Aussie Mining - An Overview

By Author: Joanne Bissett
Total Articles: 2
Comment this article

Mining is one of the most important and primary industry fields in Australia, and contributes a large share of earnings to the nation's economy. There are numerous locals as well as international immigrants employed in the mining sector.

Mining in Australia had exisited since the Gold Rush period in the middle of 1800s, when huge gold masses were discovered all over the continent. After some time, digging for other minerals and diamonds also took off in Australia, and at present mining has become one of the major contributors to the domestic production for Australia.

Mines

All the regions and states of Australia have mining fo some nature and some of the bigger sites are;

The Olympic Dam Mine - It is situated in South Australia and is well known for the extraction of silver, copper, and uranium. The mine has achieved a reputation for being the largest uranium reserve on the globe.

Super Pit Gold Mine - The Super Pit gold mine has replaced many underground mines close to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. Kalgoorlie is in general called as the Mining Town.

Precious ...
... Metals and Gems

For over 150 years now, Gold has been the main valuable ore mined in Australia. After China, Australia is another leading gold extractor. It's gold mining, which significantly contributed to economic growth of this island and the establishment of the City of Melbourne.

Australia is also now the world leader in the production of Opals and has a significant amount of diamond mining going on too. More than 95% of the overall global Opal supply is from Australia. In diamond mining, Australia is now on third position after Russia and Africa.

Other Minerals and Ore

You can as well find that there are lot of minerals and ores being mined in Australia including;

Iron Ore - With a production of over 342 million metric tonnes of iron ore, Australia is presently the third largest supplier of iron ore across the world.

Nickel Mining - In 2006, Australia qualified as the second biggest producer of nickel.

Aluminium - In year 2011, Australia achieved the No.1 position in terms of Aluminium production globally.

Coal- Australia is the fourth biggest coal manufacturer and the leading coal exporter in the globe. Many other countries mining coal do not export much of their production as Australia does.

Zinc Mining - Australia is now next to China in manufacturing of Zinc. The Australian mines are producing approximately 15% of the global zinc supplies.

Mining of Uranium - Australia is rich in the world's biggest uranium deposits, which are considered to be a very important and sensitive element for its use in military weapons, nuclear energy resource etc.

Most of the metal and ore are being transported from Australia to other places of the world in order to be made into finished products. It is also a heartening fact that the safest mines in the world are situated.

For more information regarding training for the mining industry in Australia, visit HPOTS Training.