8415.0 - Mining Operations, Australia, 2006-07 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 22/07/2008  Final
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GLOSSARY

Data presented in this publication have been compiled from the standard financial accounts of businesses; therefore, the definition of each reported item aligns closely with that adopted in standard business accounting practice. Definitions of particular terms, as used in this publication, are also included.

ABN unit

The statistical unit used by the ABS to represent businesses, and for which statistics are reported, in most cases. The ABN unit is the business unit which has registered for an ABN, and thus appears on the ATO administered Australian Business Register. In most cases, the ABN unit represents the legal entity. This unit is suitable for ABS statistical needs when the business is simple in structure. For more significant and diverse businesses where the ABN unit is not suitable for ABS statistical needs, the statistical unit used is the type of activity unit (TAU).

Acquisitions

See the various capital expenditure entries.

Bad and doubtful debts

Represents the amount of bad and doubtful debts written-off, net of bad and doubtful debts previously written-off but recovered.

Business

A business is generally considered to be a person, partnership, or corporation engaged in business or commerce; for example, a gold mining business.

In this publication, the term represents the ABN unit or type of activity unit (TAU), which are the two standard statistical units for the 2006-07 mining collection (these two units are explained under separate entries). For details, see Explanatory Notes paragraphs 4-8.

Business Activity Statement (BAS) total sales

Represented by the form item G1 Total sales on businesses' Business Activity Statements, supplied by them to the ATO. This item comprises all payments and other consideration (including GST) received during the nominated tax period for supplies made in the course of business.

Capital expenditure on dwellings, other buildings and structures

Capital expenditure incurred acquiring dwellings, other buildings and structures, including roads, factories, warehouses, offices, bridges, mine development, and oil and gas platforms. Represents expenditure before deduction of trade-in allowances, and includes expenses (except capitalised interest) incurred during the year in acquiring such assets.

Capital expenditure on other assets (including land and intangible assets)

Capital expenditure incurred acquiring other assets (including land and intangible assets). Intangible asset purchases may include items such as exploration expenditure capitalised, patents, licences and goodwill. Also included is computer software capitalised, including capitalised computer software licence fees, installation costs, the purchase or development of large databases, software developed in-house (but excluded is software maintenance expenditure), and capitalised payments to contractors and consultants for software development. Note that if the cost of software and hardware cannot be separated, the total cost is included in acquisition of plant, machinery and equipment.

Capital expenditure on plant, machinery and equipment

Capital expenditure incurred acquiring plant, machinery and other equipment, including motor vehicles. Includes expenses (except capitalised interest) incurred during the year in acquiring such assets.

Capital work done for own use

Capitalised work done by the employees or proprietors of a business in manufacturing, constructing, installing or repairing assets, in mineral and petroleum exploration activities, and the in-house development of computer software, for use by the business or for rental or lease. This work is valued at the capitalised costs of the materials and the wages and salaries involved.

Capitalised purchases

Goods drawn from inventories for use as fixed tangible assets in capital work done by the employees or proprietors of a business for use by the business or for rental or lease.

Capitalised wages and salaries

Capitalised payments for work done by employees of a business in manufacturing, constructing, installing or repairing assets, in mineral and petroleum exploration activities, and in the in-house development of computer software, for use by the business or for rental or lease.

Change in inventories

The value of total closing inventories less total opening inventories.

Closing inventories

The value of all inventories of finished goods (including mineral ores), work-in-progress (less progress payments billed), raw materials, fuels and containers at the end of the reporting period.

Contract mining expenses

Contract payments for mining services. Includes amounts paid/payable to mining contractors and associated freight charges for materials brought in by the contractor.

Cost of sales

The sum of purchases, selected expenses and opening inventories less closing inventories. Any capitalised purchases or capitalised wages and salaries are excluded.

Current prices

Estimates at current prices are valued at the prices of the period to which the observation relates. For example, estimates for 2006-07 are valued using 2006-07 prices. This contrasts to chain volume measures, where the prices used in valuation refer to the prices of a previous period.

Depreciation and amortisation

Depreciation/amortisation allowed on tangible and intangible assets. Includes, for lessees only, depreciation/amortisation in respect of finance leases.

Disposal of assets

Proceeds from the sale of tangible assets (plant, machinery, equipment, land, dwellings, other buildings and structures), and intangible assets (such as patents, licences and goodwill). Includes the disposal of motor vehicles.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)

Profit prior to the deduction of net interest (interest income minus interest expenses), income tax, depreciation and amortisation. Items classifiable to other income are also excluded.

