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Ryan Sero
Silver Mines in Australia — Who’s Digging, and Where?
Mining is a big part of Australia’s history, and it continues to shape the country’s economy and position in the world today. The nation is one of the world’s top producers and exporters of resources, with coal, uranium, copper and gold being some of its best-known commodities.
Australia is also a key producer of silver — it was the world’s fifth-largest producer of the metal in 2021, tied with Russia, putting out 1,300 MT. Interestingly, most of Australia's silver is produced from silver-bearing galena, but some is also produced from copper and gold mining.
Refined silver comes mainly from the Port Pirie lead smelter and refinery in South Australia, though silver is also refined at gold refineries in Perth, Kalgoorlie and Melbourne.
But where are the silver mines in Australia, exactly? While it’s interesting to know what types of deposits the precious metal is found in, many investors want to know what companies are producing silver and where their mines are located geographically. Read on to find the answers to those questions.
Where are the silver mines in Australia?
Silver has played a role in Australia since the mid-1800s — Wheal Gawler, Australia’s first metal mine, was a silver-lead mine developed in South Australia in the 1840s. And that’s not Australia’s only early silver-mining operation — the Broken Hill deposit in New South Wales and the Mount Isa deposit in Queensland are two other early Australian silver discoveries.
Broken Hill, a lead-zinc-silver deposit, was discovered in 1883 by German immigrant Charles Rasp, and the Broken Hill Proprietary Company was born in 1885; it ultimately merged in 2001 with another mining giant, Billiton, to form BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BLT). BHP Billiton is no longer involved with Broken Hill, but ore is still being extracted there today. Perilya now runs the southern and northern operations.
For its part, Mount Isa was discovered in 1923 by John Campbell Miles, and like Broken Hill is still producing today. It was acquired by Glencore (LSE:GLEN) in 2013 and in addition to silver is also a producer of zinc.
These major early Australian silver discoveries are not the country’s only sources of silver. Other silver mines in Australia include Cannington, one of the world’s top primary silver producers. It’s a fly-in, fly-out mining and processing operation that is owned by South32 (ASX:S32,LSE:S32), a diversified resource company spun out from BHP Billiton in 2015. Cannington also produces lead and zinc.
Australia holds the McArthur River mine as well, which opened in 1995 and is owned by Glencore subsidiary McArthur River Mining. The mine is one of the world’s largest zinc-lead-silver mines, and is located in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Glencore’s 2021 annual report claims total silver production reached 31.519 million ounces for the year, representing a 4 percent drop from 2020. That includes 625,000 ounces from McArthur River.
The Century mine, which previously belonged to MMG (HKEX:1208), shut its doors at the end of 2015, but was a major producer of zinc (and silver) until that time. It was reopened in mid-2018 by New Century Resources (ASX:NCZ) and the company says it now has an estimated annual production capacity of 264,000 tonnes of zinc and 3 million ounces of silver.
Independence Group (ASX:IGO) also produces silver, along with copper and zinc, at its Jaguar operation in Western Australia. Gold producer Silver Lake Resources (ASX:SLR) owns some projects with silver reserves as well. As you can see, there are and have been many silver mines in Australia.
Future silver mines in Australia?
In addition to being home to a slew of large silver mines, Australia also plays host to many companies that are exploring and developing silver projects. Below are a few that have made recent progress.
Please let us know in the comments if we’ve forgotten to mention any Australia-focused silver companies. All companies listed had market caps of at least AU$5 million on May 19, 2022.
Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD) — Argent Minerals’ main asset is its 100-percent-owned Kempfield polymetallic project in New South Wales. In May 2018, the company announced an updated resource estimate for the asset — its silver equivalent contained metal now stands at an estimated 100 million silver equivalent ounces at 120 g/t silver equivalent; that’s approximately double the previous estimate.
In total the company has three projects, with all of them being in New South Wales.
Investigator Resources (ASX:IVR) — Investigator Resources is advancing silver, copper and gold deposits in South Australia. Currently its properties include the Peterlumbo/Paris silver project, the Eyre Peninsula and Stuart Shelf projects and the Northern Yorke Peninsula projects.
