Australia’s exploration expenditure increased across all minerals in June, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, led by higher expenditure on base metals and gold exploration.
This data suggested that mining was booming in the Oceanic country despite the trade standoff on iron ore and other minerals with China, its largest consumer.
Australia’s exploration spending in June increased by 3.7pc or AUD31.3mn ($22.88mn) to AUD78.3mn compared to AUD847mn in March and AUD658.7mn in June 2020.
Spending on existing deposits increased by 24.7pc or AUD119mn to AUD601.5mn in June compared to March while that from new deposits increased by 23.1pc or AUD58.2mn to AUD310.5mn in the same timeframe.
Here is how the total spending on exploration in June compared to March and the past year:
| Metals | Spending (in million AUD) | |||
| Mar 2021 | Jun 2021 | Mar 2020 | Jun 2020 | |
| Base metals | 161.8 | 195.8 | 139.5 | 133.5 |
| Iron ore | 101.2 | 150.8 | 75.2 | 98.7 |
| Gold | 360.2 | 429.8 | 272.3 | 304.4 |
| Others | 60.9 | 80.7 | 48.4 | 59.6 |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
($1=AUD1.37)