Employer contributions into superannuation

Includes all employer contributions to superannuation funds (including the employer productivity contribution) and provisions for employer contributions to superannuation funds. Also includes expenses relating to employer funded defined benefit schemes. Employee contributions and salary sacrifice contributions are excluded. Note that salary sacrifice contributions were included in estimates of this item in previous issues of this publication.

Employment at end of June

Number of persons working for mining businesses during the last pay period ending in June of the given year. Includes working proprietors and partners, employees absent on paid or prepaid leave, employees on workers' compensation who continue to be paid through the payroll, and contract miners paid through the payroll. Excludes persons paid by commission only, non-salaried directors, and self-employed persons such as consultants and contractors.

In order to produce data by state and territory, businesses which received mail out questionnaires were also asked to report employment (as well as wages and salaries, and sales of goods and services) for each state and/or territory in which they operated. For details, see Explanatory Notes paragraphs 44 and 45.

For details of how employment estimates have been derived, see Technical Note 1 paragraph 19.

Energy grants credit

See the entry for funding from government: energy grants credit.

Enterprise

An institutional unit comprising:

  • a single legal entity or business entity; or
  • more than one legal entity or business entity within the same enterprise group and in the same institutional sub-sector (i.e. they are all classified to a single Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia (SISCA) sub-sector).

Enterprise group

A unit covering all the operations in Australia of one or more legal entities under common ownership and/or control. It covers all the operations in Australia of legal entities which are related in terms of the current Corporations Law (as amended by the Corporations Legislation Amendment Act 1991), including legal entities such as companies, trusts and partnerships. Majority ownership is not required for control to be exercised.

Freight and cartage expenses

Includes handling charges and payments to owner/drivers for delivery of minerals. Excludes the cost of delivery by own vehicles and employees, overseas freight and cartage on goods exported, and payments to couriers.

Funding from government: energy grants credit

Amount reimbursed under the Australian Government's Energy Grants (Credit) Scheme. This scheme replaced the Diesel Fuel Rebate Scheme and the Diesel and Alternate Fuels Grant on 1 July 2003, and provides a grant for diesel and alternative fuels used in specified activities.

Funding from government for other operational costs

Funding from federal, state and/or local government for operational costs (e.g. wages and salaries, rent, food) apart from Energy Grants (Credit) Scheme funding (which is separately published). Includes bounties, subsidies, export grants, apprenticeship and traineeship schemes, and community service obligation payments.

Funding from government for specific capital items

Includes capital grants, and low interest or interest free loans made by government to businesses to encourage expenditure on specific equipment (e.g. environmental protection equipment).

Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)

Gross fixed capital formation is measured by the total value of a producer's acquisitions, less disposals, of fixed assets during the reference period, plus certain additions to the value of non-produced assets realised by the productive activity of institutional units.

Fixed assets are tangible or intangible assets produced as outputs from processes of production that are themselves used repeatedly or continuously in other processes of production for more than one year.

The derivation of GFCF is as follows:

Diagram: Derivation of Gross Fixed Capital Formation

Industry value added (IVA)

IVA represents the value added by an industry to the intermediate inputs used by the industry. IVA is the measure of the contribution by mining businesses to gross domestic product.

The derivation of IVA is as follows:

Diagram: Derivation of Industry Value Added

However, it should be noted that IVA is a measure of economic activity and is not equivalent to operating profit before tax (OPBT). Wage and salary expenses and most other labour costs are not taken into account in its calculation, and nor are most insurance premiums, interest expenses or depreciation and a number of lesser expenses (see the entry for total expenses for further detail). On the income side, OPBT includes total income whereas IVA only includes sales and service income.

Industry value added is related to, but different from, the national accounting variable gross value added.

For national accounts purposes, gross value added is calculated by adjusting industry value added to include General Government units and to also account for some other effects.

Industry value added per person employed

IVA of mining businesses which operated during the year ended 30 June 2007 divided by the number of persons employed by mining businesses during the last pay period ending in June of the same year.

Industry value added to selected labour costs

IVA of mining businesses which operated during the year ended 30 June 2007 divided by their selected labour costs, i.e. industry value added / selected labour costs.