The total resource for Paris stands at an estimated 18.8 million tonnes at 88 g/t silver and 0.52 percent lead for 53.1 million ounces of contained silver and 97,600 tonnes of contained lead (at a cut off of 30 g/t silver). The indicated component is 12.7 million tonnes of silver (95 g/t) and represents 73 percent of the total estimated resource ounces.
Horizon Minerals (ASX:HRZ) — Horizon Minerals owns the Nimbus silver-zinc project in Western Australia. Nimbus has a high-grade silver-zinc resource estimate of 255,898 tonnes at 773 g/t silver and 13 percent zinc; the total Nimbus resource stands at 1.21 million tonnes at 52 g/t silver, 0.9 percent zinc and 0.2 g/t gold.
Silver Mines (ASX:SVL) bills itself as a leading Australian silver exploration company, and has spent a considerable amount of time acquiring Australian silver projects. Those include Malachite Resources’ (ASX:MAR) Conrad project and Kingsgate Consolidated’s (ASX:KCN) Bowdens silver project.
While the company’s main focus has been on the Webbs silver project in New South Wales, the Bowdens project represents the largest undeveloped silver project in Australia, and Silver Mines is working to get the project through the feasibility, environmental impact statement and permitting stages.
In a 2018 report, the feasibility study demonstrated an average silver production of 3.4 million tonnes per annum for the project, with 5.4 million during the first three years of operation. Estimations also included 6,900 tonnes of zinc and 5,100 tonnes of lead.
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2018.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Australia for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Ryan Sero, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Where are the silver mines in Australia? You might be surprised to learn that the country is home to one of the world’s top primary silver producers.
Renewable Energy in Australia
As cultures, political movements and scientific advancements shift, the world is becoming increasingly interested in the rapidly growing renewable energy sector.
In Australia, the generation of renewable energy has risen sharply, increasing from less than 20,000 gigawatt hours in 1999 to 2020's more than 60,000 gigawatt hours.
Clearly the Australian renewable energy sector is on the rise. So how should a prudent investor navigate the industry's different opportunities? And what are the ways to approach such investment opportunities?
Renewable energy in Australia: What is renewable energy?
Renewable energy comes from natural processes, such as wind currents or moving water. It replenishes at a rate equal to or greater than its consumption, and is not used up in the same way that fossil fuels are depleted. For example, a wind turbine turns with the wind, and does not burn up the wind used to generate power.
There are many types of renewable energy. The most widely used source of renewable energy worldwide is hydro power —16.8 percent of the world's power is hydro. Wind and solar power are also very popular. There are many other sources as well, including geothermal, biomass, biogas and liquid biofuels. Solar panels absorb heat from the sun and convert it to power, while water wheels and wind turbines turn kinetic energy into electricity; for its part, geothermal power uses natural hot water sources to employ the Earth itself as a steam engine.
All in all, renewable energy is a relatively new concern. Initially efforts to capitalize on such sources were a struggle — early solar panels lacked efficiency, for instance, although hydroelectric power is an exception and has long been used by governments to augment their citizens' energy needs.
The world is taking more and more notice of renewable energy. Deals made at the United Nations, such as the Paris Agreement, which was adopted in December 2015, have instituted legally binding target numbers for lowered emissions, and a big part of the execution of those goals will be renewable energy sources.
Consequently, it is only a matter of time before the renewable energy sector grows exponentially larger. The need and demand for clean energy is rising quickly. In fact, it is hard to conceive of a world where clean energy from renewable sources is not emphasized more and more every year.
Renewable energy in Australia: How to invest
As of 2020, 24 percent of Australia's energy generation came from renewable sources. The largest sources of renewable energy in Australia are solar and wind, each accounting for approximately 9 percent of the country's energy sources (and 35 percent each of the renewable energy total). Hydro energy has remained mostly steady in terms of its overall percentage of energy generated, whereas solar and wind have been on the climb. Biomass and geothermal sources are still comparatively low in terms of percentage of generated power.
