PRODUCTION AND TRADE OF MINERALS

Mineral commodities production

Tables 18.15 and 18.16 show the quantity and value respectively of selected minerals (including oil and gas) produced in Australia.

18.15 MINERAL COMMODITIES PRODUCED, Qantity
		2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	Percentage change from 2002-03 to 2006-07
Metallic minerals
Bauxite	Mt	54	56	57	61	63	16.7
Copper (metal content)	'000 t	822	775	894	920	829	0.9
Gold (metal content)	t	273	267	255	247	239	-12.5
Iron ore and concentrate	Mt	194	205	236	246	263	35.8
Lead (metal content)	'000 t	654	664	643	703	587	-10.2
Nickel (metal content)	'000 t	192	182	180	184	174	-9.4
Silver (metal content)	t	1 913	2 019	2 226	2 007	1 635	-14.5
Uranium oxide	t	9 148	9 532	10 963	9 949	9 581	4.7
Zinc (metal content)	'000 t	1 327	1 215	1 184	1 216	1 227	-7.5
Fuel minerals
Black coal (saleable)	Mt	275	284	305	311	323	17.5
Brown coal	Mt	67	66	67	68	66	-1.2
Crude oil	ML	27 061	23 670	20 864	18 772	21 724	-19.7
Condensate	ML	7 526	6 825	7 927	8 087	7 843	4.2
Natural gas	Mm3	24 176	24 748	23 847	23 838	27 092	12.1
Liquefied natural gas	t	7 765 874	7 787 261	11 037 572	12 543 261	14 321 230	84.4
Industrial minerals
Diamonds	'000 ct	38 996	32 499	22 800	29 264	24 618	-36.9
Salt	'000 t	10 438	10 635	12 186	11 467	10 857	4.0
Ilmenite	t	1 133 556	905 367	859 733	743 971	1 417 895	25.1
Synthetic rutile	t	597 274	592 178	na	na	na	na
Leucoxene	t	38 060	51 734	70 729	77 024	52 257	37.3
Rutile	t	192 629	189 229	na	na	na	na
Zircon	'000 t	468	473	471	455	489	4.4
Manganese ore	t	2 471 981	3 066 754	3 606 383	3 825 730	4 563 524	84.6
na not available
Source: ABS Mining Operations, Australia (8415.0).

In the period 2002-03 to 2006-07 the most significant increases in production were for manganese ore (85%), liquefied natural gas (84%) and leucoxene (37%). Iron ore and concentrate, ilmenite, saleable black coal, bauxite and natural gas increased in production by 36%, 25%, 18%, 17% and 12% respectively.

Production of gold, lead, nickel, silver, zinc, brown coal, crude oil and diamonds decreased between 2002-03 and 2006-07, with the largest falls recorded for diamonds (37%), crude oil (20%), silver (15%) and gold (13%).

The largest increases in percentage terms in the value of minerals production in the period 2002-03 to 2006-07 were for manganese ore (306%), copper (233%), nickel (232%), zinc (225%) and lead (153%). The value of salt in percentage terms fell by 10% (table 18.16).

18.16 MINERAL, OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION, Value
	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	Percentage change from 2002-03 to 2006-07
	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	%
Bauxite	782	817	862	875	847	8.3
Copper (metal content)	2 260	2 543	3 777	6 290	7 525	233.0
Gold (metal content)	5 046	4 731	4 635	5 609	6 284	24.5
Iron ore and concentrate	5 298	5 359	8 330	12 897	15 975	201.5
Lead (metal content)	502	654	830	1 015	1 271	153.2
Nickel (metal content)	2 528	3 139	3 613	3 816	8 402	232.4
Silver (metal content)	490	530	666	801	857	74.9
Uranium oxide	308	382	463	530	664	115.6
Zinc (metal content)	1 778	1 649	1 852	3 484	5 785	225.4
Black coal (saleable)(a)	12 724	11 566	17 720	26 317	24 368	91.5
Brown coal	534	531	843	851	1 016	90.3
Crude oil	7 888	6 721	8 471	10 080	11 416	44.7
Condensate	2 207	1 925	3 101	4 045	3 970	79.9
Natural gas	2 250	2 380	2 445	2 547	2 915	29.6
Liquefied natural gas	3 131	2 776	3 953	4 930	4 986	59.2
Diamonds	788	520	468	np	np	na
Salt	260	211	222	237	234	-10.0
Ilmenite	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	np	np	np
Synthetic rutile	354	307	401	419	374	5.6
Leucoxene	16	20	22	24	20	25.0
Rutile	np	np	np	np	np	np
Zircon	np	np	np	400	np	na
Manganese ore	275	282	479	478	1 117	306.2
na not available
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Excludes production from Tasmania.
Source: ABS Mining Operations, Australia (8415.0).

As few minerals can be directly used in the form in which they are mined, most of these undergo processing and treatment before use.
Table 18.17 shows the production of the main manufactured products of mineral origin.