Insurance premiums

Premiums for fire, general, accident, public liability, optional third-party and comprehensive motor vehicle insurance, professional indemnity insurance and common law liability. Excludes workers' compensation insurance premiums/costs (included in selected labour costs), compulsory third party motor vehicle insurance premiums (included in motor vehicle running expenses), and reinsurance premiums paid.

Interest coverage

The number of times that businesses can meet their interest expenses from their earnings before net interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), i.e. earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation / interest expenses.

Interest expenses

Includes interest paid on loans from banks, finance companies, partners, and related or unrelated businesses, and in respect of finance leases. Includes interest equivalents, such as hedging costs, and expenses associated with discounted bills. Excludes bank charges other than interest, and capital repayments.

Interest income

Includes interest received from deposits in banks and non-bank financial institutions, loans, advances, finance leases and earnings on discounted bills. Excludes capital repayments received, and charges between companies in the same TAU.

Intermediate input expenses

For details, see the entry for total expenses.

Intermediate inputs

Intermediate inputs consist of materials and certain services which are used up in the production process.

The calculation is:

Diagram: Calculation of Intermediate Input Expenses

Inventories - opening/closing

The value of all inventories of finished goods (including mineral ores), work-in-progress (less progress payments billed), raw materials, fuels and containers, at the beginning and end of the reporting period respectively.

Investment rate (value added)

The proportion of industry value added (IVA) used to acquire capital, i.e. (capital expenditure / IVA) x 100.

Motor vehicle running expenses

Includes expenditure on registration fees, compulsory third-party insurance premiums, fuel, and repair and maintenance expenses. Excludes expenses for off-road motor vehicles (e.g. mobile plant, quarry dump trucks) and lease payments, optional third party and comprehensive motor vehicle insurance premiums, and depreciation.

Natural resource royalties expenses

Includes payments under mineral lease arrangements, and resource rent taxes and royalties. Excludes payments for royalties from intellectual property (e.g. patents and copyrights) and expensed computer software licence fees, (both of which are included under other operating expenses), and capitalised computer software licence fees (included under capital expenditure). Gold tax payments are also excluded. See the entry for total expenses for the definition of other operating expenses.

Net capital expenditure

The value of total capital expenditure less proceeds received from the disposal of assets.

Opening inventories

The value of all inventories of finished goods (including mineral ores), work-in-progress (less progress payments billed), raw materials, fuels and containers at the beginning of the reporting period.

Operating profit before tax (OPBT)

Profit before extraordinary items are brought to account and prior to the deduction of income tax and appropriations to owners (e.g. dividends paid), i.e. total income - total expenses + change in inventories.

Other contract, subcontract and commission expenses

Payments to other businesses and self-employed persons for work done or sales made on a contract or commission basis. Payments to persons paid by commission without a retainer are also included. Includes payments to owner drivers for removal of material, but not for delivery of the final mineral product. Excludes contract mining expenses, published separately.

Other income

Includes natural resource royalty income, dividend income and other income such as net profit (or loss) on the sale of fixed tangible assets, net profit (or loss) resulting from variations in foreign exchange rates/transactions, and funding from federal, state and/or local government for specific capital items. It excludes extraordinary profits (or losses), i.e. those not associated with the normal operations of the business and of a non-recurring nature.

Other intermediate input expenses

Comprises intermediate input expenses less purchases of goods and materials used in production (i.e. excludes any capitalised purchases). Further detail is included in the entry for total expenses.

Other selected expenses

Includes expenditure on management fees/charges paid to related and unrelated businesses, bank charges other than interest, audit and other accounting expenses, legal fees, advertising expenses, postal and telecommunication expenses, office supplies and printing expenses, travelling, accommodation and entertainment expenses, staff training, payments for royalties from intellectual property (e.g. patents, copyrights), payments to employment agencies for staff, payroll tax, fringe benefits tax, land tax and land rates, exploration expenditure written off, and computer software expenses not capitalised. Some of these expense items are treated as intermediate input expenses in the calculation of industry value added. For details, see the entry for total expenses.

Profit margin

The percentage of sales and service income available as operating profit before tax (OPBT), i.e. (OPBT / sales and service income) x 100.

Purchases and selected expenses

Purchases of goods and materials, rent, leasing and hiring expenses, freight and cartage expenses, motor vehicle running expenses, repair and maintenance expenses, contract mining and other contract, subcontract and commission expenses, and other selected expenses.