There are many utilities companies listed on the ASX that are investing in renewable energy sources. Here's a look at the five largest of them based on market capitalisation. Data was retrieved on March 31, 2022, using TradingView's stock screener, and companies are listed in descending order from largest to smallest.
1. Meridian Energy
Market cap: AU$11.83 billion; current share price: AU$4.81
Listed both in both New Zealand and Australia, Meridian Energy (ASX:MEZ) is New Zealand’s largest electricity generator through its five wind farms, seven hydro power stations and commercial solar arrays. All the electricity supplied to the company's customers comes from the electricity grid, which mixes electricity supplied from both renewable and non-renewable sources.
2. Origin Energy
Market cap: AU$11.11 billion; current share price: AU$6.23
Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) is an integrated energy company that has both renewable and non-renewable energy output. The company buys wind power from wind farms in Australia and is the nation's largest buyer of utility-scale solar. It also installs solar panels.
3. Mercury
Market cap: AU$7.55 billion; current share price: AU$5.21
Mercury (ASX:MCY) has wind farms, solar farms and combination wind-solar farms; it is also developing battery energy storage systems. Battery and power storage capabilities are essential elements for renewable energy.
4. Contact Energy
Market cap: AU$5.85 billion; current share price: AU$7.60
New Zealand-based Contact Energy (ASX:CEN) owns and operates 11 power stations and produces 80 to 85 percent of its electricity from its renewable hydro and geothermal stations.
5. Infrantil
Market cap: AU$5.57 billion; current share price: AU$7.49
Infrantil (ASX:IFT) is an infrastructure company that invests in energy, transport and social infrastructure, and has renewable investments in Trust Power, Longroad Energy, Gurin Energy and Galileo Green Energy.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Australia for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Ryan Sero, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
With 24 percent of its energy coming from renewable sources, Australia is a country to watch when it comes to renewable energy. Here's how investors can get involved.
Iron Ore in Australia
It is more common than air, but invaluable to our society. We use it to build, craft and make steel and other alloys, and it shows up in everything from buildings to utensils.
Iron is one of the fundamental elements used by humans. It makes sense, then, to consider iron as an investment opportunity. The ubiquity of the metal, not just in our environment, but in our daily life, shows off its value. That value can be translated into an investor's portfolio.
When we specifically talk about iron in Australia, we are talking about the largest export in the country — it just narrowly edges out coal. Both the price and the production of iron have increased over the past five years, with most of Australia's iron being mined in Western Australia.
More than 37 percent, amounting to around 900 million tonnes, of the world's iron exports come from Australia. In this regard, Australia ranks number one globally. Its nearest rival is Brazil, with 400 million tonnes of iron exports, accounting for 16.7 percent — less than half of Australia's output.
Although the iron price is down in 2022, that's only compared to the massive highs it saw last year. Ignoring 2021's iron price spike, the iron price has not been at the levels seen currently since 2013.
The outlook is that this price trend will not continue indefinitely, and might take a few hits over the next several years. The Australian government expects price averages to drop from AU$142 per tonne in 2021 to AU$66 by 2023, and the profitability of that decline is questionable. Ultimately, the expectation is that the industry will remain solid, but will not continue to experience the exciting climb that it has, up until recently, enjoyed.
So why should investors consider iron? The short answer is that iron is here to stay. Market fluctuations are one thing — these ups and downs happen — but because of the nature of iron and how much people use and need the metal, at the end of the day, this industry is essential to our way of life.
Iron ore in Australia: Key players to consider
When looking at major players in Australian iron, three names repeatedly come up: BHP (ASX:BHP,LSE:BHP,NYSE:BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,LSE:RIO,NYSE:RIO) and Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG).
Data for the following list was gathered from TradingView's stock screener on April 7, 2022, and the companies are listed in order of largest market cap to smallest.
1. BHP
Market cap: AU$260.25 billion; current share price: AU$51.94
Mining giant BHP's iron ore business includes integrated iron ore mines, rail and port operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. In addition to iron ore, the diversified Anglo-Australian company produces copper, nickel, metallurgical coal, petroleum and potash.
