| Mar Qtr 26 ($m) | Dec Qtr 25 to Mar Qtr 26 (% change) | Mar Qtr 25 to Mar Qtr 26 (% change) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | ||||
| Mineral exploration expenditure | 1094 | 6.3 | 16.1 | |
| Petroleum exploration expenditure | 467 | -4.8 | 46.2 | |
| Trend | ||||
| Mineral exploration expenditure | 1079 | 3.8 | 13.4 | |
| Petroleum exploration expenditure | 471 | 6.1 | 36.3 | |
Mineral and Petroleum Exploration, Australia
Latest release
Quarterly statistics on mineral and petroleum exploration expenditure by private organisations in Australia
Reference period
March 2026
Released
2/06/2026
Release date and time
02/06/2026 11:30am AEST
Key statistics
Seasonally adjusted:
- Mineral exploration expenditure rose by 6.3%
- Petroleum exploration expenditure fell by 4.8%
Mineral exploration
Total expenditure, seasonally adjusted and trend
- Seasonally adjusted rise of 6.3% ($64.5m) to $1093.7m
- Trend rise of 3.8% ($39.8m) to $1079.3m
Mineral exploration, by deposit type, original series
- Total deposits fell 10.0% ($104.9m) to $949.3m
- New deposits fell 26.7% ($78.6m) to $215.7m
- Existing deposits fell 3.5% ($26.3m) to $733.6m
Mineral exploration, by mineral type, original series
- Gold recorded the largest fall, down 5.8% ($27.9m) to $450.9m
- Iron ore rose, up 5.0% ($8.8m) to $186.0m
- Selected Base Metals contains Copper, Silver, Lead & Zinc, and Nickel & Cobalt
- All Others contains Mineral Sands, Uranium, Diamonds and Other Minerals
Metres drilled, seasonally adjusted and trend
- Seasonally adjusted rise of 9.3% (264.8km) to 3,120.1km
- Trend rise of 5.1% (148.6km) to 3,034.1km
Metres drilled, original series
- Total deposits fell 4.3% (121.9km) to 2,682.5km
- New deposits fell 24.6% (164.1km) to 503.2km
- Existing deposits rose 2.0% (42.3km) to 2,179.4km
Petroleum exploration
Total expenditure, seasonally adjusted and trend
- Seasonally adjusted fall of 4.8% ($23.5m) to $466.6m
- Trend rise of 6.1% ($27.2m) to $470.7m
Onshore, seasonally adjusted and trend
- Seasonally adjusted rise of 14.8% ($35.2m) to $273.7m
- Trend rise of 8.8% ($21.7m) to $268.8m
Offshore, seasonally adjusted and trend
- Seasonally adjusted fall of 23.3% ($58.7m) to $192.9m
- Trend rise of 2.2% ($4.8m) to $224.1m
Data downloads
Time series spreadsheets
Data files
Table 1. Private exploration, actual and expected expenditure
Table 2. Mineral exploration, (other than for petroleum) - expenditure and metres drilled
Table 3b. Mineral exploration, (other than for petroleum) - expenditure by type of deposit
Table 4. Mineral exploration, (other than for petroleum) - expenditure by state and territory
Table 5. Mineral exploration, (other than for petroleum) - expenditure by mineral sought
Table 6a. Petroleum exploration, expenditure by onshore and offshore
Table 6b. Petroleum exploration, expenditure by type of lease
Table 7. Petroleum exploration, expenditure by state and territory
Data Explorer datasets
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Help for: Data Explorer Datasets
Mineral Exploration - Quarterly mineral exploration expenditure and metres drilled
Petroleum Exploration - Quarterly petroleum expenditure
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Previous catalogue number
This release previously used catalogue number 8412.0.
Methodology
Scope
Private enterprises known to be engaged in exploration in Australia and Australian waters.
Covers all expenditure (capitalised and non-capitalised) during the exploratory or evaluation stages.
The publication contains actual and expected expenditure.
Geography
The data available includes estimates for:
- Australia
- States and territories.
Note: Petroleum exploration expenditure in the Ashmore and Cartier Islands has been included with the Northern Territory data.
Source
Statistics are compiled using data collected from the:
- Mineral Exploration and Evaluation Survey
- Petroleum Exploration and Evaluation Survey.
Collection method
Quarterly censuses are conducted to collect data from private sector enterprises known to be engaged in exploration. A web form is used to collect survey data.
Concepts, sources and methods
Not available for this release
History of changes
A new Maritime Boundary Treaty between Australia and Timor-Leste came into force on 30 August 2019.