamond (gem and.