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MINERAL, OIL AND GAS RESOURCES
The statistics of available mineral resources provided in table 16.1 are obtained from the annual publication Australia's Identified Mineral Resources produced by Geoscience Australia. They provide an indication of the extent of mineral resources available for extraction with the main focus being on economic demonstrated resources (EDR).
EDR is a measure of the resources that are established, analytically demonstrated or assumed with reasonable certainty to be profitable for extraction or production under defined investment assumptions. Classifying a mineral resource as EDR reflects a high degree of certainty as to the size and quality of the resource and its economic viability.
Australia has the world's largest EDR of brown coal (recoverable), lead, rutile, zircon, nickel, tantalum, uranium and zinc, and ranks second in the world for bauxite, copper, gold, ilmenite and silver. In addition, Australia's EDR for industrial diamonds is ranked third and manganese ore is ranked fourth largest in the world. Table 16.1 shows the importance, in a global sense, of the main mineral resources in Australia.
16.1 ECONOMIC DEMONSTRATED RESOURCES OF MAJOR MINERALS - December 2005
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| Mineral | Quantity | Australia | World | Australia's
percentage
of world EDR | Australia's
ranking in world
holdings of EDR |
|
| Bauxite | Gt | 5.8 | 25 | 23 | 2nd |
| Black coal |  | | | | |
| In situ | Gt | 55.8 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Recoverable | Gt | 39.2 | (a)739 | 5 | 6th |
| Brown coal | | | | | |
| In situ | Gt | 41.5 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Recoverable | Gt | 37.4 | (a)155 | 24 | 1st |
| Copper(b) | Mt Cu | 41.4 | 490 | 8 | 2nd |
| Diamond | | | | | |
| Gem and near gem(c) | Mc | 124.2 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Industrial | Mc | 129.2 | 614 | 21 | 3rd |
| Gold(b) | t Au | 5225 | 42,225 | 12 | 2nd |
| Iron ore | Gt | 16.4 | 160 | 10 | 5th |
| Lead(b) | Mt Pb | 23.8 | 75 | 32 | 1st |
| Lithium(b) | kt Li | 170 | 4,100 | 4 | (d) |
| Manganese ore | Mt | 143 | 1,200 | 12 | 4th |
| Mineral sands | | | | | |
| Ilmenite | Mt | 214.9 | 1,115 | 19 | 2nd |
| Rutile | Mt | 20.5 | 51 | 40 | 1st |
| Zircon | Mt | 32.9 | 77 | 43 | 1st |
| Nickel(b) | Mt Ni | 23.9 | 64.1 | 37 | 1st |
| Silver(b) | kt Ag | 44 | 283 | 16 | 2nd |
| Tantalum(b) | kt Ta | 52 | 55 | 95 | 1st |
| Uranium(b)(e) | kt U | 716 | (f)1,947 | 37 | 1st |
| Zinc(b) | Mt Zn | 41.8 | 228 | 18 | 1st |
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(a) Geoscience Australia estimate.
(b) Quantity measured in contained metal.
(c) Detailed data are not available on world resources of gem/near gem diamond but Australia has one of the largest stocks for this category.
(d) According to United States Geological Survey estimates, Chile holds about 73% of the world's lithium resources followed by China 13%, Brazil 4.6% and Canada with just over 4%. However, resource data are not available for some important producing countries including Argentina and Russia. Lithium brine resources, now the dominant feedstock for lithium carbonate production, are produced dominantly by Chile. China and Australia have the most significant resources of lithium minerals.
(e) Refer to Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2005 for comparison of resource categories in the national scheme with those of the international scheme for classifying uranium resources.
(f) Source: OECD Nuclear Energy Agency & International Atomic Energy Agency (OECD/NEA & IAEA) (2006). Compiled from the most recent data for resources recoverable at <US$40/kilogram of uranium. Data for the United States of America is not available for this category. |
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| Source: Geoscience Australia, 'Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2006'. |
During the year ended December 2005 significant increases in Australia's EDR were recorded for diamond (132%) and iron ore (12%) (table 16.2). The increase in Australia's diamond EDR is due to a decision to proceed with underground mining at the Argyle mine and a related upgrade of around half of the mineral resource to ore reserve. The factors behind the increase in Australia's iron ore EDR are the inclusion of several deposits for the first time - Brockman 4, Cape Lambert, Cloud Break, Jack Hills (all in Western Australia) and Frances Creek (Northern Territory) and large increases at the Christmas Creek and Southdown deposits (both in Western Australia).
