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The statistics of available mineral resources provided in table 16.11 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 bauxite, lead, mineral sands (ilmenite, rutile and zircon), nickel, silver, tantalum, uranium and zinc, and ranks second in the world for recoverable brown coal with a share of 20%. In addition, Australia's EDR for copper, industrial diamonds and gold are rated the third largest in the world. Table 16.11 shows the importance, in a global sense, of the main mineral resources in Australia.
16.11 ECONOMIC DEMONSTRATED RESOURCES OF MAJOR MINERALS - December 2002
|
| Mineral | Quantity | Australia | World | Australian
percentage
of World EDR | Australia's ranking
in World holdings
of EDR |
|
| Bauxite | Gt | 4.8 | 22 | 22 | 1st |
| Black coal |  | | | | |
| In situ | Gt | 57.5 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Recoverable | Gt | 39.7 | (a)784 | 5 | 6th |
| Brown coal | | | | | |
| In situ | Gt | 41.8 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Recoverable | Gt | 37.6 | (a)187 | 20 | 2nd |
| Copper(b) | Mt Cu | 32.8 | 480 | 7 | 3rd |
| Diamond | | | | | |
| Gem and near gem(c) | Mc | 67.3 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Industrial | Mc | 70.1 | 580 | 12 | 3rd |
| Gold(b) | t Au | 5,415 | 42,500 | 13 | 3rd |
| Iron ore | Gt | 13.0 | 145 | 9 | 4th |
| Lead(b) | Mt Pb | 17.2 | 70 | 27 | 1st |
| Lithium(b) | kt Li | 171.0 | 4,110 | 4 | (d) |
| Manganese ore | Mt | 126.8 | 1,678 | 8 | 4th |
| Mineral sands | | | | | |
| Ilmenite | Mt | 198.2 | 616 | 32 | 1st |
| Rutile | Mt | 23.5 | 51 | 46 | 1st |
| Zircon | Mt | 29.0 | 72 | 40 | 1st |
| Nickel(b) | Mt Ni | 22.2 | 61.2 | 36 | 1st |
| Silver(b) | kt Ag | 40.2 | 310 | 13 | 1st |
| Tantalum(b) | kt Ta | 39.2 | 42 | 93 | 1st |
| Uranium(b)(e) | kt U | 689 | (f)1,569 | 44 | 1st |
| Vanadium(b) | kt V | (g)0 | 13,000 | 0 | n.a. |
| Zinc(b) | Mt Zn | 33.2 | 200 | 17 | 1st |
|
(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 88% of the world's lithium resources, followed by Canada with just over 5% and Australia with just under 5%. However, resource data are not available for some important producing countries including Argentina, China and Russia. Lithium brine resources, now the dominant feedstock for lithium carbonate production, are produced dominantly by Chile. Canada and Australia have the most significant resources of lithium minerals.
(e) Refer to Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2003 for comparison of resource categories in the national scheme with those of the international scheme for classifying uranium resources.
(f) Source: OECD/NEA & IAEA (2001). Compiled from the most recent data for resources recoverable at <US$40/kg U. Data for USA is not available for this category.
(g) EDR of vanadium were reclassified as paramarginal resources following the closure of the Windimurra mine and processing plant, WA. This accounted for more than 97% of Australia's EDR for vanadium.
Source: Geoscience Australia, 'Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2003'. |
During the 12-month period ended December 2002 significant increases in Australia's EDR were recorded for copper (35.5%) and lithium (12.5%) (table 16.12). The factors contributing to the increase in copper include a recompilation of demonstrated resources at the Olympic Dam site in South Australia and recommenced operations at Telfer, and a proposed restart at Boddington, both in Western Australia. All of Australia's lithium resources occur in Western Australia and all EDR occurs in the Greenbushes deposit, in the south-west of the state. The lithium increase is due to a reclassification of resources at the Greenbushes deposit.
Over this same period the EDR for diamonds fell by 15.0% due mainly to production from the Argyle mine. The EDR of vanadium was reclassified to zero following the closure of the Windimurra mine and processing plant in Western Australia, which became non-viable. Ore reserves and resources for this deposit, which accounted for 97% of Australia's vanadium EDR, were reclassified as paramarginal resources. Resources within the Yeelirrie uranium-vanadium deposit were also reassessed by Geoscience Australia to be paramarginal.