18.17 PRODUCTION OF PRINCIPAL MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS, By mineral origin
			2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Metals
Non-ferrous
	Alumina	’000 t	16 690	17 161	17 826	18 506	19 359
	Refined aluminium	’000 t	1 877	1 890	1 912	1 954	1 964
	Refined copper	’000 t	459	479	461	435	444
	Lead bullion	’000 t	143	153	141	114	152
	Refined lead	’000 t	247	234	234	191	203
	Refined zinc	’000 t	502	464	446	496	507
	Refined tin	t	553	445	736	321	na
Ferrous
Raw steel(a)		’000 t	9 430	7 395	7 886	8 010	8 121
Precious
Refined gold		t	397	345	380	360	364
Refined silver		t	619	722	655	618	605
Petroleum
Petroleum products
	Diesel automotive oil	ML	12 544	12 822	10 154	11 055	12 177
	Industrial and marine diesel fuel	ML	84	22	31	21	3
	Fuel oil(b)	ML	1 105	1 092	1 048	942	979
	Automotive gasoline	ML	17 375	17 913	16 528	17 732	17 079
Building materials
Clay bricks (standard brick equivalent)		m	1 789	1 705	1 606	1 570	1 459
Portland cement		’000 t	8 460	8 925	8 910	9 380	9 839
Chemicals
Single superphosphate		’000 t	1 446	1 594	1 309	944	1 413
na not available
(a) Includes recovery from scrap.
(b) Excludes refinery fuel.
Source: ABS Manufacturing Production, Australia (8301.055.001); Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), 'Australian Mineral Statistics', various issues and 'Australian Commodity Statistics 2008'.

Exports of minerals and petroleum

Tables 18.18 and 18.19 show the quantity and value respectively of the main mineral commodities exported from Australia. In 2007-08, black coal (including metallurgical and thermal) was the largest export earner ($24b), followed by iron ore and pellets ($20b), refined gold ($11b), crude oil and other refinery feedstock ($10b), copper ($7b), liquid natural gas (LNG) and alumina ($6b each) and aluminium ($5b).

18.18 EXPORTS OF MAJOR MINERALS, OIL AND GAS
			2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Alumina		kt	14 073	14 499	15 056	15 739
Aluminium (ingot metal)		kt	1 512	1 617	1 638	1 650
Coal, black
	Metallurgical	Mt	125	120	132	137
	Thermal	Mt	106	111	112	115
Copper		kt	701	790	699	733
Diamonds		'000 ct	32 471	25 354	24 632	16 544
Gold, refined		t	309	315	400	382
Iron and steel
	Iron ore and pellets	Mt	228	239	257	294
	Iron and steel	kt	2 338	2 428	2 648	2 131
Lead		kt	782	756	635	589
Manganese ore and concentrate		kt	3 128	3 215	4 667	5 105
Oil and gas
	Crude oil and other refinery feedstock	ML	15 731	13 026	15 965	15 975
	LNG	Mt	11	12	15	15
	LPG	ML	2 844	2 800	2 824	2 589
Salt		kt	12 128	10 776	10 749	10 686
Tin		t	1 529	1 556	1 867	3 079
Titanium minerals
	Ilmenite concentrate	kt	633	722	999	894
	Rutile concentrate	kt	158	169	307	399
Uranium oxide		t	11 249	10 253	9 519	10 139
Zinc		kt	1 427	1 328	1 321	1 507
Zircon concentrate		kt	428	438	555	637
Source: Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), 'Australian Commodity Statistics, 2008'.

18.19 EXPORTS OF MAJOR MINERALS, OIL AND GAS, Value
		2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
		$m	$m	$m	$m
Alumina		4 383	5 262	6 243	5 809
Aluminium (ingot metal)		3 726	4 788	5 650	4 967
Coal, black
	Metallurgical	10 758	17 003	15 039	15 996
	Thermal	6 336	7 206	6 758	8 364
Copper		3 082	5 653	6 526	6 728
Diamonds		683	836	726	664
Gold, refined		5 523	7 089	10 320	10 903
Iron and steel
	Iron ore and pellets	8 120	12 854	15 512	20 423
	Iron and steel	2 031	1 674	1 743	1 562
Lead		1 041	1 296	1 579	2 050
Manganese ore and concentrate		473	424	482	1 532
Oil and gas
	Crude oil and other refinery feedstock	6 330	6 638	8 317	10 487
	LNG	3 199	4 416	5 222	5 854
	LPG	804	1 002	1 038	1 182
Salt		226	229	239	232
Tin		8	12	25	42
Titanium minerals
	Ilmenite concentrate	63	76	113	104
	Rutile concentrate	114	138	259	277
Uranium oxide		475	546	660	887
Zinc		1 466	2 540	4 298	3 352
Zircon concentrate		319	398	478	421
Source: Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), 'Australian Commodity Statistics, 2008'.

