Australia is the lucky country. Its mineral and fuel resources are enormous by any standard.
It has a land area about the same size as continental USA, with a population of 22 million, which is concentrated in five large cities located on the coast. The hinterland is predominantly much eroded desert country composed of ancient rocks rich in minerals. Sedimentary basins contain coal and natural gas. What more could you want? Maybe a bit more petroleum.
It all started about 1851 when the first gold rushes took place in the states of New South Wales and Victoria, as a follow on from the Californian gold rush. The alluvial gold workings were soon superseded by hard rock reef mining. We have now had 160 years of gold mining in Australia, becoming a world leader in mining technology. In times past gold and wool were our major exports, now things are different. Leading exports (in order of value) are coal, iron ore, gold, petroleum, natural gas, alumina, copper, nickel, lead, zinc, other metal ores & concentrates.
Australia is the world’s 2nd largest producer of gold with 227 tonnes recorded for year 2009, worth A$9 billion. (China produced 314 tonnes, USA 216, South Africa 210). Estimated production for 09/10 financial year is 246 tonnes. Mining of low grade ore by open pit means is the norm. Currently there are 58 operating gold mines, the largest being the Super Pit (Newmont, Barrick JV) at Kalgoorlie, WA, which is 3.5 km long, 1.5 km wide and 360 meters deep, but soon to be overtaken by Newmont’s Boddington mine in WA, with production of 1 million oz per year (31 tonnes). Also, appreciable gold comes from processing copper and other metal ores. Notable international gold miners active in Australia are Newmont, Barrick, Newcrest, and AngloGold Ashanti.
Coal now accounts for 25% of Australia’s export earnings and is the major mineral export, forecasted to be valued at A$28 billion for 2009/10 year. Australia is the world’s 4th largest producer of coal. The export coal deposits are from Permian Age sediments in the Bowen Basin, Queensland, and the Hunter Valley in New South Wales. Export coals are thermal coal for power stations, and metallurgical coal for steel making, totaling about 250 million tonnes (09/10), export destinations being Japan 50%, Korea 15%, EU, Taiwan and India 10% each. The major mining companies involved are BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Xstrata. Coal is exported from nine terminals at seven ports on the east coast of Australia, with Newcastle being the largest coal exporting port in the world.
Domestic usage of coal is substantial, since over 80% of electricity is generated from thermal power stations. Brown coal production for this purpose amounted to 74 million tonnes (2008) , mainly from the La Trobe Valley, Victoria. In New South Wales, Centennial Coal Co. produces ca 46% of the State’s coal-fired electricity with black coal, and is a major exporter. Both South Australia and Western Australia utilize brown coal for electricity generation. At the current rate of production it is estimated that known reserves of black coal will last 260 years and brown coal 500 years.
Iron ore production has risen to prominence, particularly in the northern Pilbara region of Western Australia. This region has enormous reserves of primary metamorphosed BIF (banded iron formation) sedimentary deposits of hematite formed some 2 billion years ago, which together with later (Miocene) eroded channel deposits, is ideal for open cut mining. BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortesque Metals are the major players and export to China, Japan, Korea and elsewhere, providing 26% of the Western world’s iron ore. Iron ore exports for the 2008/09 year were 353 million tonnes. Export price has fluctuated considerably in the range $70 to $120 per tonne. Australia is the 3rd largest producer, after China and Brazil.
Natural gas and petroleum: Australia exports natural gas (LNG) and is a net importer of petroleum crude and refined products. Exports for 2008 were Gas A$9.1 billion, Crude oil 10.4, refined pet. 3.5) vs (imports crude 18 and refined 15). Australia has 5 oil refineries which import/export petroleum and supply us with the necessary hydrocarbon fuels, and two LNG export terminals, this being a major export industry as LNG (liquified natural gas), is used for industrial and domestic heating in the Asia Pacific region, especially Japan, Korea and China..