16.12 ECONOMIC DEMONSTRATED RESOURCES OF SELECTED MINERALS
|
| | Australia | World |
| |
|
|
| Mineral | Quantity | 2001 | 2002 | % change | 2001 | 2002 | % change |
|
| Bauxite | Gt | 4.6 | 4.8 | 4.3 | 24.0 | 22.0 | -8.3 |
| Coal(a) | Gt | 78.5 | 77.3 | -1.5 | 976.0 | 971.0 | -0.5 |
| Copper(b) | Mt Cu | 24.2 | 32.8 | 35.5 | 355.0 | 480.0 | 35.2 |
| Diamond(c) | Mc | 161.6 | 137.4 | -15.0 | 580.0 | 580.0 | - |
| Gold(b) | t Au | 5,156.0 | 5,415.0 | 5.0 | 50,156.0 | 42,500.0 | -15.3 |
| Iron ore | Gt | 12.4 | 13.0 | 4.8 | 133.6 | 145.0 | 8.5 |
| Lead(b) | Mt Pb | 17.3 | 17.2 | -0.6 | 64.0 | 70.0 | 9.4 |
| Lithium(b) | kt Li | 152.0 | 171.0 | 12.5 | 3,403.0 | 4,110.0 | 20.8 |
| Manganese ore | Mt | 125.0 | 126.8 | 1.4 | 1,878.0 | 1,678.0 | -10.6 |
| Mineral sands(d) | Mt | 254.0 | 250.7 | -1.3 | 759.8 | 739.0 | -2.7 |
| Nickel(b) | Mt Ni | 21.9 | 22.2 | 1.4 | 59.9 | 61.2 | 2.2 |
| Silver(b) | kt Ag | 41.4 | 40.2 | -2.9 | 280.0 | 310.0 | 10.7 |
| Tantalum(b) | kt Ta | 40.8 | 39.2 | -3.9 | 43.8 | 42.0 | -4.1 |
| Uranium(b) | kt U | 648.0 | 689.0 | 6.3 | 1,564.0 | 1,569.0 | 0.3 |
| Vanadium(b) | kt V | 267.0 | - | -100.0 | 10,000.0 | 13,000.0 | 30.0 |
| Zinc(b) | Mt Zn | 35.1 | 33.2 | -5.4 | 190.0 | 200.0 | 5.3 |
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(a) Includes recoverable black and brown coal.
(b) Quantity measured in contained metal.
(c) Includes gem and near gem, and industrial.
(d) Includes ilmenite, rutile and zircon.
Source: Geoscience Australia, 'Australia's Identified Mineral Resources', 2002 and 2003 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 16.13 is obtained from the annual publication, Oil and Gas Resources of Australia, produced by Geoscience Australia. The table shows over 1999 to 2003, EDR for crude oil reserves fell by 28% while reserves for sales gas increased (EDR by 27%, SDR by 75%) due mainly to discoveries of major gas resources off north western Australia. Discoveries of crude oil reserves had not been sufficient to offset the reduction in crude oil reserves through production. Unlike crude oil, discoveries have increased the EDR for condensate by 2% and its SDR has more than doubled over the same period.
16.13 OIL AND GAS RESOURCES
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| | Crude oil | Condensate | LPG | Sales gas |
| |
|
|
|
|
| | gigalitres | million
barrels | gigalitres | million
barrels | gigalitres | million
barrels | billion cubic
metres | trillion cubic
feet |
|
| Economic demonstrated resources | | | | | | | | |
| 1 January 1999 | 243 | 1,528 | 273 | 1,715 | 243 | 1,527 | 1,989 | 70 |
| 1 January 2000 | 219 | 1,378 | 283 | 1,780 | 274 | 1,726 | 2,105 | 74 |
| 1 January 2001 | 194 | 1,222 | 300 | 1,889 | 292 | 1,835 | 2,203 | 78 |
| 1 January 2002 | 206 | 1,295 | 289 | 1,821 | 293 | 1,845 | 2,667 | 94 |
| 1 January 2003 | 176 | 1,108 | 277 | 1,743 | 274 | 1,726 | 2,528 | 89 |
| Subeconomic demonstrated resources | | | | | | | | |
| 1 January 1999 | 31 | 196 | 54 | 338 | 71 | 447 | 869 | 31 |
| 1 January 2000 | 55 | 345 | 61 | 384 | 75 | 471 | 1,173 | 41 |
| 1 January 2001 | 87 | 546 | 119 | 749 | 86 | 540 | 1,618 | 57 |
| 1 January 2002 | 68 | 427 | 115 | 724 | 79 | 499 | 1,499 | 53 |
| 1 January 2003 | 68 | 428 | 109 | 683 | 79 | 498 | 1,518 | 54 |
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| Source: Geoscience Australia, 'Oil and Gas Resources of Australia', 2000, 2001 and 2002 issues. |
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