Graph 18.20 shows the value of Australia's four largest mineral exports during the period 2000-01 to 2007-08. The value of exports of black coal, iron ore and pellets, crude oil and other refinery feedstock and refined gold all grew over this period, with iron ore and pellets recording the largest increase (317%), followed by black coal (126%) and refined gold (123%). Crude oil and other refinery feedstock increased 29% for the same period. The increases for black coal exports in 2000-01, 2004-05 and 2005-06 were due to an increase in unit values of metallurgical and thermal coal exports. The value of black coal exports fell in 2006-07 before growing again in 2007-08, while the export value of crude oil and other refinery feedstock fell to $5b in 2003-04 before growing to reach $10b in 2007-08.

The major markets for Australian mineral and petroleum exports to Japan, China, the Republic of (South) Korea and India for the period 1992-93 to 2007-08 are shown in graph 18.21.

Japan was consistently the main destination for Australian minerals, receiving 25% ($28b) of total mineral exports by value in 2007-08. The main minerals by volume exported to Japan were aluminium, coal, iron ore, crude oil and other refinery feedstock and liquified petroleum gas (LPG). Of these minerals, coal was the most significant. In 2007-08, 67 megatonnes (Mt) of thermal (or steaming) coal, and 25 Mt of both high quality and other metallurgical (or coking) coal were exported to Japan (58%, 30% and 48% respectively of total Australian export volumes for these commodities). In the same year, 2,280 megalitres (ML) of crude oil and other refinery feedstock, 1,587 ML of LPG and 77,310 kilotonnes (kt) of iron ore were also exported to this country. These exports respectively accounted for 14%, 61% and 29% of Australia's total export volumes of crude oil and other refinery feedstock, LPG and iron ore. Aluminium exports to Japan contributed 36% of total Australian exports (by volume) of aluminium in 2007.

Other major export destinations in 2007-08 were China, the Republic of (South) Korea and India. Major exports to the Republic of (South) Korea included iron ore, thermal coal, lead ores and concentrates, refined lead metal and crude oil and other refinery feedstock which accounted for 11%, 16%, 60%, 20% and 23% respectively of export volume totals.

China has become a major export destination for iron ore and zinc ores and concentrates, accounting for 53% and 30% respectively of total export volumes for these commodities in 2007.

Exports to India have been generally increasing since 1992-93, with a sharp increase between 2002-03 and 2003-04 (107%). Gold exports of refined and unrefined bullion to India accounted for 39% (161 tonnes) of Australian exports of gold in 2007, while copper concentrate exports to India in 2007-08 (565,000 tonnes) were 37% of total Australian copper concentrate exports.

18.22 IMPORTS OF MAJOR MINERALS AND PETROLEUM
			2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Quantity
Diamonds		'000 ct	2 168	4 098	3 430	2 964
Gold		na	na	na	na	na
Iron and steel
	Iron ore and pellets	kt	4 648	5 026	4 722	4 401
	Iron and steel	kt	2 116	2 191	2 318	1 848
Petroleum
	Crude oil and other refinery feedstock	ML	26 054	24 416	25 345	26 222
	LPG	ML	540	599	748	965
	Automotive gasoline	ML	3 131	3 687	2 912	3 533
	Aviation turbine fuel	ML	983	817	1 045	1 846
	Diesel fuel	ML	3 944	6 122	5 439	7 470
	Fuel oil	ML	1 281	1 418	1 363	1 625
	Lubricants	ML	327	370	365	396
	Other products	ML	981	2 111	2 146	2 147
Phosphate rock		kt	797	655	472	707
Platinum and platinum group metals		kg	2 391	2 097	4 571	2 518
Value
Diamonds		$m	347	403	397	444
Gold		$m	2 462	4 800	5 309	7 311
Iron and steel
	Iron ore and pellets	$m	145	222	338	311
	Iron and steel	$m	2 041	2 075	2 479	2 225
Petroleum
	Crude oil and other refinery feedstock	$m	9 995	12 820	13 360	17 059
	LPG	$m	143	198	261	436
	Automotive gasoline	$m	1 463	2 342	1 872	2 719
	Aviation turbine fuel	$m	483	527	668	1 505
	Diesel fuel	$m	1 933	4 071	3 466	6 155
	Fuel oil	$m	364	569	536	831
	Lubricants	$m	288	418	495	477
	Other products	$m	448	637	1 285	1 331
Phosphate rock		$m	49	42	32	80
Platinum and platinum group metals		$m	59	70	186	111
na not available
Source: Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), 'Australian Commodity Statistics, 2008' and 'Australian Mineral Statistics,' various issues.

Imports of minerals and petroleum

Many imported mineral and petroleum commodities have had a certain amount of manufacturing applied to their raw forms. Table 18.22 provides details of the major commodities imported in the period 2004-05 to 2007-08. In terms of value, the largest imports for 2007-08 were for crude oil and other refinery feedstock ($17b), followed by gold ($7b). The major sources of Australian imports of crude oil and other refinery feedstock in 2007-08 were Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, with a combined value of $14b (52% of the total import quantity for this commodity).

Graph 18.23 shows imports of selected major minerals and petroleum during the period 2001-02 to 2007-08. The value of imports of crude oil and other refinery feedstock were significantly higher than the import values of other minerals, particularly in 2006-07 and 2007-08, where the values of imports of this commodity were $13b and $17b respectively.

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