The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have released the latest Australian mineral exploration expenditure figures. The Northern Territory (NT) recorded $56.1 million for the December quarter 2022, up 25% on the same quarter in 2021. This is the second highest figure recorded for a December quarter in the NT.
For the full 2022 calendar year, mineral exploration expenditure in the NT was $198.6 million, up 29% on the figure of $153.4 million for 2021. This is the highest annual figure since 2011, and the second highest on record.
The increase in expenditure from 2021 was higher than the Australia-wide increase of 13% and the Territory's share of Australian mineral exploration expenditure also increased from 4.3% to 4.9% in 2022. 41% of the Territory’s mineral exploration in 2022 was for ‘new deposits’ defined as greenfields exploration away from existing deposits, 10% higher than Australia-wide average.
The 2022 breakdown of expenditure by commodity group included:
- $82.7 million (42%) on other including lithium, rare earths, other critical minerals
- $63.2 million (32%) on gold
- $39.7 million (20%) on base metals including copper, zinc, nickel
- $9.9 million (5%) on uranium
- $3.1 million on iron ore, mineral sands and diamonds
The record figure for 'other' was 74% higher than previous record in 2011 and the record figure for 'base metals' was 56% higher than previous record in 2019. The decrease in expenditure for gold was 19% from 2021.
Overall trends suggests that the current strong growth in exploration in the Territory is being driven by record levels of exploration for critical minerals and copper, with a relatively high proportion of expenditure being in ‘greenfields’ areas.
For the full results download the ABS data.