Australian Mineral Exploration Review 2025 Significant drill results – strategic materials

Copper and copper-rich alloys are used extensively across a range of industries including electrical equipment, plumbing and industrial machinery manufacturing. Australian copper exploration activity decreased in 2025, despite an increase in global demand⁵². In 2024, Australia accounted for a 3% share of global copper production and 11% of known copper resources⁵³.

Copper is listed as a strategic material by the Australian Government (Figure 1). In Australia, it is usually found and produced with other commodities in polymetallic deposits, some of which also contain critical minerals, such as antimony, cobalt and PGE, and/or other strategic materials such as tin and zinc. Australian exploration and production are dominated by four types of deposit: iron-oxide-copper-gold deposits, sediment-hosted copper-cobalt deposits, porphyry copper deposits and volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits⁵⁴. The polymetallic nature of the significant drill results that contain copper is evident by the results (Table 8) in that they show not only copper intercepts but also critical minerals such as cobalt and nickel as well as precious metals gold and silver.

Clusters of significant drill results are in regions well known for copper mineralisation. These include the Mount Isa-Cloncurry region in Queensland, the Cobar-central west region in New South Wales, together with the emerging Pilbara region in Western Australia and the historic Tennant Creek region in the Northern Territory (Figure 10). There are limited drill results in the Gawler Craton region in South Australia, however, this could be due to most of the drilling being used to expand known resources and, therefore, not being reported as exploration drilling results. This observation is also consistent with the maiden resources containing copper that were announced in 2025 (Figure 4). More early-stage and expansion projects were reported in 2025 than upgrade projects. This could be reflective of the strong copper mining sector in Australia with limited exploration reports coming from resource upgrades at operating mines.

Lead and zinc are key base metals with distinct but complementary uses across industry and the energy transition. Lead is primarily used in batteries, with over 80% of global lead consumption going into lead–acid batteries⁵⁵ for vehicles and energy storage, alongside smaller uses in shielding, cables and construction materials. In contrast, zinc is mainly used for galvanising steel, where it protects infrastructure, including renewable energy technologies, from corrosion. This accounts for roughly half to over 50% of global zinc demand⁵⁶ as well as in alloys (e.g. brass), chemical production and emerging battery technologies.

In Australia, lead and zinc occur in several deposit types including sediment-hosted base metal deposits and volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits. Australia is a major global producer and exporter of both lead and zinc, with production concentrated in a few world-class provinces. The industry is centred on northwest Queensland (Mount Isa region) and Broken Hill in New South Wales. Australia holds 36% of the world’s lead resources and 27% of world zinc resources⁵⁷. Lead, mainly in the form of the mineral galena, is usually associated with zinc, silver and sometimes copper, and is extracted as a co-product alongside these metals.

The significant drill results containing lead and zinc shown in Figure 11 reveal that there is limited reported exploration in the world-class Broken Hill and Mount Isa provinces. Projects at varying stages are clustered in central New South Wales in the Cobar Region which has historically produced lead and zinc as well as copper, gold and silver. Most of these significant drill results are polymetallic as shown in Table 9. New discoveries of lead and zinc occurrences dominate the results with early-stage projects occurring in four jurisdictions.

Significant drill results for strategic materials, other than copper, lead and zinc, were also reported in Australia in 2025. These included bauxite (the major ore for aluminium), tin and phosphorus. These were in small numbers and, as such, are grouped together in Figure 12. Further information about each significant drill result is detailed in Table 10. The continued exploration for these strategic materials is important to industrial capability and emerging supply chains, while also demonstrating Australia’s continued commitment to foundational commodities.

Bauxite is refined to alumina and then smelted into aluminium. Aluminium is an essential component of modern life, widely used in construction, transport, packaging, electrical systems and renewable energy technologies due to its lightweight, corrosion resistance and recyclability. Australia plays a critical role in global aluminium supply as one of the world’s largest producers of bauxite, contributing around a quarter of global production⁵⁸.

Phosphate rock (a phosphorus ore) is mainly mined to produce fertilisers for agriculture, but it is also an important source of phosphorus used in lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, which are common in electric vehicles. Phosphate is generally sourced from phosphorite, a marine sedimentary deposit, or from guano, which is an accumulation of bird or bat excrement. Australia contributes more modestly to global phosphate supply, producing around 1% of phosphate annually and ranking outside the major global producers⁵⁹.

Tin is primarily used in solders for electronics and joining metals and pipes, as a coating for steel cans and in metal alloys. Australia plays a relatively small but notable role in global tin supply, producing around 4% of the world’s tin⁶⁰. It typically occurs in granite-related deposits or carbonate-replacement systems, such as those found in western Tasmania.

Exploration for tin in New South Wales yielded three significant drilling results in 2025, with projects of all stages present. A resource upgrade project in Tasmania also yielded a significant tin result. There was one aluminium result in a resource upgrade project and two phosphorus projects in northern Western Australia (Figure 12). Six of the seven drilling results described in Table 10, have a Mineral Resource identified.