The Queensland Resource Council (QRC) believes that the potential has grown for more Queensland jobs, exports and royalties from the state’s resources sector, due to a 22 per cent increase in exploration spending for minerals and petroleum over the last 12 months.
Queensland Resources Council’s Chief Executive, Ian Macfarlane, said total investment in exploration for minerals and petroleum was $442 million last financial year – an $80 million or 22 per cent increase in comparison to 2016-17.
“An increased investment is an increased investment in future jobs, future exports and future royalties for Queenslanders,” Mr Macfarlane said.
Queensland’s resources sector has been performing well when it comes to jobs lately. One new role is created every hour on exports by delivering $1 billion in overseas sales every week, and on royalties delivering almost $100 million to the Queensland Government each week.
Mr Macfarlane said the increase in exploration spending has been across commodities and reflects the role the resources sector plays in supporting new infrastructure, the expansion of renewable energy, the growth in electric vehicles and battery storage.
“The strongest growth was in base metals – copper, silver, lead, zinc, nickel and cobalt with exploration increasing by 53 per cent over the 2017-18 financial year from $57.6 million to $88 million,” he stated.
During 2017-18, the growth included:
- gold exploration increased 21 per cent from $51 million in 2016-17 to $61.7 million in 2017-18
- copper exploration went up by 41 per cent over the 2017-18 financial year, from $38.2 million to 53.8 million
- petroleum exploration increased by 5 per cent over the 2017-18 financial year from $154.9 million to $162.6 million. Up 22 per cent over the quarter.
Queensland Exploration Council Chair, Brad John PSM also said the increased investment in exploration reflects not only confidence in the sector and its future, but the importance of the Queensland Government’s Collaborative Exploration Initiative and its commitment to release more land for exploration.
More information on the announcement from the Queensland Resources Council can be found here.