Copper Investing in Australia

Where is copper found in Australia?

There are actively producing copper-focused mines in four Australian jurisdictions — Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales — while exploration and development is being carried out in a fifth jurisdiction, Victoria. There are known deposits across every jurisdiction, however.

It’s worth noting that Australia has copper-smelting capacity too as well, exporting not just copper ores, but also copper anodes to major markets overseas.

The lion’s share of all copper produced in Australia heads to Asia, where markets took AU$7.3 billion worth of copper trade in 2021; of that amount, more than half (AU$4.6 billion) went straight to China — Australia’s largest trade partner. The second largest share went to Japan, whose high-tech industries accounted for AU$1.3 billion of Australia’s copper sold in 2021.

While modern Australia is built on gold, iron and coal, copper mining has been happening in the land down under since the time of the major gold rushes in the 1800s. South Australia — the site of the Olympic Dam polymetallic mine — was known as the “copper kingdom” as far back as the 1860s because its copper mines were among the largest in the world. Indeed, the first major discoveries of copper in Australia were in South Australia.

Today, South Australia remains the nexus of copper production in the country, with the state accounting for some 69 percent of all economic demonstrated reserves of copper in Australia — a number that totals 96.65 million tonnes, according to government data from 2021.

South Australia is followed by New South Wales (14 percent), Queensland (10 percent) and Western Australia (6 percent). The remaining jurisdictions have minor shares of the copper pie.

There are currently 38 operating copper mines in the whole of Australia, and surprisingly, South Australia only holds four of them, though they count among them the largest.

Of the remainder, 13 are in Queensland, 12 are in New South Wales, nine are in Western Australia and the last is in Tasmania, although the Tasmanian mine is a polymetallic mine focused on zinc and lead.

Which companies mine copper in Australia?

Looking at the mines and the players focused on copper in Australia reveals a mostly Australia-listed roll call of operators, but there are plenty of international players as well.

The largest operating mine is, as mentioned above, the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, owned and operated by mining giant BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP). The massive mine produced some 138,000 tonnes of copper cathode in its year ended June 30, 2022. That same mine also accounts for South Australia’s dominance of uranium production in Australia.

Only three other mines are now operating in the state: Prominent Hill and Carapateena, both operated by the Australian company OZ Minerals (ASX:OZL,OTC Pink:OZMLF), and Kanmantoo, operated by another Australian company, Hillgrove Resources (ASX:HGO). Still, the state is teeming with copper deposits.

Coming in behind BHP for copper production is the global giant Glencore (LSE:GLEN,OTC Pink:GLFNF), which owns Mount Isa Mines in Queensland — the second largest producer in the country. Glencore previously also owned Ernest Henry Mines, another copper producer in the state, but it was acquired by Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN,OTC Pink:CAHPF) in January of 2022.

Looking elsewhere in Australia, companies that make appearances are China’s MMG (OTC Pink:MMLTF,HKEX:1208) with its Rosebery mine in Tasmania, American company Newmont (TSX:NGT,NYSE:NEM), and Australia’s Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM,OTC Pink:NCMGF), Stavely Minerals (ASX:SVY) and Metals X (ASX:MLX,OTC Pink:MLXEF). Aside from those larger companies, there are plenty of small-time operators spread around the country.

Given the bright future that the red metal has in the age of technology and electrification, copper remains front-of-mind in Australia’s export plans, with exports and revenue expected to rise modestly over coming years, mainly fuelled by increasing output from existing mines. However, there are also plenty of copper deposits and exploration projects in the works to keep an eye on.