Each day, more than 160 airline flights carrying 13,000 passengers take off and land at Perth Airport to and from destinations across northern Australia. They ferry skilled workers to and from minerals and energy operations. Darwin and Brisbane airports also host air services to and from northern Australian resources hubs.
This provides a real-time indicator of the health of the Australian resources sector, which is overwhelmingly concentrated north of the 26th parallel.
In 2023-24, aircraft and passenger movements between Perth and Western Australian destinations exceeded interstate traffic for the first time, pushing the airport to new throughput records.
Despite price weakness for some minerals, the resources sector remains healthy. Northern Australia’s minerals maintain outsized importance in the national economy and for state and federal government revenues.
The Department of Industry, Science and Resources’ latest
Resources and Energy Quarterly, released in December 2024, highlights the fact that the minerals and energy sector generates two thirds of national exports and 11.4 percent of GDP.
Northern Australia’s minerals and energy dominance makes it central to the national resources sector and thus much of the Australian economy. In 2023–24, the combined value of the top four exports from northern Australia—iron ore, liquified natural gas (LNG), metallurgical coal and thermal coal—was $261 billion, or 63 percent of total resource exports.
Northern Australia contributes almost all the nation’s iron ore exports, expected to total more than 900 million tonnes in 2024, or some 56 percent of global seaborne trade in the commodity. Export value is about $140 billion. While iron ore prices are expected to soften in 2025, volumes are forecast to rise. The Pilbara remains by far the largest iron ore production centre in the world.
Metallurgical coal is northern Australia’s next largest export by tonnage, with the north contributing 46 percent of global supply. All 81 million tonnes of the nation’s LNG exports in 2023-24, worth $69 billion, came from northern Australia. This supply is vital to the energy security of economies such as Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
Exploration spending is the long-term bellwether for the minerals industry. According to S&P Global data, northern Australia hosts 803 of more than 2000 exploration properties in the country. Australia-headquartered companies operate 632 of them. Identified reserves and resources in exploration properties are valued at $14 trillion.
While data is unavailable on mineral and petroleum exploration spending for northern Australia as a region, there is an indicator in the trend in the Northern Territory, where
mineral exploration budgets were up 86 percent in the five years to 2023-24. The search for deposits of critical and strategic minerals such as lithium, copper and uranium drove the rise.
S&P Global records 163 mines in northern Australia, including those under construction. Outputs include copper, lithium, zinc, phosphate, vanadium, manganese, rare earths, gold, and metallurgical and thermal coal. The 11 secondary processing plants in northern Australia produce refined products such as alumina and metals including aluminium, copper and zinc.
Northern Australia, with abundant land and sunshine, is already a major source of renewable energy, with high potential for very large-scale production. From the Pilbara to the central Queensland resources hub, mines and mineral processing plants are increasingly sourcing energy from solar generators, backed by coal or gas. Whether exports of electricity and products such as green hydrogen are viable and will find markets remains to be seen.
While northern Australia’s minerals and energy future and its national economic contribution remain very positive, the region faces challenges in sustaining and growing production. As a December
ASPI report highlighted, the region is vulnerable to natural disasters, particularly as some of its infrastructure is inadequate in the face of severe weather events. The government needs to spend more to maintain vital transport links as well as energy and telecommunications services.
Federal and state project assessment and approval processes have improved during the past decade and must continue to do so while maintaining scientific rigor. Efficient coordination between levels of government and between agencies is vital.
New lower-cost LNG supply from the United States and Qatar puts pressure on Australian LNG projects and their host governments to control costs of both construction and operations.
Several critical minerals projects in northern Australia have been held back by depressed and volatile prices, largely due to market manipulation by the current dominant producer, China. Australia and like-minded governments are working together to underwrite the commercial viability of such projects so they can attract global financing and move to construction and operational phases.
The thousands of workers who commute by air to, from and within northern Australia are testament to the strength of the resources sector, but also highlight the region’s chronic shortage of resident skilled workers. More locally and regionally based workers will help northern Australia capture greater value from its industries. The liveability of the north’s cities and towns is key to attracting and retaining more people.
The daily stream of jets from major population centres to northern Australia, however, will remain the main source of skilled people that contribute so much to the national economy and its energy security.