By Leith van Onselen
Yesterday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released Mineral & Petroleum Exploration data for the December half/quarter and it’s boom boom time in the resources sector!
Nationally, expenditure on minerals exploration hit an all-time high of $2,015 million in the December half, with petroleum exploration expenditure also rising to $1,677 million; although it remains well below the peak expenditure of $2,016m recorded in June 2009 (see below chart).
Iron ore is dominating minerals exploration expenditure, accounting for 30% of all exploration expenditure and hitting an all-time high of $312 million in the December quarter, an increase of $77m (33%) over the previous quarter (see below chart).
Not surprisingly, Western Australia is dominating mineral exploration expenditure, accounting for just over half of the nation’s exploration expenditure ($484 million) in the December quarter, an increase of $31.1 million or 6.9% on the September quarter of 2011 (see below chart).
Western Australia is also dominating petroleum exploration expenditure, accounting for over two-thirds of national exploration expenditure in December 2011 (see below chart).
Overall, the ABS mineral and petroleum exploration expenditure data further highlights the extent of the mining boom in Western Australia, and the underlying strength of the Western Australian economy. Go west young men (and women), go west…