2. Rio Tinto
Market cap: AU$176.4 billion; current share price: AU$118.98
Diversified miner Rio Tinto produces iron ore, aluminium, copper, borates, lithium, diamonds, titanium dioxide and salt. In Western Australia, the company puts out five iron ore products; one of these is the Pilbara Blend, which the company calls "the world’s most recognised brand of iron ore."
3. Fortescue Metals Group
Market cap: AU$66.69 billion; current share price: AU$21.83
Fortescue Metals Group is based in Western Australia and has multiple operations in the Pilbara region. The company is one of the world's biggest iron ore producers, and sells its material globally, but mainly to China.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Australia for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Ryan Sero, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Australia is an iron ore powerhouse, accounting for about 37 percent of the world's exports of the commodity. How can investors get exposure to this massive market?
Free Investor Report
Cannabis in Australia: A New, Budding Market
- MMJ Group Holdings Limited
What do you need to know to invest and profit from the Australian cannabis market? We’ve compiled a FREE outlook report with expert advice, fundamental knowledge and stocks to watch. Get your FREE report below to learn more about the future of cannabis in Australia!
Table of Contents
- Australian Cannabis Investing: What You Need to Know
- How to Access Medical Cannabis in Australia
- 10 ASX Cannabis Stocks
Dear Cannabis Investor,
Since the legalization of medical cannabis in 2016, Australia has been steadily developing its marijuana industry — and it’s been attracting attention from international players and investors. With a quickly growing population of over 25 million people and a robust agriculture industry, the country is positioned to mold itself into a major force in the international cannabis space.
Here the Investing News Network takes a look at how the cannabis industry in Australia has been shaping up since legalization and what these developments could mean for investors. Download our FREE outlook report to learn what you need to know about investing in cannabis down under.
In this new report you will find price data and top Australian cannabis stocks to watch in 2019. You’ll also get an understanding of the various sectors within the Australian cannabis market. If you are looking to understand the true value of cannabis and CBD to investors, this is the report you will want to read. We have done the legwork so you won’t have to.
- MMJ Group Holdings Limited
What’s ahead for the Australian Cannabis Market?
While Australia may, finally, just be entering the cannabis industry, it is projected to have long-term potential. According to the GreenFund the cannabis export market in Australia is projected to be worth AU$55 billion by 2025 thanks in part to its agriculture industry. In short, Australia’s role in the cannabis industry will certainly continue growing.
What do industry experts predict growth will look like in the market? Can investors expect the legalization of recreational cannabis in the Australian market? Our FREE outlook report on the fundamentals of investing in the Australian cannabis market has this insight and more!
Australia is also known for several other valuable resources, adding to the expanding resource market. Which resources are forecasted to increase and demand and value? Our FREE outlook report has this information and more!
Loaded With Value
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Of course, after first asking, “Is the Australian cannabis market a good investment?” your next question might be what are the credentials of the Investing News Network…
- MMJ Group Holdings Limited
Who We Are
Investing News Network is a growing network of authoritative publications delivering independent, unbiased news and education for investors. We deliver knowledgeable, carefully curated coverage of a variety of markets including gold, silver, copper and many others. This means you read nothing but the best from the entire world of investing advice, and never have to waste your valuable time doing hours, days or weeks of research yourself.
At the same time, not a single word of the content we choose for you is paid for by any company or investment advisor: We choose our content based solely on its informational and educational value to you, the investor.
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- MMJ Group Holdings Limited
Remember, it costs you nothing to read this special report, and it could make or break your investment in the Australian cannabis market this year. We’re pleased to be able to make it available to you at no cost, and hope you’ll take advantage of the expertise it delivers.
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So I urge you to sit down today and carefully read Cannabis in Australia: A New, Budding Market. Keep an open mind, give its insights careful thought and take your time in making any decisions. Remember, this FREE Special Report is yours to keep, so you can refer back to it at any time to guide your future moves.
Thank you for hearing me out on this special report, and for your interest in the Investing News Network. Join me soon as a confident cannabis investor!
Yours for financial self-reliance,
Nick Smith
Publisher.
*Your free Cannabis Investor Kit includes:
- MMJ Group Holdings Limited
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