Australia produces annually about 3.3 million tonnes of LPG (liquified petroleum gas) (propane/butane) of which about half is exported and the rest consumed domestically as automotive fuel mainly, there being ca 500,000 vehicles that run on LPG fuel.
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Present developments offshore of Western Australia by BHP (Pyrennes Project), Chevron (Gorgon Field) and Woodside Petroleum (Pluto Field) will soon considerably boost petroleum and gas production. The 09/10 gas production is estimated at 50 billion cubic metres. Coal seam gas presently supplies much of the industrial and domestic gas usage for Queensland and NSW. Plans are afoot to export it as LNG. Several companies are developing operations to make syngas from coal and coal seam gas as an alternative source for hydrocarbon fuels e.g., Linc Energy, Pacific GTL.
Bauxite, alumina and aluminium:
Australia has the two largest bauxite mining operations in the world. Alcoa’s Huntley and Willowdale mines in Western Australia produce respectively ca 23 and 9 million tonnes annually which is refined to give ca 10 million tonnes of alumina (13% world demand, 47% Australian production). Rio Tinto produces ca 20 million tonnes bauxite at Weipa and 6.5 mt at Gove, processed to give a total of 5.4 million tonnes of alumina. BHP Billiton from Woresley, WA produces and exports ca 3 million tonnes of alumina. Total exports (2008) of bauxite and alumina is estimated at A$6.5 billion, and aluminium metal at A$5.8 billion.
Copper:
Australian output is around 1 million tonnes per year or about 10% of the world output, Chile and the USA producing more. Major mines are Olympic Dam, SA (BHP) ca 220,000 tonnes; Mt Isa, QLD (Xstrata); Cadia Valley, NSW (Newcrest) and Prominent Hill, SA (Oz Minerals).
Uranium:
Australia has plentiful uranium deposits and is estimated to have 40% of the world’s known reserves of uranium. Mines are few (5) because of past political opposition to uranium mining. Major mines are Ranger (Rio Tinto) in North Territory and Olympic Dam (BHP Billiton) in South Australia. Olympic Dam is the largest uranium deposit known and is a poly-metallic mine producing copper gold, silver and uranium. The 08/09 year production was 194.000 tonnes of copper, 4007 tonnes of uranium and 108,039 oz of gold. The proposed Olympic Dam expansion project will boost output threefold. Elsewhere, present uranium exploration and development is focused mainly on shallow in-situ leaching mines in desert paleochannels, e.g., Beverley and Honeymoon (SA).
Silver, lead, zinc:
Australia has always been a large producer of base metals since the discovery in 1883 of the huge Broken Hill ore body, still being mined today. Initially many companies were involved, including Broken Hill Proprietary Ltd, shortened to BHP, known affectionally as the “Big Australian”, with HQ in Melbourne, established in 1885. After diversifying into iron and steel making, and oil production, BHP in 2001 combined forces with Billiton, the UK and Dutch mining house to form BHP Billiton, now the largest mining company in the world, recording a 2009 profit of US$6.3 billion.
Other mineral products:
Australia is a important producer of titanium (rutile and ilmenite), zirconium (zircon), monazite (all from beach sands), also lithium (spodumene), coltan (columbium and niobium), nickel, tin, tungsten, diamonds and opals.
Conclusions:
Australia is a major mining hub of the world. Its diversity in production of important and strategic minerals and fuels is the envy of all other countries. The reserves of coal, natural gas and uranium make Australia the energy richest country on Earth. Mining technology is our forte and we have more than our fair share of world’s mineral and fuel resources.
We are happy to sell this raw material to the rest of the world so that then we have funds to import those items we don’t make locally, such as computers, aircraft, locomotives, trams, tractors, farming and mining equipment, televisions, electronic items, inexpensive clothing and fabrics, specialty food items and so on. This is what you call international trade, and is why we in the Western World, all have such a high standard of living today. Long may it continue!
