Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2024 Summary of Reserve and Resource Life
Page last updated:27 February 2025
Summary of Reserve and Resource Life
Australia has vast resources of many of the 36 major and minor mineral commodities covered in this report, as well as unquantified resources of many other minerals, some of which are considered critical or strategic for modern and emerging technologies, and by trading partners.
It is not possible to state with any certainty how long Australian, and world, resources will last because production rates vary, the economic viability of deposits may change in the future and the rate of new resource delineation rarely matches resource depletion. However, a general impression of the range of possibilities can be gained by deriving the ratio of the various 2023 reserve and resource estimates to 2023 production figures (Table 6). Operating mines have provided the production rates for each commodity and the resulting ratios are an average mine life that assumes the unlikely scenario that no new mines are ever developed, no mines are closed or, if so, other mines make up the shortfall in production.
The reserve and resource life estimations for ‘all deposits’ (Table 6) indicate the potential for longer-term mineral supply in Australia. Using the AEDR/production ratio as the best proxy for a long-term outlook, it is only bauxite, gold and rare earths that have resource lives of 50 years or less. In comparison, global potential for supply indicates a larger number of mineral commodities with a resource life of 50 years or less (Table 6). This includes copper, gold, lead, silver, tin and zinc. Global resource life is derived from the ratio of world economic resources/world production and is inclusive of Australian figures.
Table 6 also shows that Australian resource life (AEDR/production) for many commodities is longer than global resource life, for example cobalt (320 years v 50 years), copper (135 years v 45 years) and zinc (60 years v 20 years). This may be an artefact of different resource reporting systems, and does not account for undocumented resources, but could also indicate that other countries may be depleting their resources faster than Australia. Conversely, Australian lithium resource life (AEDR/production) is 90 years compared to 110 years globally, reflecting the rapid ramp up of lithium supply from spodumene mines in Australia versus overseas lithium from salt lakes deposits that typically take longer to come online.
Table 6
Table 6. Average reserve life and resource life (years) for selected commodities as at December 2023.
| Commodity | Australia | World | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Mines1 | All Deposits | All Deposits | |||||
| Ore Reserves2 | Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources3 | All Resources4 | Ore Reserves5 | AEDR6 | All Resources7 | World Economic Resources8 | |
| Bauxite | 17 | 31 | 51 | 17 | 35 | 75 | 75 |
| Black Coal | 22 | 75 | 91 | 33 | 170 | 365 | 105 |
| Brown Coal | n.a. | 54 | 91 | n.a. | >1,000 | >1,000 | 270 |
| Cobalt | 38 | 57 | 65 | 128 | 320 | 580 | 50 |
| Copper | 26 | 108 | 139 | 35 | 135 | 200 | 45 |
| Gold | 11 | 25 | 34 | 15 | 45 | 65 | 20 |
| Ilmenite | 67 | 177 | 220 | 118 | 460 | 940 | 80 |
| Iron Ore | 12 | 31 | 84 | 26 | 60 | 165 | 75 |
| Lead | 15 | 57 | 77 | 22 | 75 | 130 | 20 |
| Lithium | 42 | 65 | 76 | 53 | 90 | 110 | 155 |
| Magnesite | 86 | 166 | >1,000 | 86 | 650 | >1,000 | 350 |
| Manganese Ore | 28 | 53 | 71 | 28 | 140 | 305 | 95 |
| Nickel | 30 | 52 | 67 | 70 | 165 | 300 | >35 |
| Rare Earths | 49 | 67 | 114 | 117 | 20 | >1,000 | 315 |
| Rutile | 10 | 25 | 33 | 64 | 185 | 420 | 110 |
| Silver | 16 | 61 | 82 | 22 | 90 | 135 | 25 |
| Tin | 17 | 30 | 33 | 22 | 60 | 100 | 15 |
| Tungsten | 44 | 149 | 205 | 423 | >1,000 | >1,000 | 60 |
| Uranium | 67 | 219 | 292 | 71 | 270 | 420 | 80 |
| Zinc | 15 | 47 | 65 | 17 | 60 | 100 | 20 |
| Zircon | 28 | 70 | 88 | 80 | 205 | 395 | 55 |
Notes
Reserve and resource life for each mineral commodity are calculated by dividing the inventory by Australian production. The resulting ratio is a snapshot in time that can only be used for general impressions because it is an average and it assumes (1) that production rates in the future will remain the same as those used in the calculation, (2) deposits deemed economic/uneconomic remain so in the future and (3) that depleted resources are never replaced.
- Operating mines includes all mines that operated during 2023 and thus contributed to production (see Table 1).
- Ore Reserves for operating mines, as reported with the JORC Code, plus non-JORC Code equivalents (see Table 1).
- Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources for operating mines inclusive of Ore Reserves, as reported with the JORC Code, plus non-JORC Code-equivalents (see Table 1).
- All Resources for Operating Mines includes Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources, inclusive of Ore Reserves, as reported with the JORC Code, plus non-JORC Code-equivalents (see Table 1).
- Ore Reserves for all deposits as reported with the JORC Code, plus non-JORC Code equivalents (see Table 2).
- AEDR for all deposits = Accessible Economic Demonstrated Resources (see Table 3). Figures rounded to nearest five years.
- All Resources for all deposits includes Economic Demonstrated Resources, Subeconomic Demonstrated Resources and Inferred Resources (see Table 3). Figures rounded to nearest five years.
- World Economic Resources is calculated by dividing World Economic Resources by World Mine Production (see Table 3). Figures rounded to nearest five years.