Australia's Metals & Minerals Industry Looks Forward to Strong 2011

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Most of the western world is still struggling through difficult economic times, but Australia is flourishing, largely through the continued growth of the Metals & Minerals Industry. Industrial Info is tracking 293 active Metals & Minerals projects in Australia that total $189 billion, consisting of projects that are being planned or engineered, or are under construction. This includes almost $20 billion under construction and $128 billion in the earliest stages of planning, which indicates that there are a large number of companies that still have a very positive outlook for the future of mining in Australia.

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the breakdown of active Australian Metals & Minerals projects by PEC Activity.

As can be seen from the chart, about 81% of the projects are in the planning stages, including $29.5 billion that are in the more advanced planning stages. Of the 293 projects, 95 are scheduled to begin construction in 2011, with a total value of almost $56 billion. 2012 is also shaping up to be a year of opportunity, with 99 projects worth $48 billion scheduled to begin construction. The majority are coal and iron-ore projects in Queensland and Western Australia, respectively.

One of the more ambitious projects in development is Project Iron Boomerang. East West Line Park Pty. Limited (Brisbane, Australia) is attempting to construct a 3,300-kilometer heavy-haul, trans-continental rail line joining the coal fields of Queensland with the iron-ore producing Pilbara region in Western Australia, as well as dedicated iron and steel smelting precincts at both ends. East West Line Parks is in negotiations with some of the world's largest steel manufacturers, with a view to enticing them to set up grassroot, first-stage slab steel plants within these two districts. The total investment value of the entire project is about $30 billion, which will be partly funded by the steel manufacturers themselves, and East West Line Parks is hoping to begin construction in early 2013.

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