Critical mineral mining industry in Australia - statistics & facts

Global demand for critical minerals is increasing. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the vulnerabilities in the global market have been exposed, particularly due to uncertainties in supply chains. These critical minerals are of particular importance for technology in automotive, energy storage, telecommunications, aerospace, and agritech sectors to name a few. Australia has a reputation as a world-leading mining nation and is economically dependent on its mining industry. The gross value added from the mining industry was around 200 billion Australian dollars. The number of employees in the mining industry in Australia reached almost 150 thousand. Aside from resources such as iron ore and gold, Australia has extensive critical mineral reserves that include lithium, cobalt, manganese ore, platinum-group metals, and rare-earth metals.

Australia’s critical mineral resources

Australia has a high geological potential to contribute to the world’s supply of many critical minerals such as cobalt, lithium, magnesium, manganese, rare-earth elements, titanium, vanadium, and zirconium. When considering ore reserves of critical minerals in Australia, manganese ore was the most abundant. Manganese is one of the leading metals used in batteries as well as an important steel alloying ingredient. To monetize mineral ore reserves, the nation already has several operating mines of critical mineral commodities. Another crucial battery metal is lithium; the nation’s lithium production volume was forecast to continue growing. While Australia already produces around half of the world’s lithium, its potential to contribute to more of the world’s supply of critical minerals has intensified investment and development in this sector.

Digging deeper into the future

Australia’s position as a reliable mining nation has allowed it to respond to meet future market demand. The Australian Government’s 2022 Critical Minerals Strategy sets out to accelerate growth in the country’s critical minerals sector by facilitating expansion in exploration as well as downstream processing of these commodities. The Modern Manufacturing Initiative has already allocated over 200 million Australian dollars to critical mineral projects. A large portion of funding was distributed to Pure Battery Technologies to develop a nickel and cobalt battery material refinery in Western Australia. Furthermore, 50 million Australian dollars have been committed to a virtual Critical Minerals Research and Development Centre, which combines the expertise of Geoscience Australia, CSIRO, and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization. With the surge in investment, Australia looks on its way to cementing its place in the global supply chain of critical minerals.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by L. Granwal, Apr 21, 2022

Key insights

Leading lithium producer worldwide
Australia
Gross value added of the mining industry in Australia
198.7bn AUD
Number of employees in the Australian mining industry
188.8k
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