NON-PRODUCED ASSETS: MINERAL AND ENERGY RESOURCES

Australia has many types of natural assets. Subsoil assets are of major economic significance and are discussed here. Air, water, soil, and biodiversity resources are discussed in other sections.

The growth of a nation's stock of subsoil assets broadly depends on the relative pace of two offsetting influences – discoveries which increase the stock, and extractions which reduce it. The former significantly outstripped the latter during the 1990s, as was the case for most of the 20th century.

In recent years, there has been continued growth in Australia's known mineral resources, or economically demonstrated resources (EDR). Increases in EDR were due to on-going drilling and evaluation of known deposits resulting in the re-assessment of resources from inferred or sub-economic categories into EDR and the discovery of new deposits or extensions of known deposits (Geoscience Australia 2008).

Sustained increases in prices for most metal and mineral commodities over recent years have allowed companies to re-assess the economic viability of lower grade resources and deposits which previously were considered to be uneconomic. Overall this has contributed to an increase in EDR for many metal and mineral commodities (Geoscience Australia 2008). In other words, without necessarily making new discoveries, large sustained price increases for mineral and resource exports have led to a major increase in the value of existing identified resources. For more information on import and export price changes (i.e. changes to Australia's terms of trade) during the decade to June 2009, see the National income section.

The net present value of Australia's EDR per capita grew on average by around 13.3% a year between June 1999 and June 2009.

In 2007 Australia's economically demonstrated resources of brown coal, mineral sands (rutile and zircon), nickel, uranium, zinc and lead remained the world's largest, while antimony, bauxite, black coal, copper, gold, iron ore, industrial diamond, ilmenite, lithium, manganese ore, niobium, silver and tantalum rank in the top six worldwide (Geoscience Australia 2008).

Among the minerals showing strongest annual growth in net present value per capita of EDR in current-price terms between June 1999 and June 2009 were gold (up 51.2%), iron ore (up 23.6%), copper (up 23.0%) and nickel (up 20.3%).

Economically demonstrated resources(a)(b) per capita - by mineral

	30 June 1999	30 June 2009	Average annual growth rate
	$	$	%
Bauxite	250	184	-3.0
Black coal	1 648	7 037	15.6
Brown coal	35	89	10.0
Cobalt	39	89	8.8
Copper	416	3300	23.0
Gold	15	931	51.2
Iron ore	392	3276	23.6
Lead	80	154	6.7
Magnesite	87	81	-0.7
Mineral sands	213	311	3.9
Nickel	271	1 723	20.3
Petroleum - crude oil	658	2 512	14.3
Petroleum - natural gas	2 974	4 848	5.0
Petroleum - condensate	387	1 567	15.0
LPG naturally occurring	193	588	11.8
Silver	27	69	10.0
Uranium	111	173	4.5
Zinc	51	292	19.1
Other minerals	18	70	14.4
All minerals	7 864	27 294	13.3