Australia Bureau of Statistics December 2023 quarterly data shows mineral exploration expenditure in the NT for 2023 has shot up to $228.1 million – a 14% increase on 2022’s figure of $199.9 million. This is the largest exploration figures the NT has seen in over a decade and marginally short of the highest expenditure ever recorded in the NT.
The 14% rise from 2022 exploration expenditure to 2023 is also well above the national average increase of 5%. The demand for critical minerals worldwide continues to drive this growth in exploration, with a large proportion of the expenditure increase attributed to lithium, rare earth elements and other critical minerals. Exploration expenditure for these critical minerals totalled $106.7 million in 2023, an increase of 29% from 2022.
For all the latest exploration activity view the Territory's Mineral commodities and our compilation of Exploration news.