Geoscience Australia has published the Australian Mineral Exploration Review since 2009. This annual assessment of Australia’s exploration industry draws on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and company reporting to reveal exploration trends, activities, significant results and mineral discoveries from across Australia.
This year's edition shows that gold remained the leading commodity for exploration expenditure in Australia in 2024, accounting for 30% ($1.2 billion) of total mineral exploration spend. Overall exploration expenditure in 2024 declined by 7% compared to 2023, with the decline being even more pronounced in greenfields areas (16%).
The exploration downturn is owing to factors such as increased costs, falling prices for some commodities and challenges in securing funding and approvals. In addition, global economic and geopolitical uncertainty led many companies to shift focus to conserving cash amid uncertain market conditions while resource investor priorities were redirected to existing mining operations.
Forty-five maiden resources were announced in 2024, which is also down from the peak of 77 in 2023, demonstrating the continued link between exploration expenditure and the discovery of new resources. However, 2024 marked one of the largest years on record in terms of total maiden contained resources owing to the significant size of many of the new deposits.