Despite its reputation for being a major source of coal, iron ore, gold and uranium, Australia is also one of the premier copper-producing jurisdictions in the world, coming in at sixth in production behind the US — or fifth, or seventh — depending on who you ask and on what year.
960,000 metric tonnes of the red metal came from Australian mines in 2019, including from the world’s fourth-largest copper producing mine, Olympic Dam.
While Australia’s rank in production can jump around, US Geological Survey data ranks Australia as
second behind Chile
when it comes to economic reserves.
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There are actively producing copper-focused mines in four Australian jurisdictions: Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales, while exploration and development is being carried out in a fifth jurisdiction, Victoria. There are known deposits across every jurisdiction however.
Australia has copper smelting capacity too, exporting not just copper ores but copper anodes as well to major markets overseas.
The lion’s share of all copper produced in Australia
heads to Asia
, where ravenous markets gobbled up $8.8 billion worth of copper trade in 2018, of which almost half ($3.9 billion) went straight to China — Australia’s largest trade partner. The second largest share goes to Japan, whose high-tech industries accounted for $1.7 billion of Australia’s copper sold in 2018.
While modern Australia is built on gold, iron and coal, copper mining has been happening in the land down under since the time of the major gold rushes in the 1800s. South Australia — home of the Olympic Dam polymetallic mine — was known as the ‘copper kingdom’
as far back as the 1860s
because it was home to so many large gold mines even then.
Indeed, the first major discoveries of copper in Australia were in South Australia near early settlement sites and along the coast near Adelaide and up to the Yorke Peninsula.
Today, South Australia remains the nexus of copper production in Australia, with the state accounting for some 66 percent of
all economic demonstrated reserves of copper
in Australia — a number that comes in at 88.17 million tonnes according to Government data from 2018.
South Australia is followed by New South Wales (15 percent), Queensland (12 percent) and Western Australia (6 percent). The remaining jurisdictions have minor shares of the copper pie.
There are currently 37 operating copper mines in the whole of Australia, and surprisingly South Australia only holds four of them, though they count among them the largest.
Of the remainder, 13 are in Queensland, 10 are in New South Wales, 9 are in Western Australia and the last is in Tasmania — though the Tasmanian mine is a polymetallic mine with a focus on zinc and lead.
Looking at the mines and the players focused on copper in Australia reveals a mostly Australia-focused role-call of operators, but with plenty of international players in the same.
The largest operating mine is as mentioned, the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, owned and operated by mining giant BHP (ASX:
BHP
,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP), with the massive mine producing some 171,000 tonnes of copper cathode in the
2020 year ending June 30
. That same mine also accounts for South Australia’s dominance of uranium production in Australia.
Only another three mines are currently operating in the state — Prominent Hill and Carapateena, operated by the Australian company OZ Minerals (ASX:
OZL
), and Kanmantoo, operated by another Australian company, Hillgrove Resources (ASX:
HGO
) — still as mentioned the state is teeming with copper deposits.
Coming in behind BHP for copper production is the global giant Glencore, which owns Mt Isa Mines in Queensland — the second largest producer in the country. Glencore also owns Ernest Henry Mines, another copper producer in the Sunshine state.
Looking elsewhere in Australia companies that make appearances are China’s MMG, the US’ Newmont (TSX:
NGT
), Australia’s Newcrest (ASX:
NCM
), Staveley (ASX:
SVY
), Metals X (ASX:
MLX
) and plenty of small-time operators spread around the country.
Given the bright future that the red metal has in the age of technology and electrification, copper remains front of mind in Australia’s export plans, with production and revenue
expected to rise modestly over coming years
, mainly fueled by increasing output from existing mines — however there are plenty of copper deposits and exploration projects in the works.
Don’t forget to follow us
@INN_Australia
for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Scott Tibballs, currently hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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