Geoscience Australia provides information on the nation's future capacity to produce mineral resources. Australia's Identified Mineral Resources is an annual nation-wide assessment of Australia's ore reserves and mineral resources. All major and a number of minor mineral commodities mined in Australia are assessed. It includes evaluation of long term trends, international rankings, summaries of significant exploration results, brief interviews of mining industry developments, and an analysis of mineral exploration expenditure across Australia.
Australia's economic demonstrated resources (EDR) of the following mineral commodities increased during 2003 bauxite, copper, diamonds (both gem and industrial), ilmenite, lead, nickel, niobium, silver, tantalum, tin, zinc and zircon. EDR of black coal, iron ore, lithium, magnesite, manganese, platinum group metals, rare earth elements, rutile and uranium decreased during the year. EDR for brown coal, cobalt, gold, molybdenum, phosphate rock, shale oil, tungsten and vanadium remained at levels similar to those reported in 2002.
Increases in EDR were due to ongoing drilling and evaluation of known deposits resulting in the transfer (re-assessment) of resources from inferred or sub-economic categories into EDR, and discoveries of new deposits or extensions of known deposits. The large increase in EDR for copper during the year resulted from a re-assessment of measured and indicated resources for Olympic Dam deposit (SA), and the discovery of additional economic resources at Mount Isa and Ernest Henry deposits (Qld).
Decreases in EDR of black coal and iron ore during 2003 reflect increased rates of mine production. In addition, mining companies re-estimated their ore reserves and mineral resources more conservatively so as to comply with the requirements of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code).