16.2 ECONOMIC DEMONSTRATED RESOURCES OF SELECTED MINERALS
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| | Australia | World |
| |
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|
| Mineral | Quantity | 2004 | 2005 | % change | 2004 | 2005 | % change |
|
| Bauxite | Gt | 5.7 | 5.8 | 1.8 | 23.0 | 25.0 | 8.7 |
| Coal(a) | Gt | 77.9 | 76.6 | -1.7 | 899.0 | 894.0 | -0.6 |
| Copper(b) | Mt Cu | 42.1 | 41.4 | -1.7 | 490.0 | 490.0 | - |
| Diamond(c) | Mc | 55.6 | 129.2 | 132.4 | 580.0 | 614.0 | 5.9 |
| Gold(b) | t Au | 5,589 | 5,225 | -6.5 | 42,000.0 | 42,225.0 | 0.5 |
| Iron ore | Gt | 14.6 | 16.4 | 12.3 | 160.0 | 160.0 | - |
| Lead(b) | Mt Pb | 22.9 | 23.8 | 3.9 | 70.0 | 75.0 | 7.1 |
| Lithium(b) | kt Li | 170 | 170 | - | (d)4,110.0 | (d)4,100.0 | -0.2 |
| Manganese ore | Mt | 133 | 143 | 7.5 | 1,175.0 | 1,200.0 | 2.1 |
| Mineral sands(e) | Mt | 267.4 | 268.3 | 0.3 | 1,214.0 | 1,243.0 | 2.4 |
| Nickel(b) | Mt Ni | 22.6 | 23.9 | 5.8 | 61.8 | 64.1 | 3.7 |
| Silver(b) | kt Ag | 41.4 | 44 | 6.3 | 280.0 | 283.0 | 1.1 |
| Tantalum(b) | kt Ta | 53 | 52 | -1.9 | 56.0 | 55.0 | -1.8 |
| Uranium(b) | kt U | 701 | 716 | 2.1 | (d)1,743.0 | (d)1,947.0 | 11.7 |
| Zinc(b) | Mt Zn | 41.0 | 41.8 | 2.0 | 222.0 | 228.0 | 2.7 |
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(a) Recoverable black and brown coal.
(b) Quantity measured in contained metal.
(c) Industrial diamond only. Data are not available on world resources of gem/near gem diamond but Australia has stocks among the largest for this category.
(d) Excludes the United States of America.
(e) Includes ilmenite, rutile and zircon. |
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| Source: Geoscience Australia, 'Australia's Identified Mineral Resources', 2005 and 2006 issues. |
Australia's oil and gas resources encompass crude oil, condensate, naturally occurring liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas. EDR for oil and gas are resources which are judged to be economically extractable and for which the quantity and quality are computed partly from specific measurements, and partly from extrapolation for a reasonable distance on geological evidence. Subeconomic demonstrated resources (SDR) are similar to EDR in terms of certainty of occurrence but are considered to be potentially economic only in the foreseeable future.
The information presented in table 16.3 is obtained from the annual publication Oil and Gas Resources of Australia, produced by Geoscience Australia. The table shows that between 2001 and 2005, EDR for crude oil reserves and LPG fell by 19% and 27% respectively. Sales gas reserves increased by 17% and condensate by less than 1% over this period. Decreases in oil reserves are mainly due to production exceeding discoveries in the period while recent gas discoveries have been the main contributor to the increase in condensate and gas reserves. SDR decreased for all oil and gas resources between 2001 and 2005.
16.3 OIL AND GAS RESOURCES - 1 January
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| | Crude oil | Condensate | LPG | Sales gas |
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| | gigalitres | million
barrels | gigalitres | million
barrels | gigalitres | million
barrels | billion
cubic metres | trillion
cubic feet |
|
| Economic demonstrated resources | | | | | | | | |
| 2001 | 194 | 1,222 | 300 | 1,889 | 292 | 1,835 | 2,203 | 78 |
| 2002 | 206 | 1,295 | 289 | 1,821 | 293 | 1,845 | 2,667 | 94 |
| 2003 | 176 | 1,108 | 276 | 1,737 | 274 | 1,726 | 2,528 | 89 |
| 2004 | 187 | 1,175 | 284 | 1,787 | 235 | 1,481 | 2,594 | 92 |
| 2005 | 157 | 988 | 301 | 1,894 | 214 | 1,343 | 2,587 | 91 |
| Subeconomic demonstrated resources | | | | | | | | |
| 2001 | 87 | 546 | 119 | 749 | 86 | 540 | 1,618 | 57 |
| 2002 | 68 | 427 | 115 | 724 | 79 | 499 | 1,499 | 53 |
| 2003 | 68 | 426 | 109 | 683 | 79 | 498 | 1,518 | 54 |
| 2004 | 79 | 494 | 113 | 713 | 78 | 493 | 1,504 | 53 |
| 2005 | 81 | 507 | 114 | 720 | 78 | 492 | 1,482 | 52 |
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| Source: Geoscience Australia, 'Oil and Gas Resources of Australia', 2002, 2003 and 2004 issues. |
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