The mineral industry is an integral part of the Australian economy, generating $29,785 million in export revenue in the 1993-94
financial year. This was over 60% of all commodity exports for the year. Such an important contribution was possible because
of the large and diverse resources that sustain the industry. Economic demonstrated resources (EDR) of several commodities,
including gold, ilmenite, manganese, magnesite, zinc, tin and silver, rose substantially in 1994. EDR for cadmium, diamond
and vanadium fell significantly, and for other commodities remained steady or showed minor variation over the year. Exploration
expenditure continued to be dominated by the search for gold. Figures published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
show that in 1993-94, $793 million was spent on mineral exploration of which 57% was on gold. Expenditure on diamond exploration
rose by 54% to $58 million. Successful exploration programs have maintained Australia's position as one of the world's premier
resource nations despite continued high rates of production. Australia is one of the world's top six countries for resources
of commodities as diverse as bauxite, bismuth, gold, mineral sands, lithium, iron ore, lead, silver, manganese, zinc, tantalum
and uranium.
Citation
Title Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 1994
Metadata standard for this record:
ANZLIC Metadata Profile: An Australian/New Zealand Profile of AS/NZS ISO 19115:2005, Geographic information - Metadata
standard version:
1.1
Metadata record identifier:
a05f7892-f95b-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6
Metadata record format is ISO19139-2 XML (MI_Metadata)