4e08b291-2cb5-47d1-a618-812e2791e7b1 urn:uuid eng UTF-8 nonGeographicDataset nonGeographicDataset 2025-10-16T21:36:57 creation ISO 19115 2016 Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 1999 4e08b291-2cb5-47d1-a618-812e2791e7b1 In 1998, Australia's economic demonstrated resources (EDR) of cobalt, copper, magnesite, gold, ilmenite, nickel, platinum group metals, tantalum and vanadium increased while those of diamond, iron ore, lead, manganese ore, lithium, silver, uranium, tin and zinc diminished. The reductions in EDR were due mainly to ongoing high levels of production; commodity prices were a subsidiary factor. EDR of all other commodities remained essentially unchanged. EDR of nickel and tantalum reached record levels in 1998. Gold increased slightly and maintained a flattening-off trend in EDR that has been evident since the mid-1990s. Black coal and bauxite EDR remained around levels established in the late 1980s and mid-1990s respectively. A decrease of almost 8% in iron ore EDR is attributable to production and a comprehensive review of resources information that became available during the year. Australia continues to rank highly as one of the world's leading mineral resource nations. It has the world's largest EDR of lead, mineral sands (ilmenite, rutile, and zircon), nickel, silver, tantalum, uranium and zinc. In addition, its EDR is in the top six worldwide for bauxite, black coal, brown coal, copper, cobalt, gold, iron ore, lithium, manganese ore, rare earth oxides, industrial diamond and vanadium. {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[110.0, -44.0], [156.0, -44.0], [156.0, -9.0], [110.0, -9.0], [110.0, -44.0]]]} 110.0 156.0 -44.0 -9.0 AU Earth Sciences GA Publication Published_External Report commodities geoscience mineral deposits mineral exploration resource assessment Related Product documentDigital Australian Atlas of Mineral Resources, Mines, and Processing Centres audio/basic Download the file (pdf) documentDigital Download the file (pdf) PDF Unnamed resource documentDigital HTML