Purchases of goods and materials

Purchases of materials, components, explosives, containers, packaging materials, fuels, electricity and water, and purchases of minerals and other goods for resale. Also includes capitalised purchases. Excludes purchases of parts and fuels for motor vehicles, but includes fuels for off-road vehicles, such as mobile plant and quarry dump trucks.

Reference period

For each collection year, businesses are asked to report data for the financial year ended 30 June. However, if a business has a different financial year, it is asked to report (apart from employment) for the 12 month period which ends between 1 October of the previous year and 30 September of the current year. This period is then used as a substitute for the financial year ended 30 June. For example, for the 2006-07 collection, a business may have reported data for the year ended 31 December 2006.

Rent, leasing and hiring expenses

Payments for the rent, leasing and hiring of land, dwellings, other buildings and structures, motor vehicles, plant, machinery and other equipment (including telecommunication equipment). Includes operating lease payments; excludes finance lease payments.

Rent, leasing and hiring income

For details, see the entry for sales and service income.

Repair and maintenance expenses

Includes computer and communication software and hardware maintenance, and repair and maintenance of off-road motor vehicles. Excludes wages and salaries of own employees and the repair and maintenance costs of on-road motor vehicles.

Sales and service income

Includes:

Sales of goods
  • whether or not produced by the business (including goods produced for the business on a commission basis). Includes sales or transfers to related businesses or to overseas branches of the business, progress payments relating to long term contracts if they are billed in the period, delivery charges not separately invoiced to customers, and sales of goods produced by the business from crude materials purchased. Excludes excise and duties received on behalf of the Government (e.g. the petroleum production excise duty), sales of assets, royalties income, interest income, and delivery charges separately invoiced to customers. Exports are valued free on board (f.o.b.) (i.e. export freight charges are excluded).

Income from services
  • includes income from consulting services, repair, maintenance and service income and fees, contract, subcontract and commission income, management fees/charges from related and unrelated businesses, installation charges, delivery charges separately invoiced to customers and royalties from intellectual property (e.g. patents and copyrights). Excludes interest income, and delivery charges not separately invoiced to customers. Under current international standards, rent, leasing and hiring income (except from finance leases) is also classified as service income.

Rent, leasing and hiring income
  • derived from the ownership of land, dwellings, buildings and other structures, motor vehicles, plant, machinery and other equipment. Excludes royalties from mineral leases, income from finance leases, and payments received under hire purchase arrangements. This item is included in sales and service income, and is not separately published.

These are valued net of discounts given and exclusive of goods and services tax (GST). Extraordinary items are also excluded.

In order to produce data by state and territory, businesses which received mail out questionnaires were also asked to report sales of goods and services (as well as employment and wages and salaries) for each state and/or territory in which they operated. For details, see Explanatory Notes paragraphs 35-37.

Selected expenses

See the entry for purchases and selected expenses.

Selected labour costs

See the entry for total expenses.

Selected labour costs per person employed

The value of selected labour costs paid by mining businesses which operated during the year ended 30 June 2007, divided by the number of persons employed by mining businesses during the last pay period ending in June of that same year.

Selected mining

Comprises all classes in ANZSIC Division B Mining except Subdivision 10 Exploration and other mining support services.

Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia (SISCA)

The SISCA is the central classification among ABS Standard Economic Sector Classifications. It is based on the System of National Accounts 1993 (SNA93) institutional sector classification, and comprises the sectors: non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government, households, non-profit institutions serving households, and rest of the world (which includes only non-resident units, these being excluded from all other sectors). For more information, please refer to Standard Economic Sector Classifications of Australia (SESCA) (cat. no. 1218.0).

Superannuation

See the entry for employer contributions into superannuation.

Total expenses

For the purposes of calculating economic and accounting variables, expenses incurred by businesses are divided into several categories. However, some expenses are excluded entirely from all such calculations: excluded are capital repayments, costs associated with the transfer of real estate, dividends, donations, export freight charges, extraordinary losses, foreign exchange losses, goods and services tax (GST), excise and duties payable to governments, income tax and other direct taxes, losses on asset sales, and unrealised gains/losses from revaluations of assets.

