Introduction Resources and Energy Major Projects provides a review of the mining, infrastructure and processing facilities projects that increase, extend or improve the output of mineral and energy commodities in Australia. This edition of the report is an update on project developments over the 12 months from November 2015 to October 2016. Its purpose is to measure the value of the current and potential investment in the mining and energy sectors, and to provide an analysis of the key trends and issues underpinning the level of investment. The value of this investment is an important economic indicator for Australia. Capital expenditure associated with resources and energy major projects has been a major source of economic activity over the past five years. The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS) gathers information on major projects from a number of sources, including company websites, ASX quarterly activity reports and media releases, and from direct contact with company representatives. Although there is substantial investment by mining and energy companies in replenishing equipment, plant and other property, the focus of this report is on investments those over $50 ‘major’ — million. Smaller scale operations are also an important contributor to the sector and the broader Australian economy. However gathering data on such projects is challenging, as many are undertaken by private companies which have fewer obligations to report progress. Such projects also typically have shorter development cycles. Developers of resources and energy projects use different planning processes and assessment methods to support a Final Investment Decision (FID). Thus, there is no standard project development model with clearly defined stages and terminology that can be applied to every resources and energy project. To broadly represent the general lifecycle of a project, DIIS use a model of the investment pipeline to measure the potential investment in Australia’s resources and energy sectors. Earlier stages of developing mining and energy projects, such as identifying deposits and exploration activities, are not included in the model. While these activities remain important, it is beyond the scope of this report to assess exploration activities on a project-by-project basis. Instead, a summary and analysis of aggregate exploration expenditure is provided. To be included on the major projects list that accompanies this report, there must be evidence of project activities that support the project progressing to an FID within the next five years. The four stages in the DIIS investment pipeline model are:
Introduction Resources and Energy Major Projects provides a review of the mining, infrastructure and processing facilities projects that increase, extend or improve the output of mineral and energy commodities in Australia. This edition of the report is an update on project developments over the 12 months from November 2015 to October 2016. Its purpose is to measure the value of the current and potential investment in the mining and energy sectors, and to provide an analysis of the key trends and issues underpinning the level of investment. The value of this investment is an important economic indicator for Australia. Capital expenditure associated with resources and energy major projects has been a major source of economic activity over the past five years. The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS) gathers information on major projects from a number of sources, including company websites, ASX quarterly activity reports and media releases, and from direct contact with company representatives. Although there is substantial investment by mining and energy companies in replenishing equipment, plant and other property, the focus of this report is on ‘major’ investments — those over $50 million. Smaller scale operations are also an important contributor to the sector and the broader Australian economy. However gathering data on such projects is challenging, as many are undertaken by private companies which have fewer obligations to report progress. Such projects also typically have shorter development cycles. Developers of resources and energy projects use different planning processes and assessment methods to support a Final Investment Decision (FID). Thus, there is no standard project development model with clearly defined stages and terminology that can be applied to every resources and energy project. To broadly represent the general lifecycle of a project, DIIS use a model of the investment pipeline to measure the potential investment in Australia’s resources and energy sectors. Earlier stages of developing mining and energy projects, such as identifying deposits and exploration activities, are not included in the model. While these activities remain important, it is beyond the scope of this report to assess exploration activities on a project-by-project basis. Instead, a summary and analysis of aggregate exploration expenditure is provided. To be included on the major projects list that accompanies this report, there must be evidence of project activities that support the project progressing to an FID within the next five years. The four stages in the DIIS investment pipeline model are: