The latest Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources (AIMR) report is out, highlighting the nation’s globally significant deposits of minerals.

Resources Minister Madeleine King launched the report, published by Geoscience Australia, at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention in Toronto, Ontario. 

Ms King said government investment in precompetitive geoscience was critical to understanding quite literally what Australia was made of and to maintaining a pipeline of new critical mineral investment opportunities into the future.”

The latest AIMR report draws on figures from 2022, when Australia produced 27 minerals, 15 of which ranked in the top five for global supply. 

Of these 15, Australia ranked number one in the world for economic resources of gold, iron ore, lead, nickel, rutile, uranium, zinc and zircon. 

Other highlights from AIMR 2023 include:  

• Investment in mineral exploration increased by 13 per cent in 2022, to $4 billion.  
• Australia remained the world’s largest producer of lithium (52 per cent of the global total)
• Australia also ranked as the world’s largest producer of bauxite, iron ore and rutile.  
• It was the world’s fifth largest producer of black coal, and held the fourth largest share of global resources, accounting for 10 per cent of the world’s economic inventory.
• Uranium production was up 20 per cent.   

Additionally, 13 critical minerals saw their Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR) increase significantly during 2022.

This included manganese ore (up by 79 per cent), platinum group elements (up by 45 per cent), and rare earth elements (up by 34 per cent). In addition, the EDR of tin, a strategic material, was up by 6 per cent.  

Drawing on over 45 years of data, AIMR 2023 identifies important trends in reserves, resources and mine production, and provides a snapshot of potential resource life and future supply capability.  

The AIMR digital publication is available at: https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/minerals/mineral-resources-and-advice/aimr