Mining in Australia

Mining in Australia has long been a significant primary sector industry and contributor to the Australian economy by providing export income, royalty payments and employment. Historically, mining booms have also encouraged population growth via immigration to Australia, particularly the gold rushes of the 1850s. Many different ores, gems and minerals have been mined in the past and a wide variety are still mined throughout the country.

In 2019, Australia was the world's largest producer of iron ore^[1] and bauxite;^[2] the second largest of gold,^[3] manganese,^[4] and lead;^[5] the third largest of zinc,^[6] cobalt,^[7] and uranium;^[8] the fifth largest of salt;^[9] the sixth largest of copper^[10] and nickel;^[11] the eighth largest producer of silver^[12] and tin;^[13] the fourteenth largest of phosphate;^[14] and the fifteenth largest of sulfur.^[15] The country is also a major producer of precious stones. Australia is the world's largest producer of opal and is one of the largest producers of diamond, ruby, sapphire and jade.

In non-renewable energies, in 2020, the country was the 30th largest producer of oil in the world, extracting 351.1 thousand barrels/day.^[16] In 2019, the country consumed 1 million barrels/day (the 20th largest consumer in the world).^[17][18] The country was the 20th largest oil importer in the world in 2018 (461.9 thousand barrels/day).^[16] In 2015, Australia was the 12th largest world producer of natural gas, 67.2 billion m³ per year. In 2019, the country was the 22nd largest gas consumer (41.9 billion m³ per year) and was the 10th largest gas exporter in the world in 2015: 34.0 billion m³ per year.^[19] In the production of coal, the country was the 4th largest in the world in 2018: 481.3 million tons. Australia is the 2nd largest coal exporter in the world (387 million tons in 2018) ^[20]