PERTH (miningweekly.com) – New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Monday indicated that mineral and petroleum exploration expenditure fell during the December quarter by 1.3% and 9.9% respectively.

In seasonally adjusted terms, mineral exploration fell by A$13.7-million to over A$1.01-billion. In original terms, mineral exploration fell by 5.1%, to A$1.04-billion, with exploration on existing deposits falling by 9.1% to A$699.9-mililon, while exploration on greenfield deposits rose by 3.7% to A$354.1-million.

Iron-ore sustained the largest fall during the quarter, down 12.6% to A$174.9-million, while nickel and cobalt exploration spend reported the greatest rise, up 11.1% to A$88.9-million.

“While mineral exploration saw a slight dip in total expenditure over the December 2022 quarter, year-on-year expenditure for the quarter is up overall at A$91.3-million,” said Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (Amec) CEO Warren Pearce.

“This was on the back of strong greenfield expenditure, which recorded A$354.1-million, the second highest recorded expenditure to date, just behind June 2012, which saw A$357.7-million in expenditure.”

Greenfield expenditure continued to grow as Western Australia and the Northern Territory recorded their second highest greenfield expenditure, with A$218.2-million and A$27.9-million respectively and the Northern Territory recorded its highest level of expenditure in copper at A$12.8-million.

South Australia saw its highest levels of total expenditure of A$50.6-million since the end of the previous mining boom in December 2012, and similar to the Northern Territory, this came from increased expenditure into copper at a total of A$28.2-million, an increase of 120% from the September 2022 quarter.

“Nickel and cobalt were the stand-out performers for December 2022, recording their second highest value to date, which demonstrates the continued demand for critical minerals as we move into 2023,” said Pearce.

In New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland exploration expenditure declined slightly to A$87-million, A$43-million and A$151.7-million, respectively, with Queensland recording a record high quarter for ‘other minerals’ including lithium and other critical minerals at A$21.1-million.

Pearce said on Monday that this strong expenditure is backed by the recent announcement of a A$75-million critical minerals demonstration plant, the first of its kind in Australia, to be built in northern Queensland.

“Overall, mineral exploration expenditure in 2022 recorded the highest levels of expenditure Australia has ever seen, and positions 2023 to be another exceptional year for the resources industry,” said Pearce.