After a steep plunge of Australian mineral exploration expenditure that followed the global financial crisis, recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) indicate some renewed optimism in Australia's mining sector.
According to the ABS' trend estimate, total mineral exploration expenditure increased 4.9% ($23.5 million) to $498.5 million in the 2018 March quarter, which is almost 25% higher than in the 2017 March quarter.
Notably, the trend estimate for actual metres drilled in existing and new deposits also rose slightly by 2.4% from the previous quarter (although it fell in original terms by 14.8%), and increased 13.5% compared to the same period last year.
However, the picture is bleak for Australia's petroleum exploration activity, which continued its downward spiral, falling by 21% ($49.9 million) to $187.6 million. It's the lowest it has been since 20 years, and compares to a peak expenditure of over $1.2 billion in 2013.