Those expenses used for calculations are categorised as follows:

Intermediate input expenses
This category covers the major expenses incurred by businesses in producing and distributing goods and services (except labour costs), and comprises two sub-categories of operating expenses:

Purchases of goods, materials and services used in production, which include:
  • purchases of materials, components, explosives, containers and packaging materials, electricity, fuels and water
  • purchases of minerals and other goods for resale (without any further processing or assembly)
  • motor vehicle running expenses
  • freight and cartage expenses
  • repair and maintenance expenses
  • rent, leasing and hiring expenses (excluding finance lease payments) contract, subcontract and commission expenses.

Expenses related to the sale of goods and administrative expenses, which include:
  • management fees/charges paid to related and unrelated businesses
  • bank charges other than interest
  • audit and other accounting expenses
  • legal fees
  • advertising expenses
  • postal and telecommunication expenses
  • office supplies and printing expenses
  • travelling, accommodation and entertainment expenses
  • staff training
  • payments for royalties from intellectual property (e.g. patents and copyrights)
  • payments to employment agencies for staff.

Excluded from intermediate input expenses are selected labour costs and other operating expenses as detailed below:

Selected labour costs
  • wages and salaries (including provisions for employee entitlements, salary sacrificed earnings, share based payments and stock options)
  • employer contributions into superannuation
  • workers' compensation premiums/costs.

Other operating expenses
Some expenses are excluded from the calculation of intermediate input expenses and selected labour costs, but are included in the calculation of the accounting variable operating profit before tax (OPBT).

These expenses are included in table 2.1 as:

individually listed items
  • bad and doubtful debts
  • depreciation and amortisation
  • insurance premiums (except workers' compensation and compulsory third party motor vehicle insurance premiums)
  • interest expenses
  • natural resource royalties expenses

part of other selected expenses
  • computer software expenses not capitalised by businesses
  • land tax and land rates
  • mineral/petroleum exploration expenses not capitalised by businesses
  • payroll tax and fringe benefits tax
  • other expenses not capitalised by businesses.

Total income

Comprises sales and service income, interest income, energy grants credits and other funding from government for operational costs, and other income (for details, see the entries for these items).

Total mining

Comprises all classes in ANZSIC Division B Mining (i.e. Subdivisions 06-10).

Trading profit

A measure of profit directly attributable to trading in goods and services. It is derived by subtracting the cost of sales from the value of sales and service income.

It should not be inferred that all of this profit is available as surplus, as other expenses such as selected labour costs, depreciation, insurance premiums, natural resource royalties, bad debts and interest have not been taken into account. Also, other income items such as funding from government and interest income have not been included.

Type of activity unit (TAU)

The TAU is the statistical unit used by the ABS to represent businesses, and for which statistics are reported, in cases where the ABN unit is not suitable for ABS statistical needs.

The TAU comprises one or more business entities, sub-entities or branches of a business entity within an enterprise group that can report production and employment data for similar economic activities. When a minimum set of data items are available, a TAU is created which covers all the operations within an industry subdivision (and the TAU is classified to the relevant subdivision of the ANZSIC). Where a business cannot supply adequate data for each industry, a TAU is formed which contains activity in more than one industry subdivision.

Wages and salaries

The gross wages and salaries (including capitalised wages and salaries) of all employees of the business. The item includes severance, termination and redundancy payments, salaries and fees of directors and executives, retainers and commissions of persons who received a retainer, bonuses, and annual and other types of leave. Provision expenses for employee entitlements (e.g. provisions for annual leave and leave bonus, long service leave, sick leave, and severance, termination and redundancy payments) are also included, as are salary sacrificed earnings and remuneration of employees in the form of share based payments and stock options. (Note that in previous issues of this publication, salary sacrificed earnings and remuneration of employees in the form of share based payments and stock options were reported under related expense items. For example, salary sacrificed for superannuation was included in employer contributions into superannuation.)

Payments to self-employed persons such as consultants, contractors and persons paid solely by commission without a retainer are excluded. The drawings of working proprietors and partners are also excluded.

In order to produce data by state and territory, businesses which received mail out questionnaires were also asked to report wages and salaries (as well as employment and sales of goods and services) for each state and/or territory in which they operated. For details, see Explanatory Notes paragraphs 44 and 45.

Wages and salaries per person employed

The value of wages and salaries paid by mining businesses which operated during the given year ended 30 June 2007, divided by the number of persons employed by mining businesses during the last pay period ending in June of the same year.

Workers' compensation premiums/costs

Workers' compensation is a compulsory insurance cover to be taken out by all employers, except for self-insured workers, according to legislative schemes to cover employees suffering injury or disease in the course of or arising out of employment.