Australian mining industry: 2025 review

As a starring planetary mining manufacture subordinate successful 2025, Australia recognises that to support its foothold and pull investment, it has to beryllium a person of the vigor transition, a speedy adopter of its sustainable technologies and a large shaper of the captious minerals needed to nutrient them.

The state accounts for 36.4% of the world’s pb reserves, 29.4% of its manganese and 29% of its robust ore. It besides has immense reserves of zinc, gold, cobalt, metallic and bauxite, arsenic the astir resource-rich federation successful the world, and ranks among the apical 3 planetary producers for bauxite, pb and zinc. It is among the apical planetary producers of an array of commodities, including lithium and robust ore, accounting for 39.8% and 37.3% of planetary output, respectively.

Australia’s mining manufacture bolsters the system by contributing much than 12% to GDP and representing astir 70% of export earnings. This includes a mean beingness successful the ember market, accounting for 5% of planetary output.

A heavy dive into a year’s worthy of information and insights from MINE Australia’s genitor company, GlobalData, reveals a state battling volatile commodity prices, operational costs and skills shortages but inactive managing to turn its mining industry.

Despite that, Gayathri Siripurapu, elder mining expert astatine GlobalData, notes: “Growth was evident crossed upstream mining, midstream processing and downstream clean-energy inputs, including artillery materials, uncommon world refining, greenish robust and low-carbon technologies.”

If anything, 2025 has made wide that however Australia weans its system disconnected its ember marketplace dependency, navigates securing its captious mineral proviso concatenation and overcomes commodity volatility volition find its aboriginal connected the planetary mining playing field.

Global decarbonisation, vigor modulation requirements and efforts by large economies, including Australia, to diversify their captious minerals proviso chains distant from China’s monopoly, drove the enlargement of Australia’s captious mineral assemblage successful 2025.

Demand for lithium, nickel, copper, uncommon earths, and manganese has grown, arsenic they are cardinal to the manufacturing of electrical vehicles, renewable vigor infrastructure, batteries, hydrogen electrolysers and defence applications.

Australia besides made moves to unafraid its supplies successful the long-term, including the signing of a landmark woody with the US successful October to fortify planetary proviso chains for captious minerals and uncommon earths.

“Australia retained its presumption arsenic a secure, low-risk supplier, supported by beardown ESG credentials, a world-class mining, instrumentality and exertion services assemblage and a highly skilled mining base,” says Siripurapu.