New Market Report: Australia Mining Report Q1 2013

New Materials market report from Business Monitor International: "Australia Mining Report Q1 2013"

by Bill Thompson

(WireNews+Co) - Boston, MA - 30 January 2013

Australia will remain a leading player in many segments of the global mining industry. Owing to its substantial deposits, the country possesses an array of minerals including iron ore, nickel, bauxite, copper, gold, silver, uranium, diamonds, zinc and coal. We expect the value of the mining sector will reach US$106.6bn by 2017, growing at an annual average rate of 4.1% over the forecast period, from US$83.9bn in 2011. This will see the mining sector's share of GDP increasing from 5.6% in 2011 to 7.6% in 2017.

Tin To Drive Output Growth

We forecast tin production to show the greatest increase in output reaching 25.8kt (thousand tonnes) by 2017, marking an average annual growth of 9.5% from 2011 levels. This will mark a substantially higher pace of growth than its peers in other regions and we expect Australia's share of global tin production to increase from 5.3% in 2011 to 7.0% in 2016. We believe Australia's tin production will experience a brighter outlook following the drastic fall in production in 2011, during which output declined by more than 17%. The scheduled release of several key mining projects from 2013 onwards will drive output growth towards the positive territory in the coming years. In addition, the ongoing expansion plans at Metals X's Renison mine will provide a considerable boost to tin production.

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Regulatory Environment

Australia's mining sector is one of the most business friendly in the world, with domestic companies and overseas miners operating in the country. We expect Australia to remain a highly attractive destination for foreign investment, despite the recently proposed 30% tax on mining companies' profits in coal and iron ore production. Indeed, we do not expect that the proposed tax will have a significant impact on investment in the country's mining sector as these concerns are likely to be outweighed by the country's mineral wealth. Moreover, Australia's proximity to the major iron ore and coal importers of China and India gives the country competitive advantage over other destinations.

Key Players

Given its vast potential and high quality of infrastructure, Australia is home to some of the biggest players in the global mining industry. Multinationals operating in the Australian mining industry include Australian companies BHP Billiton, Newcrest Mining and large overseas miners such as Rio Tinto, Norilsk Nickel and Xstrata. On the whole, we expect Australia's mining sector to remain dominated by large miners, with the exception of coal, which could become slightly more fragmented with the development of the Alpha and Galilee coal mines by Hancock Coal and Waratah Coal in 2013. These projects are the largest planned in the coal sector and, thus, the two companies will become significant coal miners.

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