Critical minerals exploration trends and investment

Question

Senator McDONALD: Why is it that last Thursday the IEA released the latest World energy investment report, which made specific findings with regard to Australia-particularly in the critical mineral space-and, in terms of investment, singled out Australia by name? It said: Exploration spending for critical minerals also weakened, with activity falling in Australia (-30%) ... Dr Grant: I haven't read the detail of that report. Senator McDONALD: At the same time, exploration spending in Asia, particularly South Asia, increased by 20 per cent. Dr Grant: In terms of the sectoral breakdown, I don't have any of that in front of me. We could take that on notice. I refer to the national accounts that came out earlier this week. I had a recollection that it was quite strong through the year. Recently, the national accounts showed a small fall in mineral and petroleum exploration in the March quarter, but it is small because it's growing at 19.1 per cent through the year.

Answer

See attached response.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• SQ26-000438 BET081 - Critical minerals exploration trends and investment.pdf (opens in a new tab)