Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Richard Schodde
Managing Director, MinEx Consulting
Adjunct Professor, University of Western Australia
Spend is at an $29.4B
2012 US$ billion
all-time high in 2012
$30
$25
10x real increase
$20 in the last decade
Other Bulk
Coal
$15
Iron Ore
$7.9B Other
$10 in 1997 Diamonds
$2.9B
Uranium
$5 in 2002
Base Metals
Gold
$0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
14% Coal
80%
Diamonds 13% Other – Non Bulk
2%
60% Uranium 3%
Base Metals
(Cu, Ni, Zn, Pb)
23%
40% Gold continues
Gold to be the main
20% 34% target
0%
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Note: “Rest of World” refers to, Mongolia, Middle East and Sources: MinEx Consulting estimates © April 2013, based on
South West Asia (including India and Pakistan) data from ABS, NRCan, MLR (China), OECD and MEG SNL
Note: “Rest of World” refers to, Mongolia, Middle East and Sources: MinEx Consulting estimates © April 2013, based on
South West Asia (including India and Pakistan) data from ABS, NRCan, MLR (China), OECD and MEG SNL
$4,000 $800
$2,000 $400
$0 $0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
$29B Down
2012 US$ billion in 2012
$30 35%
Other
$25 Coal
Iron Ore $19B
Uranium in 2020
$20
Base Metals
$15 Gold
Spend on uranium is
$10 projected to increase
$5
Forecast
Gold is projected to
$0 fall the most
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Note: Forecast based on a Multiple-Regression analysis of data Source: MinEx Consulting estimates © July 2013, based on
from 1997-2012 with R2 = 0.95 commodity price forecasts from Consensus Economics June 2013
FSU + EE + ROW
$25
$19B China
in 2020
$20 Western Europe
Africa
$15 Pacific / SE Asia
Latin America
$10
USA
$5 Canada
Australia
$0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Note: “Rest of World” refers to, Mongolia, Middle East and Source: MinEx Consulting estimates © July 2013, based on
South West Asia (including India and Pakistan) commodity price forecasts from Consensus Economics June 2013
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Due to delays in reporting of
discoveries, expect the final
number to be 2-3x larger
Note: # Discoveries are for deposits >0.1 Moz Au, >5 kt U3O8, >10 kt Ni, >0.1 Mt Cu-equiv
Excludes satellite deposits within existing Camps
Excludes bulk mineral discoveries Source: MinEx Consulting © July 2013
0%
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Note: # Discoveries are for deposits >0.1 Moz Au, >5 kt U3O8, >10 kt Ni, >0.1 Mt Cu-equiv
Excludes satellite deposits within existing Camps
Excludes bulk mineral discoveries Source: MinEx Consulting © July 2013
Alaska/Yukon Northern
Ontario
China
SW USA/ Mexico
West Africa
Latin America Central Africa
Note: # Discoveries are for deposits >0.1 Moz Au, >5 kt U3O8, >10 kt Ni, >0.1 Mt Cu-equiv
Excludes satellite deposits within existing Camps
Excludes bulk mineral discoveries Source: MinEx Consulting © July 2013
0 $0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
$6 Metres Drilled 12
Australia
$5
$4 7
Between 2002-2012,
$3
$2 2 Expenditures rose 9.3x
$1 but drilling only rose 2.4x
Exploration Expenditures
$0 -3
1997 2002 2007 2012
500
It is difficult to find
1000 deposits under deep
cover
… end-result is that we
1500 have to drill more metres
per discovery
2000
Depth of Cover (Metres)
Note: Excludes satellite deposits within existing Camps
Source: MinEx Consulting © July 2013
Excludes gold deposits in South Africa
Metres
250
Note: Based on deposits >0.1 Moz Au, >5 kt U3O8, >10 kt Ni, >0.1 Mt Cu-equiv
Excludes bulk mineral discoveries Source: MinEx Consulting © July 2013
Continental-Scale
Province-Scale
District-Scale
Project-Scale
MinEx has carried out a detailed Prospect-Scale
analysis of the discovery history of
1750 deposits at these two scales
Prospector
80% Other
Visual
60% Conceptual/Geological
Geological Mapping
40% Extrapolated from Known
Mineralisation
Geochem
20%
Geophysics + Geochem
Geophysics
0%
Note: Analysis based on detailed analysis of 993 gold projects (out of 1779 known discoveries)
Source: MinEx Consulting © July 2013
0% Geophysics
Note: Analysis based on detailed analysis of 993 gold projects (out of 1779 known discoveries)
Source: MinEx Consulting © July 2013
Prospector
80% Other
Visual
60% Conceptual/Geological
Geological Mapping
40% Extrapolated from Known
Mineralisation
Geochem
20%
Geophysics + Geochem
Geophysics
0%
Note: Analysis based on detailed analysis of 757 Cu+Ni+Zn+Pb projects (out of 1344 known discoveries)
Source: MinEx Consulting © July 2013
0% Geophysics
Note: Analysis based on detailed analysis of 757 Cu+Ni+Zn+Pb projects (out of 1344 known discoveries)
Source: MinEx Consulting © July 2013
$3
100
$2
50
$1
0 $0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
1995-2005 Average
= 0.9 ¢/lb Cu-eq
Estimate
$4
100
$2
0 $0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Estimate
Estimate
200 “Tight”
Estimate
100
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Note: Chart include minor adjustment for deposits missing from the database Sources: MinEx Consulting © Nov 2011.
Is based on discoveries > 0.1 Moz Production data from USGS
60
40
20
Estimate
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Note: By-Product metal refers to copper found in Ni, Au and Zn/Pb deposits
Source: MinEx Consulting © March 2012
400
“in-Balance”
200
Estimate
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Note: Chart excludes Olympic Dam (Cu-U-Au deposit) found in 1975 – contains 2545 kt U 3O8
Note: Chart include minor adjustment for deposits missing from the database Sources: MinEx Consulting © July 2012
Is based on discoveries > 0.5 kt U3O8 Production data from USGS
30
“Major Shortfall”
20
10
Estimate
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
“Severe Shortfall”
10
Estimate
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
7. CONCLUSIONS
– Over last decade world exploration spend rose from $2.9b to $29.4b
– Exploration spend reached an all-time high in 2012
– Due to lower commodity prices, exploration spend is forecast to drop 20% in
2013, with a further 15% out to 2020
– Junior Companies facing a cash-crisis. Expect a big cut-back on “money-in-
the-ground” until the situation stabilises
“Industry faces several
years of “gloom”
2. Trends in discovery rates
– Over the last decade industry spend $116b (in 2012$) and found
524 significant deposits, including 86 Tier 1&2 deposits
– The are currently ten “Hot Spots” for exploration around the world.
Two of those are in Africa (Central Africa and West Africa)
Good opportunities
still available
Richard Schodde
Managing Director
MinEx Consulting
Melbourne, Australia
Email: Richard@MinExConsulting.com
Website: MinExConsulting.com
[A] = Average exploration spending rate over last decade (2003-12) Target is >2x
[P] = Peak exploration spending rate (in the last decade)
[F] = Forecast spend in 2020, based on June 2013 Consensus Economics commodity price forecast Source: MinEx Consulting © July 2013